Chapter 10: Extending Zabbix Functionality with Custom Scripts and the Zabbix API

Zabbix offers a lot of functionality out of the box. But where Zabbix really shines is customization, not only through the default frontend but especially with scripts and the Zabbix API.

In this chapter, I will go over the basics of using the Zabbix API. We will then see how a Python script can utilize the API to build something cool, such as a jumphost. After that, we'll use some scripts written by Brian van Baekel to schedule maintenance periods as a Zabbix user and to enable and disable hosts with limited permissions from a Zabbix map.

After following these recipes, you'll be more than ready to tackle the Zabbix API and you'll know how to use scripts to extend Zabbix functionality. This chapter will expand your possibilities with Zabbix to almost endless proportions and you'll be ready to become a professional Zabbix user yourself.

In this chapter, we will cover the following...