Master Zabbix: Complete Guide to Installation, Configuration, and Deployment

1. Simple Introduction to Monitoring Systems

cacti : strong data storage capability, weak alerting performance.

nagios : limited data storage (simple range checks in memory) and poor alerting.

zabbix : combines the advantages of both – supports data storage and robust alerting.

2. Zabbix Features

Data sampling via SNMP, SSH, Telnet, agent, IPMI, JMX, with customizable checks and intervals.

Real‑time graphing: graphs, maps, screens, and slide shows.

Advanced alerting with escalation and time‑bound resolution.

Data storage options include MySQL, PostgreSQL, and various time‑series databases.

3. Program Components

zabbix_server

: server daemon. zabbix_agentd: agent daemon. zabbix_proxy: optional proxy for distributed setups. zabbix_get: command‑line tool for manual data collection. zabbix_sender: command‑line tool for sending data from the agent. zabbixjavagateway: Java gateway.

4. Zabbix Deployment (Monitoring Server)

(1) Database Dependency Configuration

yum install mariadb-server

Edit /etc/my.cnf and add under [mysqld_safe]:

skip_name_resolve=on
innodb_file_per_table=on

systemctl start mariadb.service

Create database: CREATE DATABASE zabbix CHARSET utf8; Grant privileges:

GRANT ALL ON zabbix.* TO zbxuser@'192.168.%.%' IDENTIFIED BY 'zbxpass';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

exit

(2) Install Server Components

yum install zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-get

yum install zabbix-web zabbix-web-mysql

yum install zabbix-agent zabbix-sender

Initialize Zabbix server database (import create.sql):

cd /usr/share/doc/zabbix-server-mysql-3.0.7/
 gzip -d create.sql.gz
 mysql -h192.168.1.108 -uzbxuser -p zabbix < create.sql

Verify tables:

mysql -u zbxuser -p zabbix -e "SHOW TABLES;"

(3) Modify Server Configuration ( /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf )

Set SourceIP if multiple source IPs are used.

Configure DBHost, DBName, DBUser, DBPassword to match the database created above.

Adjust DBSocket only when the database runs on the same host.

Start the server: systemctl start zabbix-server (CentOS 7 may require updating the trousers package.)

(4) Additional Server Setup

Install PHP‑MySQL support: rpm -q php-mysql (already installed in earlier steps).

Configure Zabbix web interface timezone:

vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/zabbix.conf
php_value date.timezone Asia/Shanghai

Start Apache: systemctl start httpd.service Access the UI at

http://192.168.1.108/zabbix

5. Zabbix Deployment (Monitored Host – Agent)

Install agent packages: yum install zabbix-agent zabbix-sender -y Copy and edit the agent configuration:

cp /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf{,.bak}
vim /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf

Passive monitoring (agent waits for server requests): set Server=192.168.1.108 (multiple servers can be comma‑separated).

Active monitoring (agent pushes data): set ServerActive=192.168.1.108 and define Hostname as the agent's host name.

Start the agent service:

systemctl start zabbix-agent.service