Overview

Introduction to ZMS and its features

Zabbix Metric Shipper

Make data exported by Zabbix fly!

This program is designed to parse files created by Zabbix export, filter values based on tags and send them to a configured destination.

Features

  • Autodiscovery of export files - Requires read permissions to zabbix_server.conf file
  • Global tag filters - Filter data at the application level
  • Per-target tag filters - Apply different filters to different destinations
  • Internal Prometheus metrics - Monitor ZMS performance
  • Configurable buffer - Batch processing for efficiency
  • Plugin system - Extend functionality with HashiCorp go-plugin based architecture
    • Process isolation for stability
    • gRPC communication with Protocol Buffers
    • No Go version matching required
  • Offline buffering - Automatic retry with BadgerDB for failed deliveries
  • Multiple input modes - File-based or HTTP server mode

CLI Arguments

  • -c - Path to ZMS config file
  • -v - Show version info

Quick Start

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# Download and build
go install zms.szuro.net/cmd/zmsd@latest

# Run with config
zmsd -c /path/to/config.yaml

Running

It is fairly simple to run ZMS. Simply run:

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zmsd -c /etc/zmsd.yaml

Of course the config file should exist. For your convenience, a sample systemd service file is included in the repository: zmsd.service.

Building from Source

To build ZMS from source, you can use the included build PowerShell script:

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./build.ps1

On Linux, you can use this one-liner:

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go build -trimpath -ldflags="-X zms.szuro.net/internal/config.Version=0.5.1 -X zms.szuro.net/internal/config.Commit=$(git log -n 1 --pretty=format:'%H') -X zms.szuro.net/internal/config.BuildDate=$(date -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%3NZ')" -o zmsd ./cmd/zmsd

Architecture

ZMS follows a modular architecture with clear separation of concerns:

Directory Structure

cmd/zmsd/           # Main application entry point
internal/
  config/           # Configuration management
  input/            # Input layer (FileInput, HTTPInput)
  observer/         # Output targets (built-in observers)
  zbx/              # Zabbix integration
  filter/           # Tag-based filtering system
  logger/           # Logging utilities
  plugin/           # Plugin loader and registry
pkg/
  zbx/              # Public Zabbix types
  plugin/           # Plugin interface
  filter/           # Public filter types

Core Components

  1. Input Layer - Reads data from files or HTTP
  2. Filtering - Tag-based filtering at global and target levels
  3. Observer Layer - Sends data to configured destinations
  4. Plugin System - Extensible architecture for custom observers
  5. Offline Buffer - BadgerDB-backed persistence for failed deliveries

For more detailed architecture information, see the Architecture Documentation.