Overview of Zabbix Monitoring

Zabbix is an open-source monitoring solution that collects data from servers, network devices, and applications. The server component gathers metrics via SNMP or agent-based polling and stores them in a database (MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL). A PHP frontend (Apache/Nginx) provides visualization and configuration.

Data collection methods:

• Agent: Installed on hosts to collect system-level metrics.
• SNMP: Used for network devices (switches, routers) and other SNMP-capable hardware.

Key Features

• Monitoring of hosts, network devices, databases, and applications
• Multiple alerting mechanisms (email, SMS, scripts)
• Real-time graphing and historical data
• Automatic discovery of network devices and servers
• Distributed monitoring with centralized management
• Extensible via custom scripts and API integrations

Installation

Configure YUM repositories:

cat /etc/yum.repos.d/zabbix.repo
[os]
name=aliyun
baseurl=https://mirrors.aliyun.com/centos/6/os/x86_64/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

[zabbix]
name=zabbix
baseurl=http://mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/epel/6/x86_64/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

Server-side Installation

# Install packages
yum -y install zabbix22-server zabbix22-web zabbix22-web-mysql zabbix22-dbfiles-mysql zabbix22-agent mysql-server mysql php php-devel php-mysql

# Start MySQL and create database
service mysqld start
mysql
CREATE DATABASE zabbix CHARACTER SET utf8;
GRANT ALL ON zabbix.* TO 'zabbix'@'192.168.4.%' IDENTIFIED BY 'zabbix';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

# Import schema and data
mysql -u root -p zabbix < schema.sql
mysql -u root -p zabbix < images.sql
mysql -u root -p zabbix < data.sql

# Verify tables
mysql -e 'USE zabbix; SHOW TABLES;'

Edit server configuration /etc/zabbix_server.conf:

LogFile=/var/log/zabbixsrv/zabbix_server.log
LogFileSize=0
PidFile=/var/run/zabbixsrv/zabbix_server.pid
DBHost=192.168.4.19
DBName=zabbix
DBUser=zabbix
DBPassword=zabbix
DBSocket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
AlertScriptsPath=/var/lib/zabbixsrv/alertscripts
ExternalScripts=/var/lib/zabbixsrv/externalscripts
TmpDir=/var/lib/zabbixsrv/tmp

Agent-side Installation

yum -y install zabbix22-agent

Edit /etc/zabbix_agentd.conf:

PidFile=/var/run/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.pid
LogFile=/var/log/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.log
LogFileSize=0
Server=192.168.4.19
ServerActive=127.0.0.1
Hostname=Zabbix server

Web Frontend Configuration

Access http://192.168.4.19/zabbix and follow the installation wizard. After setup, adjust PHP settings:

vim /etc/php.ini
date.timezone = Asia/Shanghai
max_execution_time = 300
post_max_size = 32M
max_input_time = 300
memory_limit = 128M

Restart Apache: service httpd restart

Default admin credentials: admin / zabbix

Configuration file generated: /etc/zabbix/web/zabbix.conf.php

Fix Chinese Character Rendering (if using Chinese language)

Copy a Chinese font (e.g., SimSun or Microsoft YaHei) to the font directory:

cp /path/to/your/font.ttf /usr/share/fonts/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf

Adding a Host

1. Navigate to Configuration → Hosts → Create host
2. Set Host name: test2, Visible name: test2
3. Add to group: demo
4. Interface: IP 192.168.4.19, Port 10050
5. Status: Monitored

Configuring Alerting

Alerts are delivered via users and user groups. For production, combine email with SMS or other channels.

Create a User

Go to Administration → Users → Create user

• Alias: demo, Name: demo, Groups: Zabbix administrators, Password: demo, Auto-login enabled
• Media tab: Add email user@domain.com with Type Email
• Permissions tab: User type Zabbix Super Admin

Logout and login as demo to test.

Monitoring MySQL

Create an Item

Configuration → Hosts (test2) → Items → Create item

• Name: mysql_check
• Key: mysql_alive
• Update interval: 60
• Flexible interval: 300
• New application: MySQL
• Description: MySQL Check

On the agent host, define the user parameter:

vim /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
UserParameter=mysql_alive,mysqladmin ping | grep -c alive
service zabbix-agentd restart

Create a Trigger

Configuration → Hosts (test2) → Triggers → Create trigger

• Name: MySQL down
• Expression: Select item mysql_check, function Last (most recent) T value is NOT N, N=1
• Severity: Disaster
• Dependencies: Add Zabbix agent on {HOST.NAME} is unreachable for 5 minutes

Create a Graph

Configuration → Hosts (test2) → Graphs → Create graph

• Name: mysql status
• Graph type: Normal
• Items: Add mysql_check
• Preview and save

Enable Action

Configuration → Actions: Enable Report problems to Zabbix administrators.

• Action tab: Keep message short (e.g., 70 chars for SMS)
• Conditions: Set defaults
• Operations: Add operation (e.g., from 1 to 3 notifications) and select Send message

Setting Up Email Alerts

Configure mail client

vim /etc/mail.rc
set from=your_email@163.com smtp=smtp.163.com
set smtp-auth-user=your_user smtp-auth-password=your_password smtp-auth=login

Create Alert Script

Scripts must accept three parameters: recipient, subject, body.

vim /var/lib/zabbixsrv/alertscripts/mail.sh
#!/bin/sh
MAIL_TITLE=$2
MAIL_CON=$3
echo "$MAIL_CON" | /bin/mail -s "$MAIL_TITLE" $1
echo "$1 $2 $3" >> /tmp/alert
chmod 755 mail.sh

Configure Media Type

Administration → Media types → Create media type

• Name: send_mail
• Type: Script
• Script name: mail.sh
• Enabled: checked

Assign Media to Users

Edit user demo and admin → Media tab → Add send_mail with email address.

Link Action to Script

Configuration → Actions → Report problems to Zabbix administrators → Operations → Edit → Operation details:

• User group: Zabbix administrators
• Send only to: send_mail

Enable Frontend Messaging (for sound alerts)

User profile → Messaging → Check Frontend messaging

Testing

1. Stop MySQL on the monitored host: service mysqld stop
2. Observe alerts in Monitoring → Dashboard (System status, Host status, Last 20 issues)
3. Check logs: /var/log/zabbixsrv/zabbix_server.log and tail -f /var/log/maillog