Monitoring Server: Install Zabbix on an Ubuntu 16.04 Server

Monitoring Server – What is Zabbix

Zabbix is an enterprise-class open source distributed monitoring server solution. The software monitors different parameters of a network and the integrity of a server, and also allows the configuration of email based alerts for any event. Zabbix offers reporting and data visualization features based on the data stored in a database (MySQL, for example). Every metric collected by the software is accessible through a web-based interface.

Zabbix is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2), totally free of cost.

In this tutorial we will install Zabbix on an Ubuntu 16.04 server running MySQL, Apache and PHP.

Install the Zabbix Server

First, we’ll need to install a few PHP modules required by Zabbix:

# apt-get install php7.0-bcmath php7.0-xml php7.0-mbstring

Install the repository package by executing the following commands:

$ wget http://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/3.2/ubuntu/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_3.2-1+xenial_all.deb
# dpkg -i zabbix-release_3.2-1+xenial_all.deb

Then update the

packages source:

# apt-get update

Install the Zabbix agent:

# apt-get install zabbix-agent

Zabbix is now installed. The next step is to configure a database for storing its data.

Configure MySQL for Zabbix

We need to create a new MySQL database, in which Zabbix will store the collected data.

Start the MySQL shell:

$ mysql -uroot -p

Next:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE zabbix CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON zabbix.* TO zabbix@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'usr_strong_pwd';
Query OK, 0 rows affected, 1 warning (0.00 sec)

mysql> EXIT;
Bye

Next, import the initial schema and data.

# zcat /usr/share/doc/zabbix-server-mysql/create.sql.gz | mysql -uzabbix -p zabbix

Enter the password for the zabbix user created in the MySQL shell.

Next, we need to edit the Zabbix Server configuration file, which is

:

# $EDITOR /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf

Search the

section of the file:

### Option: DBPassword                           

#       Database password. Ignored for SQLite.   

#       Comment this line if no password is used.

#                                                

# Mandatory: no                                  

# Default:                                       

# DBPassword=

Uncomment the

line and edit by adding the password created in MySQL:

DBPassword=<span class="highlight">usr_strong_pwd</span>

Next, look for the

line and uncomment it.

Save and exit.

Configure PHP

We need to configure PHP for working with Zabbix. During the installation process, the installer created a configuration file in

, named

. Open this file:

# $EDITOR /etc/zabbix/apache.conf

Here, right now, it’s necessary only to uncomment the

setting and set the correct timezone:

&lt;IfModule <strong>mod_php7</strong>.c&gt;

    php_value max_execution_time 300

    php_value memory_limit 128M

    php_value post_max_size 16M

    php_value upload_max_filesize 2M

    php_value max_input_time 300

    php_value always_populate_raw_post_data -1

    <strong><span class="highlight">php_value date.timezone Europe/Rome</span></strong>

&lt;/IfModule&gt;

Save and exit.

At this point, restart Apache and start the Zabbix Server service, enabling it for starting at boot time:

# systemctl restart apache2
# systemctl start zabbix-server
# systemctl enable zabbix-server

:

This command should output:

â zabbix-server.service - Zabbix Server
 Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/zabbix-server.service; enabled; vendor pr
 Active: active (running) ...

At this point, the server-side part of Zabbix has been correctly installed and configured.

Configure Zabbix Web Fronted

As mentioned in the introduction, Zabbix has a web-based front-end which we’ll use for visualizing collected data. However, this interface has to be configured.

With a web browser, go to URL

.

Click on Next step

Be sure that all the values are Ok, and then click on Next step again.

Insert the MySQL zabbix user password, and then click on Next step.

Click on Next step, and the installer will show the following page with all the configuration parameters. Check again to ensure that everything is correct..

Click finish to complete the front-end installation. The default user name is Admin with zabbix as the password.

Getting Started with the Zabbix Server