Prometheus vs Zabbix: Install, Configure & Visualize with Grafana

1. Prometheus vs Zabbix

Both are open‑source monitoring systems, but Prometheus is more modular and flexible. Its components (alerting, exporters, etc.) can be configured independently, while Zabbix provides a monolithic, heavyweight installation. Prometheus uses a pull model and stores data locally, whereas Zabbix relies on push agents.

2. Installing Prometheus

Download the latest tarball from the official site, extract it, and run the server directly:

$ wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.7.2/prometheus-2.7.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
$ tar xvfz prometheus-2.7.2.linux-amd64.tar.gz
$ cd prometheus-2.7.2.linux-amd64
$ ./prometheus --version   # verify
$ ./prometheus --config.file=prometheus.yml   # start server

The

prometheus.yml

file in the same directory holds the configuration.

3. Configuring Prometheus

The configuration file is divided into four main sections:

global : sets

scrape_interval

and

evaluation_interval

.

alerting : configures Alertmanager (not installed in this guide).

rule_files : lists rule files for alerting.

scrape_configs : defines the targets to scrape. By default it monitors the Prometheus server itself.

Example snippet:

global:
  scrape_interval: 15s
  evaluation_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'prometheus'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9090']

4. Prometheus UI

After starting the server, open

http://<i>host</i>:9090

in a browser. The interface shows tabs for Alerts, Graph, and Status. The Graph tab can query metrics such as

promhttp_metric_handler_requests_total

.

5. Adding Machine‑State Monitoring

Install the

node_exporter

to expose hardware metrics:

$ wget https://github.com/prometheus/node_exporter/releases/download/v0.17.0/node_exporter-0.17.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
$ tar xvfz node_exporter-0.17.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
$ cd node_exporter-0.17.0.linux-amd64
$ ./node_exporter   # runs on port 9100

Update

prometheus.yml

to scrape the new target:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'prometheus'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9090']
  - job_name: 'node'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['localhost:9100']

Reload Prometheus and verify the new target appears as “UP” in the Status → Targets page.

6. Installing Grafana

Download and extract the binary package, then start the server:

$ wget https://dl.grafana.com/oss/release/grafana-6.0.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
$ tar -zxvf grafana-6.0.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
$ cd grafana-6.0.0
$ ./bin/grafana-server web

Grafana runs on port 3000 by default.

7. Visualizing Metrics in Grafana

Log in (admin/admin), add a Prometheus data source pointing to

http://localhost:9090

, then import ready‑made dashboards (e.g., “Prometheus 2.0 Stats” or a node_exporter dashboard). After loading the dashboard, you can see system‑level graphs such as CPU, memory, and disk usage.