Table of Contents
1 Frequently asked questions / Troubleshooting
Frequently asked questions or FAQ.
- Q: Can I flush/clear the queue (as depicted in Administration → Queue)?
A: No. - Q: How do I migrate from one database to another?
A: Dump data only (for MySQL, use flag -t or --no-create-info), create the new database using schema files from Zabbix and import the data. - Q: I would like to replace all spaces with underscores in my item keys because they worked in older versions but space is not a valid symbol for an item key in 1.8 (or any other reason to mass-modify item keys). How should I do it and what should i beware of?
A: You may use a database query to replace all occurrences of spaces in item keys with underscores:
update items set key_=replace(key_,' ','_');
Triggers will be able to use these items without any additional modifications, but you might have to change any item references in these locations:
* Notifications (actions)
* Map element and link labels
* Calculated item formulas - Q: My graphs have dots instead of lines or empty areas. Why so?
A: Data is missing. This can happen for a variety of reasons - performance problems on Zabbix database, Zabbix server, network, monitored devices... - Q: Zabbix daemons fail to start up with a message Listener failed with error: socket() for [[-]:10050] failed with error 22: Invalid argument.
A: This error arises at attempt to run Zabbix agent compiled on version 2.6.27 or above on a platform with a kernel 2.6.26 and lower. Note that static linking will not help in this case because it is the socket() system call that does not support SOCK_CLOEXEC flag on earlier kernels. ZBX-3395 - Q: I try to set up a flexible user parameter (one that accepts parameters) with a command that uses a positional parameter like $1, but it doesn't work (uses item parameter instead). How to solve this?
A: Use a double dollar sign like $$1 - Q: All dropdowns have a scrollbar and look ugly in Opera 11. Why so?
A: It's a known bug in Opera 11.00 and 11.01; see Zabbix issue tracker for more information. - Q: What is the structure of IDs in the database for distributed monitoring?
A: For configuration tables like items, hosts etc: NNNSSSDDDDDDDDDDD, where NNN - nodeid (to which node the ID belongs to), SSS - source nodeid (in which node was the ID created), DDDDDDDDDDD - the ID itself.
For historical tables like events, history* etc: NNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDD, where NNN - nodeid (to which node the ID belongs to), DDDDDDDDDDDDDD - the ID itself.
For instance, an item ID created on source node 5 for node 14 might look like 1400500000012345. Note that in this example the length of ID is less than 17 digits, because the target node number has less than three digits. - Q: How can I change graph background colour in a custom theme?
A: See graph_theme table in the database and theming guide. - Q: With DebugLevel 4 I'm seeing messages "Trapper got [] len 0" in server/proxy log - what's that?
A: Most likely that is frontend, connecting and checking whether server is still running. - Q: My system had the time set in the future and now no data is coming in. How could this be solved?
A: Clear values of database fields hosts.disable_until*, drules.nextcheck, httptest.nextcheck and restart the server/proxy. - Q: Text item values in frontend (when using {ITEM.VALUE} macro and in other cases) are cut/trimmed to 20 symbols. Is that normal?
A: Yes, there is a hardcoded limit in include/items.inc.php currently.
Installation troubleshooting
See the installation-specific troubleshooting section.