Master Zabbix 6.2: New Features & Step‑by‑Step Deployment on CentOS 8

We visited the Zabbix official site (https://www.zabbix.com/) and found that the latest version is 6.2. This article introduces Zabbix 6.2 new features and shows how to deploy Zabbix 6.2.

1. Zabbix 6.2 Overview

1.1 Zabbix 6.2 Official Site

Zabbix is a mature, easy‑to‑use enterprise‑grade open‑source monitoring solution, suitable for monitoring millions of metrics across networks and applications.

Chinese site: https://www.zabbix.com/cn/

Zabbix terminology:

zabbix server – collects and stores data.

zabbix agent – runs on monitored hosts, communicates with the server, executes commands.

Host – the entity being monitored (servers, switches, etc.).

Hosts – host groups.

Applications – applications.

Events – events.

Media – notification channels.

Remote command – remote commands.

Template – templates.

Item – a single metric to monitor.

Trigger – defines alarm logic (normal, problem, unknown).

Action – actions triggered by a trigger, e.g., sending an email.

Zabbix program components:

zabbix_server – server daemon.

zabbix_agentd – agent daemon.

zabbix_proxy – proxy server.

zabbix_database – storage (MySQL, PostgreSQL).

zabbix_web – web GUI.

zabbix_get – command‑line tool to request data from an agent.

zabbix_sender – command‑line tool to send data to the server.

zabbix_java_gateway – Java gateway.

1.2 New Features in Zabbix 6.2

Zabbix 6.2 improves user experience with UI/UX optimizations, new monitoring items, configuration options, and performance enhancements for medium‑to‑large deployments.

1. Issue suppression to reduce noise

Suppress problems before a specific time.

Indefinitely suppress until manually removed.

Pause actions related to suppressed problems.

Hide or show suppressed problems on the Problems page.

2. Store secrets in CyberArk vault (in addition to HashiCorp vault)

Choose between CyberArk and HashiCorp vaults.

Encrypt connections with vault certificates.

Protect database certificates and user macros.

Configure and retrieve vault providers via Zabbix API.

3. Official AWS EC2 template

Monitor EC2 CPU, network, disk, status, and many other metrics.

Discover and monitor AWS EBS volumes.

Discover and monitor EC2 alarms and react to state changes.

4. Sync Zabbix proxy configuration from the frontend

Refresh proxy configuration from Administration → Proxies.

Refresh from the server command line.

Refresh via Zabbix API.

Both active and passive proxies support centralized configuration refresh.

5. More control over discovered hosts

Manually link templates to discovered hosts.

Create and modify user macros on discovered hosts.

Add additional tags to discovered hosts.

Extended API host methods for manual linking.

6. Expanded VMware monitoring

Manually assign additional templates to discovered VMware hosts.

Create/modify user macros on discovered VMware hosts.

Add extra tags to discovered VMware hosts.

New monitoring items and low‑level discovery rules for VMware (alarms, snapshots, network interfaces, distributed switch ports, datastore IOPS, performance counters, guest status, etc.).

Filter VMware hosts by power state.

7. Track active checks

View active agent check status directly from the frontend.

Customizable heartbeat interval in the agent config.

New internal items for active check status monitoring.

Zabbix API can retrieve active check status.

8. Performance optimizations and internal changes

Configuration cache now supports incremental updates, improving performance for large instances.

New items are checked within one minute after creation.

New user macro cache reduces configuration lock contention.

Optimized Zabbix library structure and removed circular dependencies.

9. Improved "Execute now" button

Execute now button added to the Latest data page.

Unsupported items are ignored without error messages.

Warnings shown when trying to execute unsupported items.

Execute now permission added to custom role permissions.

10. Separate host and template groups

New Template groups page under Configuration.

Existing templates are moved to template groups during upgrade.

Full import support from previous Zabbix versions, creating appropriate groups.

Role‑based access control for template groups.

New API methods for creating, modifying, and retrieving template groups.

11. Support multiple LDAP servers for authentication

Improved security and compliance by allowing different OUs to authenticate against different LDAP servers.

Seamless LDAP server migration without user disruption.

12. Additional templates and integrations

New templates for popular vendors: Envoy proxy, HashiCorp Consul, AWS EC2, Proxmox, CockroachDB, TrueNAS, HPE MSA 2060 & 2040, HPE Primera, optimized SMART monitoring.

WebHook integration for GLPI IT asset management.

13. Other new features and optimizations

Digital clock dashboard widget.

Stacked chart option for vector graphics.

Redesigned default dashboard for Global view.

Support for {INVENTORY.*} macros in script‑type items and manual scripts.

New Windows registry items.

New items for monitoring OS processes and parameters on Windows, Linux, BSD.

Removed support for Zabbix database MD5 hashes.

Added "Documentation" button to all Zabbix sections.

Improved frontend protection against XSS attacks.

1.3 Important URLs

Documentation: https://www.zabbix.com/documentation/6.2/en/manual/introduction/whatsnew620

Upgrade guide: https://www.zabbix.com/documentation/6.2/en/manual/installation/upgrade

Online webinars: https://www.zabbix.com/cn/webinars

2. Deploy Zabbix 6.2 (CentOS 8)

System base: CentOS 8

2.1 Configure Alibaba Cloud YUM source

[root@localhost ~]# cd /etc/yum.repos.d/
[root@localhost yum.repos.d]# rm -rf *
[root@localhost yum.repos.d]# curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo https://mirrors.aliyun.com/repo/Centos-vault-8.5.2111.repo
[root@localhost yum.repos.d]# sed -i -e '/mirrors.cloud.aliyuncs.com/d' -e '/mirrors.aliyuncs.com/d' /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
[root@localhost yum.repos.d]# yum clean all
[root@localhost yum.repos.d]# yum list all

2.2 Install httpd and MariaDB

PHP must be at least 7.4, MariaDB at least 10.5.

