Introduction
In this article, I describe the process of installing Zabbix on a server running Oracle Linux 8.6.
Zabbix is a powerful network monitoring tool that helps simplify troubleshooting by providing detailed insights into the health of your hardware and servers directly through a centralized control panel. With Zabbix, you can monitor various hardware components, track resource loads, and proactively detect issues before they impact your infrastructure.
From my personal experience using Zabbix’s control panel, it proved invaluable in identifying network loops after we integrated a Cisco router. The system allows you to monitor traffic on any device port in an intuitive and user-friendly format, making network management significantly easier and more efficient.
Unique options of Zabbix
- Automatic alarm processing;
- Tracking application and database status;
- Automatic monitoring of performance and resource utilization;
- Automatic problem detection and warnings;
- Simple alert configuration;
- Tracking and analyzing network traffic;
- Automatic generation of graphs;
- Tracking and analyzing of hosts, services, and events;
- Easy and effective monitoring software;
- Powerful load balancing mechanism;
- Integration with other applications;
- Built-in administration tools;
- Ability to view monitoring history;
- Ability to customize the user interface;
- Simple and fast software update.
Requirements
Required for operability:
- A server running a Linux Oracle operating system;
- Updated application and system packages;
- A MySQL or PostgreSQL database installed.
Getting started
Update the system.
yum updatePerform a reboot of the system after the upgrade is complete.
systemctl rebootInstall MySQL database.
sudo dnf install @mysql:8.0You must add service to startup menu, and run service permanently.
sudo systemctl enable --now mysqldConfirm that service «DB» is running.
Install software of monitoring system
Commit repo for your data base.
rpm -Uvh https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/6.0/rhel/8/x86_64/zabbix-release-6.0-4.el8.noarch.rpm
dnf clean all
When command running, dnf removes downloaded cache of packages and also any temporary files which created during setup or package upgrade process. Could be useful if you are experiencing problems with package cache or want to free up disk space.
However, remember that running this command will remove any downloaded packages you may need in the future, so make sure you do not need these packages in the future before completing and trying our command.
Install necessary packages.
dnf install zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-web-mysql zabbix-apache-conf zabbix-sql-scripts zabbix-selinux-policy zabbix-agentpReconfigure database
Before creation «DB» check out service turn on and running at background.
Create person for control panel.
create database name_of_db character set utf8mb4 collate utf8mb4_bin;
create user zabbix@your_domain identified by 'password';
grant all privileges on zabbix.* to zabbix@your_domain;
set global log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1;
quit;Initialize necessary scripts , after complete task you must specify the user password.
zcat /usr/share/zabbix-sql-scripts/mysql/server.sql.gz | mysql --default-character-set=utf8mb4 -uzabbix -p ZabbixChange parameter.
set global log_bin_trust_functuin_creators = 0; Change config of your «DB».
nano /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf
Is a «DB» system variable may controls whether profile/user can: configure; modify: functions; triggers. System will recorded all data in a binary change log.
If this variable is set to 1, any user with SUPER or EVENT_SCHEDULER privileges can: build; modify functions; triggers which are created and stored in binary change.log without any restrictions.
Otherwise only users with SUPER privilege can be changed & modify functions or triggers which are written to the binary file.
Check
Enable at the systemctl.
systemctl restart zabbix-server zabbix-agent httpd php-fpm && systemctl enable zabbix-server zabbix-agent httpd php-fpmOpen web browser, and use this link for example "x.x.x.x/zabbix" where x.x.x.x is your server ip address.
Confirm installation at your web browser, dont forget password that u specify at setup.
After success setup, you will see authorization window.
For authorization to your control panel use "Admin" and "password".
This is example of my cisco swich, which has been added to monitoring system.
Analogues
Nagios — other free software that provides deep integration with various products for monitoring different aspects of your network.
Cacti — is a data collection and visualisation software for network performance. It allows users to create their own graphs and charts to monitor network performance.
Observium — is network device monitoring software that provides a great interface for monitoring your network. It allows users to create custom charts and graphs to analyze performance data in different contexts.
Icinga — other free software that provides users with an intuitive interface for setting up network monitoring.
Differences between Zabbix and other peers
- It has a more powerful data collection engine, namely a full-fledged SNMP core, which allows us to monitor the network more accurately;
- It has a more user-friendly interface for network monitoring and configuration;
- It offers more flexible and powerful automation mechanisms for creating triggers and rules that allow you to quickly respond to comments and prevent potential problems in the future;
- It provides a wider range of tools for monitoring and analyzing network performance.
Output
Explore the best software solutions available for identifying and diagnosing issues on your local area network (LAN). In this guide, we highlight the advantages of Zabbix compared to other network monitoring tools, focusing on its powerful features, scalability, and ease of use.
We also walk through the complete process of installing and configuring the Zabbix monitoring system on Oracle Linux 8.6, enabling you to gain real-time insights into your network performance and infrastructure health.
