This project contains the files required to build a functional Microsoft Windows MSI package for the deployment of the Zabbix Windows Agent on both x64 and x86 platforms. Both platforms are built from the same project file and will only install on their target machine types as recommended by Zabbix.
The MSI package has been tested successfully on all Windows 2000+ platforms including Server 2003, 2008 and 2012 and may be deployed with services such as Active Directory Group Policy Package Deployment.
The package is defined in WiX XML document Zabbix Agent MSI Installer.wxs, and requires open source application WiX Toolset v3.8 and the Zabbix Windows agent binaries to be compiled successfully.
The build.cmd script was created for your convenience to build both the x86 and x64 MSI packages via WiX with the required command arguments. Alternatively, Visual Studio 2010 with Votive may be used to open and build from Zabbix Agent MSI Installer.sln.
See the links below to source the required components.
The following components are installed by the MSI package on a target system.
- Zabbix agent binaries including
zabbix_agentd,zabbix_getandzabbix_sender - Agent configuration file
zabbix_agentd.win.conf - Environment variable
ZBX_AGENT_BASEwhich may be used to reference script paths in agent configuration - Agent binaries and scripts folders are added to the
PATHenvironment variable - The agent service is installed and started ready for responding to Zabbix server queries
- Additional files that you may define (scripts, conf.d files, etc.)
By default, all components are installed to C:\Program Files\Zabbix Agent but this is configurable both at build and run-time.
The uninstall process of the MSI successfully cleans up all of the above components.
You may test the success of an agent install by calling the following from a command prompt:
zabbix_get -s 127.0.0.1 -k agent.version
- Install WiX Toolset
- Extract the contents of
zabbix_agents_2.2.1.win.zipto thesrc/subdirectory of this project - Modify
src/conf/zabbix_agentd.win.confto meet your requirements on the target systems - Add any custom scripts you wish to deploy with the agent to the
src/scriptsorsrc/scripts/includesubdirectory - Add custom scripts and other required components as XML definitions in
Zabbix Agent MSI Installer.wxs - Compile the MSI packages with
build.cmdor from Visual Studio 2010 withZabbix Agent MSI Installer.sln
To manually compile the package, see the contents of build.cmd for the required command arguments.
If you are building the agent binaries yourself or you wish to source them from an alternative path, modify the definition of SrcPath in Zabbix Agent MSI Installer.wxs.
Let's take a look inside the wxs file to see how it all fits together. I'll assume you have a basic understanding of XML, Windows Installer technologies and the WiX Toolset. Most of the file will be self explanatory with some knowledge of these components, so I'll focus on the Zabbix specific components.
Preprocessor Variables
The following variables define the name of version of the agent to be install, as well as the relative path for the agent binaries.
<?define AgentName = "Zabbix Agent" ?>
<?define AgentVersion = "2.2.1.40801" ?>
<?define SrcPath = "src" ?>The next section sets required variables according to the machine architecture being built. These variables define the MSI product name, install destination folder and agent binaries source path (for the correct architecture).
<?if $(var.Platform) = x64 ?>
<!-- 64 Bit Platform -->
<?define Win64 ?>
<?define ProductName = "$(var.AgentName) (64bit)" ?>
<?define PlatformProgramFilesFolder = "ProgramFiles64Folder" ?>
<?define BinDir = "win64" ?>
<?else ?>
<!-- 32 Bit Platform -->
<?define ProductName = "$(var.AgentName) (32bit)" ?>
<?define PlatformProgramFilesFolder = "ProgramFilesFolder" ?>
<?define BinDir = "win32" ?>
<?endif ?>Prevent 32bit install on 64bit system
The Zabbix agent documentation recommends using the 64bit binaries on 64bit Windows systems. From experience I can tell you this is good because 32bit applications cannot access some system resources on 64bit Windows systems such as 64bit registry hives, the C:\Program Files folder, etc.
<!-- Prevent 32bit MSI installing on 64bit systems -->
<?ifndef Win64 ?>
<Condition Message="Please install the 64bit version of $(var.AgentName)">Installed OR (NOT VersionNT64)</Condition>
<?endif ?>Prevent 'Files in Use' dialogue
Because the Zabbix agent runs as a service, when you attempt to upgrade or uninstall the MSI, Windows Installer will by default complain that the agent service is running. I manually handle the starting and stopping of the service later, so I prevent this dialogue from showing.
<!-- Prevent files-in-use dialog -->
<Property Id="MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL" Value="Disable"/>Environment Variables
One of the nice things the Zabbix agent configuration offers is variable substitution in the UserParameter directives. In the case of an MSI installer, we can't always be certain where the agent scripts will be installed to so it doesn't make sense to add a full path to the scripts defined as User Parameters. I've solved this problem in the MSI build by setting an environment variable ZBX_AGENT_BASE to the path Windows Installer ultimately installs the MSI to.
Effectively you can now define scripts paths for User Parameters that will always resolve; no matter where the MSI is installed. Example: UserParameter=my.key,cscript %ZBX_AGENT_BASE%\scripts\myscript.vbs
In addition, the bin and scripts path of the installed files is added to the PATH environment variable so tools like zabbix_get, zabbix_sender and your custom tools can be called from any location on the command line.
