Let's create some test items and triggers that we can use for our SLA's. Follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Configuration | Hosts and click on Create host. Normally, items such as these would reside in different hosts, but for our test setup a single host will be best. Enter IT services in the Host name and Group fields and make sure no other groups are selected in the Groups select box, then click on the Add button at the bottom.
2. Switch to IT services in the Group drop-down menu, click on Items next to IT services, then click on Create item. This way, we create three different items with these settings:

• • Name: Code repository service
  • Type: Zabbix trapper
  • Key: code_repo
  • New application: IT services

3. You can use the item cloning feature to create the remaining two items more rapidly. Use the Applications field instead of the New application field for the remaining items:

• • Name: Warehouse analytics service
  • Type: Zabbix trapper
  • Key: warehouse_analytics
  • Application: IT services

And for the last item, use the following:

• • Name: Ticketing service
  • Type: Zabbix trapper
  • Key: ticketing
  • Application: IT services

The final list of items should look like this:

4. Now, click on Triggers in the navigation bar above the item list, then click on Create trigger. Create three triggers with their settings as follows. For the first trigger, enter the following:

• • Name: Code repository down
  • Expression: {IT services:code_repo.last()}=0
  • Severity: High

For the second trigger, enter the following:

• • Name: Warehouse analytics down
  • Expression: {IT services:warehouse_analytics.last()}=0
  • Severity: High

And for the third trigger, use the following:

• • Name: Ticketing down
  • Expression: {IT services:ticketing.last()}=0
  • Severity: High

The result should look like this:

In these triggers, the severity setting was very important. By default, triggers in Zabbix have the lowest severity, Not classified. SLA calculation in IT services ignores the two lowest severities, Not classified and Information. There doesn't seem to be a functional benefit from that, and the reasons are most likely historic. It's somewhat common for users to create quick testing triggers only to see that the SLA calculation doesn't work. When creating the trigger, the severity setting wasn't changed, as it is a relatively unimportant one for a quick test. Luckily, we knew about it and created triggers that will work in the SLA calculation.