[root@localhost ~]# dnf -y install httpd
[root@localhost ~]# dnf -y module install mariadb:10.5

If installation fails, reset the module and reinstall PHP 7.4:

[root@localhost ~]# dnf -y module reset mariadb:10.5
[root@localhost ~]# dnf -y module install mariadb:10.5
[root@localhost ~]# dnf module -y install php:7.4*

Verify PHP packages:

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -qa | grep php

2.3 Configure Apache virtual host

[root@localhost ~]# cd /etc/httpd/conf.d/
[root@localhost conf.d]# cp /usr/share/doc/httpd/httpd-vhosts.conf .
[root@localhost conf.d]# vim httpd-vhosts.conf

Add the following block:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "/var/www/html/zabbix.example.com"
    ServerName zabbix.example.com
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPassMatch ^/(.*\.php)$ fcgi://127.0.0.1:9000/var/www/html/zabbix.example.com/$1
    <Directory "/var/www/html/zabbix.example.com">
        Options none
        AllowOverride none
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    ErrorLog "/var/log/httpd/zabbix.example.com-error_log"
    CustomLog "/var/log/httpd/zabbix.example.com-access_log" common
</VirtualHost>

Ensure

DirectoryIndex

includes

index.php

and add PHP MIME types:

<IfModule dir_module>
    DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
</IfModule>
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

2.4 Test PHP page

[root@localhost httpd]# mkdir /var/www/html/zabbix.example.com
[root@localhost httpd]# vim /var/www/html/zabbix.example.com/index.php
<?php
    phpinfo();
?>

2.5 Start services

[root@localhost ~]# systemctl enable --now httpd
[root@localhost ~]# systemctl enable --now mariadb

Set MariaDB root password:

[root@localhost ~]# mysql
MariaDB [(none)]> set password = password('long123!');
MariaDB [(none)]> quit

2.6 Install Zabbix server

Download source:

[root@localhost src]# wget https://cdn.zabbix.com/zabbix/sources/stable/6.2/zabbix-6.2.2.tar.gz

Install dependencies:

[root@localhost src]# yum -y install net-snmp-devel libevent-devel gcc gcc-c++ libxml2-devel libcurl-devel pcre-devel openssl openssl-devel golang-bin make mysql-devel

Extract and create Zabbix user:

[root@localhost src]# tar xf zabbix-6.2.2.tar.gz
[root@localhost src]# useradd -r -d /usr/lib/zabbix -s /sbin/nologin -c "Zabbix Monitoring System" zabbix
[root@localhost src]# mkdir -p /usr/lib/zabbix
[root@localhost src]# chmod 770 /usr/lib/zabbix
[root@localhost src]# chown -R zabbix.zabbix /usr/lib/zabbix

Create database and user:

mysql -uroot -p
MariaDB [(none)]> create database zabbix character set utf8mb4 collate utf8mb4_bin;
MariaDB [(none)]> create user 'zabbix'@'localhost' identified by 'zabbix123!';
MariaDB [(none)]> grant all privileges on zabbix.* to 'zabbix'@'localhost';
MariaDB [(none)]> SET GLOBAL log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1;
MariaDB [(none)]> flush privileges;

Import schema:

cd /usr/src/zabbix-6.2.2/database/mysql
mysql -uroot -plong123! zabbix < schema.sql
mysql -uroot -plong123! zabbix < images.sql
mysql -uroot -plong123! zabbix < data.sql

Configure and compile Zabbix:

cd /usr/src/zabbix-6.2.2
./configure --enable-server --enable-agent --with-mysql --with-libcurl --with-libxml2
make install

Edit

/usr/local/etc/zabbix_server.conf

to set the DB password:

DBPassword=zabbix123!

Start Zabbix services:

zabbix_server
zabbix_agentd

2.7 Web interface installation

Copy UI files to the web root and set ownership:

cp -a ui/* /var/www/html/zabbix.example.com/
chown -R apache.apache /var/www/html/zabbix.example.com

Adjust PHP settings (post_max_size, max_execution_time, max_input_time, timezone) and restart php‑fpm:

sed -ri 's/(post_max_size =).*/\1 16M/' /etc/php.ini
sed -ri 's/(max_execution_time =).*/\1 300/' /etc/php.ini
sed -ri 's/(max_input_time =).*/\1 300/' /etc/php.ini
sed -i '/;date.timezone/a date.timezone = Asia/Shanghai' /etc/php.ini
systemctl restart php-fpm

2.8 Complete web installation

Open the Zabbix URL, select language, follow the wizard, and finish the installation.

2.9 Login

Default credentials: Admin / zabbix .

2.10 Enable services at boot

Add the following lines to

/etc/rc.local

and make it executable:

zabbix_server
zabbix_agentd

After sourcing the file, verify that ports 10050, 10051, 9000, etc., are listening.

3. Zabbix Themes

Zabbix offers several UI themes: Blue, Dark, DC, and HC.

4. Conclusion

This article introduced Zabbix concepts, highlighted Zabbix 6.2 new features, provided a step‑by‑step deployment guide on CentOS 8, and showcased four common themes. We hope it helps you get started with Zabbix.