The Environment Variable components have their GUIDs predefined in the XML as Windows Installer can't seem to generate GUIDs for components not installed to a predefined list of folders (including C:\Program files, etc.)
<!-- Environment Variables -->
<ComponentGroup Id="EnvVars" Directory="ConfigurationFolder">
<!-- ZBX_AGENT_BASE Environment Variable -->
<Component Id="BaseEnvVar" Guid="{9583C630-9C59-4C37-BF07-C04B91032B15}" KeyPath="yes">
<Environment Id="BaseEnvVarDef" Name="ZBX_AGENT_BASE" Action="set" Part="all" Permanent="no" Value="[INSTALLFOLDER]" System="yes" />
</Component>
<!-- PATH Environment Variable-->
<Component Id="PathEnvVar" Guid="{C873B777-091F-4445-910C-A6A77EF55AB0}" KeyPath="yes">
<Environment Id="PathEnvVarDef" Name="PATH" Action="set" Part="last" Permanent="no" Value="[INSTALLFOLDER]bin\$(var.BinDir);[INSTALLFOLDER]scripts" System="yes" />
</Component>
</ComponentGroup>Platform Binaries
Earlier in the document we defined the BinDir preprocessor variable to be either win32 or win64. This correlates to a subdirectory of bin in which the platform specific binaries for the Zabbix agent reside. I know use this variable to source the correct binaries for the MSI build.
<!-- Platform binary files -->
<ComponentGroup Id="Binaries" Directory="ArchBinariesFolder">
<Component Id="ZabbixAgent" Guid="*">
<File Id="ZabbixAgentBin" Name="zabbix_agentd.exe" Source="$(var.SrcPath)\bin\$(var.BinDir)\zabbix_agentd.exe" />
</Component>
<Component Id="ZabbixSender" Guid="*">
<File Id="ZabbixSenderBin" Name="zabbix_sender.exe" Source="$(var.SrcPath)\bin\$(var.BinDir)\zabbix_sender.exe"/>
</Component>
<Component Id="ZabbixGet" Guid="*">
<File Id="ZabbixGetBin" Name="zabbix_get.exe" Source="$(var.SrcPath)\bin\$(var.BinDir)\zabbix_get.exe"/>
</Component>
</ComponentGroup>Custom Scripts
If you have custom scripts you would like to bundle with the MSI install for custom User Parameters, this is where they are defined.
These will be installed to %ZBX_AGENT_BASE%\scripts\ to be referenced in your agent configuration file.
<!-- Custom Script Components -->
<ComponentGroup Id="Scripts" Directory="ScriptsFolder">
<ComponentGroupRef Id="SharedScripts" />
<!-- Sample Custom Script -->
<!--
<Component Id="CustomScript" Guid="*">
<File Id="CustomScriptFile" Name="CustomScript.ps1" Source="$(var.SrcPath)\scripts\CustomScript.ps1" />
</Component>
-->
</ComponentGroup>A place-holder is also created for shared libraries (Perl modules, PowerShell modules, etc.) into which you can define share file components.
<!-- Shared Script (Includes) Components -->
<ComponentGroup Id="SharedScripts" Directory="ScriptsIncludeFolder" />Installation Actions
Once the Zabbix agent is installed on a target system, it makes sense to configure and start the agent service. The following directives make this light work and have been tested on Windows Server 2000 through 2012 in various install locations.
<!-- Install Service Actions -->
<CustomAction Id="InstallService" Directory="ArchBinariesFolder" ExeCommand=""[#ZabbixAgentBin]" --install --config "[#AgentConfigurationFile]"" Execute="deferred" Return="check" Impersonate="no" />
<CustomAction Id="StartService" Directory="ArchBinariesFolder" ExeCommand=""[#ZabbixAgentBin]" --start --config "[#AgentConfigurationFile]"" Execute="deferred" Return="check" Impersonate="no"/>
<!-- Uninstall Service Actions -->
<CustomAction Id="StopService" Directory="ArchBinariesFolder" ExeCommand=""[#ZabbixAgentBin]" --stop --config "[#AgentConfigurationFile]"" Execute="deferred" Return="ignore" Impersonate="no" />
<CustomAction Id="RemoveService" Directory="ArchBinariesFolder" ExeCommand=""[#ZabbixAgentBin]" --uninstall --config "[#AgentConfigurationFile]"" Execute="deferred" Return="ignore" Impersonate="no" />The custom actions are scheduled for execution as follows:
<InstallExecuteSequence>
<!-- Install Service Sequence -->
<Custom Action="InstallService" After="InstallFiles">NOT Installed</Custom>
<Custom Action="StartService" After="InstallService">NOT Installed</Custom>
<!-- Uninstall Service Sequence -->
<Custom Action="StopService" Before="RemoveFiles">Installed</Custom>
<Custom Action="RemoveService" Before="StopService">Installed</Custom>
</InstallExecuteSequence>UI Definition
The final <UI Id="WixUI_InstallDirMod"> section is copied from the WixUI_InstallDir dialogue set defined in WiX sources, with the EULA dialogue removed so end users are not required to accept a generic EULA.
- Download WiX Toolset v3.8
- Download Zabbix Windows Agent
- WiX Toolset Manual
- Working with Visual Studio 2010 and Votive
- Windows Installer Reference on MSDN