For a more "human" representation of received values, you can use value maps that contain the mapping between numeric values and string representations.
Value mappings can be used in both the Zabbix frontend and notifications sent by email/SMS/jabber etc.
For example, an item which has value '0' or '1' can use value mapping to represent the values in a human-readable form:
Thus, when configuring items you can use a value map to "humanize" the way an item value will be displayed. To do that, you refer to the name of a previously defined value map in the Show value field.
Value mapping can only be used with items having type Numeric (unsigned).
To define a value map:
Parameters of a value map:
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
Name | Unique name of a set of value mappings. |
Mapping | Individual mappings - pairs of numeric values and their string representations. |
New mapping | A single mapping for addition. |
For example, one of the predefined agent items 'Ping to the server (TCP)' uses an existing value map called 'Service state' to display its values.
In the item configuration form you can see a reference to this value map in the Show value field:
So in Monitoring → Latest data the mapping is put to use to display 'Up' (with the raw value in parentheses).
A value being displayed in a human-readable form is also easier to understand when receiving notifications.
Without a predefined value map you would only get this:
So in this case you would either have to guess what the '1' stands for or do a search of documentation to find out.