📺Zabbix

What is Zabbix?

Zabbix is an enterprise-level, open-source IT monitoring solution designed to monitor and track the performance and availability of IT infrastructure components such as servers, networks, services, and applications. Zabbix provides a complete suite of monitoring and management tools for real-time monitoring, troubleshooting, and alerting.

Zabbix was first released in 2001 and has since grown to become one of the most popular monitoring solutions worldwide. It is trusted by small and large organizations alike and is widely used in various industries, including finance, healthcare, government, education, and many more.

How Zabbix Works

Zabbix works by deploying agents on the hosts and services that need to be monitored. These agents collect data on the health and performance of the hosts and services and send it back to the Zabbix server. The Zabbix server then processes this data and generates alerts and notifications based on user-defined rules and policies.

Zabbix also includes support for SNMP monitoring, allowing users to monitor network devices such as routers, switches, and firewalls.

Why Zabbix is Useful and Cool

Zabbix is a powerful and comprehensive monitoring solution that offers a wide range of features and capabilities. It provides real-time visibility into the health and performance of IT infrastructure, enabling users to identify and address issues before they become critical.

Zabbix is also highly scalable and flexible, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes. It is easy to set up and configure, and provides a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to manage and monitor your entire IT infrastructure from a single location.

In addition to its monitoring capabilities, Zabbix also provides advanced reporting and analytics features that enable users to generate customized reports and dashboards that provide insights into the performance of their IT infrastructure.

Overall, Zabbix is a valuable and cool tool for IT professionals and system administrators who want to ensure the health and performance of their IT infrastructure.

Installation

For an easier installation, you can use Docker images. You can find them here.

Firstly choose your platform, i'll suggest you to select nginx web server to make a loadbalencer in the future.

Install Zabbix repository with wget .

wget https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/6.2/debian/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_6.2-4%2Bdebian11_all.deb
dpkg -i zabbix-release_6.2-4+debian11_all.deb
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

Install Zabbix server, frontend, agent.

apt install zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-frontend-php zabbix-nginx-conf zabbix-sql-scripts zabbix-agent

Create initial database.

Make sure you have database server up and running. Run the following on your database host.

mysql -uroot -p
password

create database zabbix character set utf8mb4 collate utf8mb4_bin;
create user zabbix@localhost identified by 'password';
grant all privileges on zabbix.* to zabbix@localhost;
set global log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1;
quit;

On Zabbix server host import initial schema and data. You will be prompted to enter your newly created password.

zcat /usr/share/zabbix-sql-scripts/mysql/server.sql.gz | mysql --default-character-set=utf8mb4 -uzabbix -p zabbix

Disable log_bin_trust_function_creators option after importing database schema.

mysql -uroot -p
password

set global log_bin_trust_function_creators = 0;
quit;

Configure the database for Zabbix server

Edit file /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf

DBPassword=password

Configure PHP for Zabbix frontend

Edit file /etc/zabbix/nginx.conf uncomment and set listen and server_name directives.

listen 8080;
server_name example.com;

Start Zabbix server and agent processes

Start Zabbix server and agent processes and make it start at system boot.

sudo systemctl restart zabbix-server zabbix-agent nginx php7.4-fpm
sudo systemctl enable zabbix-server zabbix-agent nginx php7.4-fpm

Open Zabbix UI web page.

The URL for Zabbix UI when using Nginx depends on the configuration changes you should have made nut it's genraly http://<ip>/zabbix .

Key Features of Zabbix

Zabbix provides a comprehensive suite of features that make it a valuable tool for IT professionals. Some of its key features include:

1. Easy Configuration and Setup

Zabbix comes with a user-friendly web interface that makes it easy for users to configure and set up the monitoring tool. The interface provides a quick and simple way to add new hosts and services, create monitoring policies, and customize notifications and alerts.

2. Scalability and Flexibility

Zabbix is designed to be highly scalable and flexible, allowing users to monitor hundreds or even thousands of hosts and services in real-time. It supports a wide range of operating systems, including Linux, Windows, macOS, and more, and can monitor virtually any application or service.

3. Performance Monitoring

Zabbix provides comprehensive performance monitoring capabilities, allowing users to monitor critical metrics such as CPU usage, disk space, network bandwidth, and more. It also includes built-in tools for troubleshooting and diagnosing performance issues.

4. Event Management

Zabbix includes powerful event management features, allowing users to automate the handling of events and alerts. It supports a wide range of notification methods, including email, SMS, and instant messaging, and can be configured to escalate alerts based on severity and priority.

5. Reporting and Analytics

Zabbix provides advanced reporting and analytics features, allowing users to generate customized reports and dashboards that provide insights into the health and performance of their IT infrastructure. It includes pre-built templates for common reports, and also supports custom report creation.