proxy loadbalancing

docs/proxies/loadbalancing-proxies.md

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+# Proxy loadbalancing
+
+With the introduction of Zabbix 7.0 proxy loadbalancing has been introduced. After running the server in a native HA setup this was probably the next logical step to add.
+So like the name implies it's not just a simple HA solution but Zabbix proxies will loadbalance the hosts connected to them in an automated way.
+
+Zabbix has added something new to manage how we group those proxies together with the obvious name ```Proxy groups``` and it works for active and for passive proxies.
+
+Zabbix is able to detect 3 states in our group with proxies
+
+ - Online: This implies that everything is working as expected so there was communication with all the proxies.
+ - Offline: The minimum number of proxies defined in our proxy config group has not been met.
+ - Recovering: Some proxies are offline but we still have enough proxies online to not drop below the setting ```minimum proxies```.
+
+
+## Configuration
+
+The first thing we have to do is of course set up a couple of proxies. Here I will make use of 3 active proxies but feel free to use passives if you prefer or to do a mix.
+If you don't know how to install a proxy take a look at the installation guides for [Active proxies](active-proxy.md) or [Passive proxies](passive-proxy.md).
+
+I have set up 3 proxies for this example:
+
+- ProxyA1
+- ProxyA2
+- ProxyA3
+
+each of them has a unique IP.
+
+So once you have set up 3 proxies and have added them into the frontend like we did for active and passive proxies you should have a similar looking config in your Administration frontend under Proxies.
+
+![3 active proxies](image/3-active-proxies.png)
+
+
+Before we start to create a loadbalancing group there are a few steps we need to fix first. We need to monitor our proxies and we also need to install some Zabbix agengs on the proxies.
+To install the agents we have to follow a few simple steps.
+
+On every proxy run the following commands:
+
+```dnf install zabbix-agent```
+
+We already installed the zabbix repository when we installed the proxy so no need to add it again.
+Now we have to adjust a few configuration options.
+
+- Server: A list of IP adressess or DNS names pointing to our zabbix servers. This is for the Passive agent only
+- ServerActive: A list of IP adressess or DNS names pointing to our zabbix servers. This is for the Active agent only.
+- Hostname: The hostname of our proxy server
+
+Do this for all the agents that are installed on the proxies and when done start the agents and enable them to start automatic.
+
+```
+systemctl enable zabbix-agent --now
+```
+
+Our next step will be to create our proxies in the Zabbix frontend to monitor them.
+For this we go to ```Data collection -> Hosts``` and click on ```Create host```.
+
+Next we have to fill in a few fields:
+
+- Host name: Name of the agent on the proxy. I used the same name for my agent as on the proxy this makes it easy to see when a proxy is down. Ex ProxyA1, ProxyA2, ProxyA3
+- Templates: We will want to monitor the OS and the proxy so we have to apply 2 templates : Linux by Zabbix agent and Zabbix proxy health
+- Host groups: Here we choose a group to put our proxies is you can choose what you want this is just a logical grouping used for permissions.
+- Interface: Every hosts needs to have an interface where we define the IP of the host and the port.
+
+
+![proxy agent config](image/proxy-agent-config.png)
+
+Make sure your proxies are properly monitored before you continue to the next step.
+
+## Configure proxy groups
+
+
+As one of the final steps we have to Create a ```proxy group``` to gather all proxies we want to use for our loadbalancing.
+In our Zabbix menu go to ```Administration -> Proxy groups```
+Click in the upper right corner on ```Create proxy group```.
+
+Here we have to define a few options:
+
+- Name : The name of our proxy group. This can be anything you like I have chosen for the group ```Active proxies``` because I have setup 3 proxies for this test.
+- Failover period: Period in seconds before failover is executed (1m by default; allowed range 10s-15m).
+- Minimum number of proxies: The minimum number of online proxies required for the group to be online (1 by default; allowed range 1-1000). Since we have 3 proxies I added 2 as minimum.
+
+![proxy group](image/proxy-group.png)
+
+As a final step we have to confgiure our 3 existing proxies to join this proxy group.
+Go in the Zabbix menu to ```Administration -> Proxies```
+click on every proxy in the list you would like to add to the group and enter following details.
+
+
+- Proxy group: ```Active proxies``` (or whatever name you gave to your proxy group.)
+- Proxy address: The active proxy ip, If specified then active proxy requests are only accepted from this list of comma-delimited IP addresses, optionally in CIDR notation, or DNS names of active Zabbix proxy.

mkdocs.yml

@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ nav:
     - proxies/installing-proxies.md
     - proxies/active-proxy.md
     - proxies/passive-proxy.md
+    - proxies/loadbalancing-proxies.md
   - 'Securing Zabbix':
     - security/securing-zabbix.md
   - 'Maintaining Zabbix':