Installing Zabbix Monitoring Tool on macOS Using VMware Fusion and CentOS 7

This article describes how to set up a Linux virtual machine on macOS and install the Zabbix monitoring tool.

Dependencies: macOS 10.13.2, VMware Fusion Pro 10.0.1, Linux CentOS‑7, Zabbix 3.4, MySQL 5.6.39, Redis 4.0.0.

1. Zabbix Overview: Zabbix monitoring consists of Zabbix Server, Zabbix Proxy, and Zabbix Agent. The Server includes a Web GUI, a Database, and the server daemon itself.

Module responsibilities:

Zabbix Server receives reports from agents and coordinates configuration, statistics, and operations.

Database Storage holds all configuration data and the metrics collected by the server.

Web Interface provides the GUI, usually running on the same host as the server.

Zabbix Proxy aggregates data in large‑scale environments (typically >500 hosts) and forwards it to the server.

Zabbix Agent runs on monitored hosts, collecting local data and sending it to the server or proxy.

Monitoring principle: The agentd daemon on each monitored host periodically gathers metrics (CPU load, memory, disk usage, etc.) and sends them to the Zabbix Server, which stores them in the database and displays them via the web UI. When a metric exceeds a defined trigger threshold, Zabbix can send notifications (email, WeChat, SMS) or execute commands (shell, reboot, restart, install, etc.).

The Zabbix suite includes five main programs: zabbix_server, zabbix_agentd, zabbix_proxy, zabbix_get, and zabbix_sender, each handling specific data collection or transmission tasks.

Monitoring methods: Zabbix supports three common client‑side approaches—Agent, SNMP, and IPMI. The Agent monitors OS‑level metrics; SNMP is used for network devices and Windows hosts; IPMI provides hardware‑level monitoring independent of the operating system state.

Active vs. passive mode: In active mode, the agent requests a list of items from the server and pushes data to the server/proxy. In passive mode, the server polls the agent for data, establishing a TCP connection and receiving the response.

Installation steps:

1. Install VMware Fusion (refer to the provided link for details).

2. Create a CentOS‑7 virtual machine and install the OS.

3. Install MySQL, Redis, and Zabbix 3.4 inside the VM, following the linked tutorials for Linux installation and Zabbix configuration.

Additional resources and download links are provided for CentOS‑7 ISO, MySQL, Redis, and Zabbix packages.

For the complete tutorial, refer to the associated public account (QR code image below).