Step-by-Step Guide to Building Zabbix Network Monitoring from Scratch

Introduction

The article explains how to build a system‑level monitoring solution with Zabbix because ELK cannot provide per‑second traffic statistics. It records the entire installation and configuration process.

Prerequisites

Disable SELinux, install required packages, and prepare a LAMP environment.

Install Zabbix Server

Download and install Zabbix packages, then create a MySQL database for Zabbix and import the initial schema.

Configure Zabbix

Modify /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf to set the database password, adjust the timezone, and optionally change the default admin password.

Start Services

Enable Zabbix server and Apache to start on boot, then access http://hostname/zabbix to complete the web installation (default login: Admin / zabbix).

Install Zabbix Agent

Install the agent on target machines, edit /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf to point to the Zabbix server, and start the agent service.

Add Hosts

In the Zabbix web UI, add the new host, bind it to a template, and enable monitoring.

Monitor Network Traffic

Create a template, add items for inbound and outbound traffic on a specific network interface (e.g., em1) using zabbix_get, define triggers that fire when traffic exceeds a threshold, and build graphs to visualize the data.

Create template.

Create items for inbound/outbound traffic.

Create triggers (e.g., traffic > 1 048 576 B/s).

Create graphs and add them to a screen.

Link the template to the host.

Custom Script Alerts

Configure a media type that runs a custom script (e.g., dingding.py) to send alerts to a webhook such as DingTalk. Place the script in /usr/lib/zabbix/alertscripts, set executable permissions, and define the media type parameters.

Events Configuration

Create an event that triggers every two minutes for one hour, generating ten alerts, and associate it with the custom media type.

User Media

Link the custom media type to a user (e.g., Zabbix administrators) so that alerts are delivered via the script.

Conclusion

After completing these steps, Zabbix monitors network traffic, triggers alerts when thresholds are exceeded, and logs alert details via the custom script, demonstrating a full end‑to‑end monitoring solution.