Overview

HTTP item check is executed by Zabbix server. However, when hosts are monitored by a Zabbix proxy, HTTP item checks are executed by the proxy.

HTTP item checks do not require any agent running on a host being monitored.

HTTP agent supports both HTTP and HTTPS. Zabbix will optionally follow redirects (see the Follow redirects option below). Maximum number of redirects is hard-coded to 10 (using cURL option CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS).

See also known issues for when using HTTPS protocol.

Zabbix server/proxy must be initially configured with cURL (libcurl) support.

Configuration

To configure an HTTP item:

• Go to: Configuration → Hosts

• Click on Items in the row of the host

• Click on Create item

• Enter parameters of the item in the form

All mandatory input fields are marked with a red asterisk.

The fields that require specific information for HTTP items are:

If the HTTP proxy field is left empty, another way for using an HTTP proxy is to set proxy-related environment variables.

For HTTPS - set the HTTPS_PROXY environment variable. For example:
HTTPS_PROXY=. More details are available by running a shell command: # man curl.

[1] Zabbix supports certificate and private key files in PEM format only. In case you have your certificate and private key data in PKCS #12 format file (usually with extention *.p12 or *.pfx) you may generate the PEM file from it using the following commands:

Examples

Example 1

Send simple GET requests to retrieve data from services such as Elasticsearch:

• Create a GET item with URL: localhost:9200/?pretty

• Notice the response:

{
  "name" : "YQ2VAY-",
  "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch",
  "cluster_uuid" : "kH4CYqh5QfqgeTsjh2F9zg",
  "version" : {
    "number" : "6.1.3",
    "build_hash" : "af51318",
    "build_date" : "2018-01-26T18:22:55.523Z",
    "build_snapshot" : false,
    "lucene_version" : "7.1.0",
    "minimum_wire_compatibility_version" : "5.6.0",
  },
}

• Now extract the version number using a JSONPath preprocessing step: $.version.number

Example 2

Send simple POST requests to retrieve data from services such as Elasticsearch:

• Create a POST item with URL: [http://localhost:9200/str/values/_search?scroll=10s](http://localhost:9200/str/values/_search?scroll=10s "http://localhost:9200/str/values/_search?scroll=10s")

• Configure the following POST body to obtain the processor load (1 min average per core)

• Received:

{
    "_scroll_id": "DnF1ZXJ5VGhlbkZldGNoBQAAAAAAAAAkFllRMlZBWS1UU1pxTmdEeGVwQjRBTFEAAAAAAAAAJRZZUTJWQVktVFNacU5nRHhlcEI0QUxRAAAAAAAAACYWWVEyVkFZLVRTWnFOZ0R4ZXBCNEFMUQAAAAAAAAAnFllRMlZBWS1UU1pxTmdEeGVwQjRBTFEAAAAAAAAAKBZZUTJWQVktVFNacU5nRHhlcEI0QUxR",
    "took": 18,
    "timed_out": false,
    "_shards": {
        "total": 5,
        "successful": 5,
        "skipped": 0,
        "failed": 0
    },
    "hits": {
        "total": 1,
        "max_score": 1.0,
        "hits": [{
            "_type": "values",
            "_id": "dqX9VWEBV6sEKSMyk6sw",
            "_score": 1.0,
                "itemid": 28275,
                "value": "0.138750",
                "clock": 1517566136,
                "ns": 25388713,
                "ttl": 604800
            }
        }]
    }
}

• Now use a JSONPath preprocessing step to get the item value: $.hits.hits[0]._source.value

Example 3

Checking if Zabbix API is alive, using [apiinfo.version]($dfe5c4170a80f935.md "manual:api:reference:apiinfo:version").

• Item configuration:

Note the use of the POST method with JSON data, setting request headers and asking to return headers only:

• Item value preprocessing with regular expression to get HTTP code:

• Checking the result in Latest data:

Example 4

Retrieving weather information by connecting to the Openweathermap public service.

• Configure a master item for bulk data collection in a single JSON:

Note the usage of macros in query fields. Refer to the Openweathermap API for how to fill them.

Sample JSON returned in response to HTTP agent:

The next task is to configure dependent items that extract data from the JSON.

• Configure a sample dependent item for humidity:

Other weather metrics such as ‘Temperature’ are added in the same manner.

• Sample dependent item value preprocessing with JSONPath:

• Check the result of weather data in Latest data:

Example 5

Connecting to Nginx status page and getting its metrics in bulk.

• Configure Nginx following the .

• Configure a master item for bulk data collection:

Sample Nginx stub status output:

Active connections: 1 Active connections:
server accepts handled requests
Reading: 0 Writing: 1 Waiting: 0

The next task is to configure dependent items that extract data.

• Configure a sample dependent item for requests per second:

• Sample dependent item value preprocessing with regular expression: