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Auto Discovery in Zabbix

1. Introduction

Zabbix Auto Discovery is an advanced feature that allows you to dynamically detect hosts and services on a network, eliminating the need to manually register devices. This functionality is especially useful in dynamic environments, such as the br-lab laboratory, where new devices can be added frequently.

In this guide, you will learn how to configure a discovery rule in Zabbix to automatically identify network assets using the SNMPv2 protocol, as well as create an auto-registration action to add the discovered devices to monitoring.

2. Prerequisites

Before starting, verify the following prerequisites:

  1. Zabbix properly installed on the br-lab network. If you have not yet installed it, follow the Zabbix Installation Guide.

  2. The br-lab network must be functional and with devices configured to respond to SNMPv2 requests.

  3. The user used must have administrative permissions in the Zabbix frontend.

3. Configuring Auto Discovery

Auto discovery in Zabbix works based on two entities:

  • Discovery Rule: Defines the range of IPs to be scanned, the type of check (e.g. SNMP, ICMP), and how to extract the host name.
  • Discovery Action: Applies rules after detection (e.g. add to monitoring, apply template, move to group).

3.1 Creating the Discovery Rule

To create a new rule:

  1. Access the Zabbix Frontend and go to: Data Collection → Discovery Click on Create discovery rule.

  2. Configure the following parameters:

Field Value
Name br-lab
Discovery by proxy Zabbix server
IP range 172.10.10.1-254
Update interval 1m
Device uniqueness criteria IP address
Host name SNMPv2 agent ".1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0"
Visible name SNMPv2 agent ".1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0"
  1. Add a Check with the following parameters:
Field Value
Check type SNMPv2 agent
Community public
Port 161
SNMP OID .1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0 (Host name via SNMP)
  1. Save the rule after configuration.

✅ When configured correctly, the rule will scan the entire 172.10.10.0/24 subnet every minute, looking for devices that respond to SNMP on port 161 with the public community.

Reference Images (example)

📸 General Rule Configuration:

Discovery Rule

📸 SNMP Check Configuration:

Discovery Check

Note

remember to activate the rule for it to work correctly. You can do this on the discovery rule configuration tab by checking the "Enable" option.

3.2 Creating the Auto-Registration Action

🧠 What is a Discovery Action?

A discovery action in Zabbix is ​​a set of instructions that define what should be done automatically after a host is detected by a Discovery Rule. This mechanism allows the automation of infrastructure management, avoiding manual device registration.

With a discovery action configured, it is possible to:

  • Automatically insert the detected host into the monitoring database;
  • Associate the host with one or more host groups;
  • Apply monitoring templates (e.g. ICMP, SNMP, operating systems);
  • Mark inventory fields and activate the host for immediate monitoring.

🔧 Steps to Create the Action

  1. In the Zabbix Frontend, navigate to: Alerts → Actions → Discovery actions.

  2. Click on Create action and configure as below:

🧩 "Action" Tab

Field Value
Name Auto Discovery: Network Devices
Conditions
  • Discovery rule equals br-lab
  • Discovery status equals Discovered

💡 These conditions ensure that the action will only be executed for hosts successfully discovered by the br-lab rule.

⚙️ "Operations" Tab

Add the following operations:

Operation Type Parameters
Add host Automatically adds the discovered host to the Zabbix database
Add to host groups Discovered hosts
Link to templates Juniper MX by SNMP

Info

The Juniper MX by SNMP template is located within the Templates/Network Devices group. It is ideal for monitoring Juniper MX line equipment via SNMP. If you use other network devices (Cisco, Mikrotik, Dell, etc.), choose an appropriate template or create a custom one according to your needs.

Example Images

📸 "Action" Tab Screen

Discovery Action - Action Tab

📸 "Operations" Tab Screen

Discovery Action - Operations Tab

With this action configured, every device detected on the br-lab network with SNMP support will be automatically added to Zabbix, with defined template and monitoring group, allowing scalability and agility in infrastructure management.