Welcome back to the Onooks blog! As part of our continued coverage of system monitoring with Zabbix, today we’re going to focus on a common issue: how to fix the “Value 1 of type string is not suitable for value type Numeric (unsigned)” error. I’m sure you’ve been there, puzzling over why your shell script, running curl and producing output to STDOUT, isn’t working as expected. So, let’s dive in, and hopefully, by the end of this post, you’ll be ready to tackle this issue head-on!
Understanding the Error
The error message, as intimidating as it might sound, simply implies that there’s a mismatch between the value type expected by Zabbix and what it’s receiving. In this case, it’s expecting a numeric value but getting a string instead. And this isn’t a simple fix because changing the command doesn’t seem to help. The root of the problem lies elsewhere.
The Culprit: UTF-8 Encoding
When using the curl command to call a web service, the response you’re getting is encoded in UTF-8. Here’s the catch: Zabbix is having a tough time interpreting this UTF-8 encoded output. You might ask, “But why? It’s just text!” And yes, while that’s true, UTF-8 encoding can sometimes contain characters that Zabbix doesn’t understand, leading to the error.
The Solution: Switch to ASCII Encoding
So, how do you fix this? The answer is simpler than you might think: switch the response encoding to ASCII. ASCII, unlike UTF-8, doesn’t contain any special characters that might trip up Zabbix, so changing the encoding should solve your problem.
Steps to Change Encoding to ASCII:
- Open the script that’s running the curl command.
- Find the section where you call the web service.
- Modify the command to convert the output to ASCII before returning it to Zabbix. You might add a command like
iconv -f UTF-8 -t ASCII//TRANSLIT. - Save the script and run it again.
Now, your script should return the output in ASCII, and Zabbix should be able to interpret it without any issues. And voila! Problem solved.
Wrapping Up
I hope this blog post has demystified the infamous “Value 1 of type string is not suitable for value type Numeric (unsigned)” error in Zabbix. As is often the case, the solution lies in the details. Once you pinpoint the issue – in this case, UTF-8 encoding – the fix becomes clear.
Remember, Zabbix is a powerful tool, but it does have its quirks. The more you familiarize yourself with its inner workings, the more adept you’ll become at troubleshooting and resolving issues like this. Keep exploring, and stay tuned to the Onooks blog for more Zabbix tips and tricks. Until next time!
