InstallingZabbix - AlexisWiki

Introduction

This page describes how AlexisHuxley installed Zabbix server and client on several Debian systems (see Computing for a list of systems). Ultimately, I removed Zabbix due to the bad features listed below.

Zabbix has the following good features:

configuration done via web interface
alerts and trending in one package
a cleaner "look" than Nagios

Zabbix has the following bad features:

inconvenient object hierarchy (e.g. tests can only be defined within a template, but hosts are clearly expected to use only one template, which leads to difficulty providing per-host thresholds or application for the tests)
dashboard not very configurable
Debian squeeze package fails to install cleanly
confusing terminology

Procedures

zabbix-server/sqlite3

This method was not successful, but is recorded in case I ever solve it and want to repeat this.

Nominate a system running Debian squeeze as the server.
Download zabbix-1.8.3.tar.gz.lenny
As root run:
```
grep zabbix /etc/services 
```
and verify if entries are displayed. (This is because I am not sure of the installation and removal of the native Debian packages created these entries or if they were there already.)

Run:

groupadd --system zabbix
useradd --home-dir=/var/local/zabbix --gid=zabbix --shell=/bin/bash --system --create-home zabbix
apt-get install libsqlite3-dev libjabberd2-dev libiksemel-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libsnmp-dev libopenipmi-dev

Su to zabbix and run:

tar xzf ~alexis/zabbix-1.8.3.tar.gz 
cd zabbix-1.8.3/
mkdir -p ~/sqlite
sqlite3 ~/sqlite/zabbix.db < create/schema/sqlite.sql
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3 --sysconfdir=/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc --enable-server --with-sqlite3 --with-net-snmp --with-jabber --with-libcurl --enable-agent --with-openipmi
make

As root run:

cd ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/
make install
cp -r ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/frontends/php /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1
ln -s /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/share/php /var/www/zabbix

If necessary (see above commands), as root, run:

echo -e zabbix-agent    10050/tcp  Zabbix Agent\nzabbix-agent    10050/udp  Zabbix Agent\nzabbix-trapper  10051/tcp  Zabbix Trapper\nzabbix-trapper  10051/udp  Zabbix Trapper" >> /etc/services

As root run:

cp ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/misc/conf/zabbix_agentd.conf /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc
cp ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/misc/conf/zabbix_server.conf /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc
#  The '--sysconfdir' setting above does not work, so run this.
ln -s /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc /etc/zabbix

Edit the zabbix_server.conf file and change:
```
DBName=/var/local/zabbix/sqlite/zabbix.db 
```

As zabbix run:

/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/sbin/zabbix_server
/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/sbin/zabbix_agentd

As root run:

apt-get install php5 php5-gd php5-sqlite
#  PHP won't work without this
service apache2 reload

Visit http://ziti/zabbix and, once you are past the license acceptance screens, you see several settings that need to be be fixed.

Edit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini and set:

memory_limit = 256M
post_max_size = 32M
upload_max_filesize = 16M
max_execution_time = 600
max_input_time = 600
date.timezone = Europe/Berlin

this will leave only this failing:

PHP databases support   no                      Fail

Download the PHP module sources sqlite3-0.5.tgz.

As root run:

apt-get install libsqlite3-dev php5-dev

Run:

cd
tar xzf ~sqlite3-0.5.tgz
cd sqlite3-0.5/
phpize
./configure
make

but this will fail with something like:

/var/local/zabbix/sqlite3-0.5/php_sqlite3.c:4:1: warning: "COMPILE_DL_SQLITE3" redefined
In file included from /usr/include/php5/TSRM/tsrm_config.h:1,
                 from /usr/include/php5/TSRM/tsrm_config_common.h:17,
                 from /usr/include/php5/TSRM/tsrm_virtual_cwd.h:26,
                 from /usr/include/php5/main/php.h:414,
                 from /var/local/zabbix/sqlite3-0.5/php_sqlite3.c:1:
/usr/include/php5/main/../main/php_config.h:233:1: warning: this is the location of the previous definition
/var/local/zabbix/sqlite3-0.5/php_sqlite3.c: In function ‘zif_sqlite3_bind_text’:
/var/local/zabbix/sqlite3-0.5/php_sqlite3.c:474: error: ‘zval’ has no member named ‘refcount’
/var/local/zabbix/sqlite3-0.5/php_sqlite3.c: In function ‘zif_sqlite3_bind_blob’:
/var/local/zabbix/sqlite3-0.5/php_sqlite3.c:507: error: ‘zval’ has no member named ‘refcount’
make: *** [php_sqlite3.lo] Error 1

(I suspect that this is because sqlite3-0.5 is quite old.)

zabbix-server/mysql

This procedure was done prior to the submission of BTS#607449, which the correct way to install Debian's zabbix-mysql-server package.

Nominate a system running Debian squeeze as the server.
Download zabbix-1.8.3.tar.gz.
As root run:
```
grep zabbix /etc/services 
```
and verify if entries are displayed. (This is because I am not sure of the installation and removal of the native Debian packages created these entries or if they were there already.)

Run:

groupadd --system zabbix
useradd --home-dir=/var/local/zabbix --gid=zabbix --shell=/bin/bash --system --create-home zabbix
apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client libjabberd2-dev libiksemel-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libsnmp-dev libopenipmi-dev php5 php5-gd
#  PHP won't work without this
service apache2 reload

Create the database by running:

apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client libmysqld-dev
mysql
CREATE DATABASE zabbix character set utf8;
CREATE USER 'zabbix'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'zabbix';
GRANT ALL ON zabbix.* TO 'zabbix'@'localhost';
quit

Populate the database by running:

mysql -uzabbix -pzabbix zabbix < create/schema/mysql.sql 
mysql -uzabbix -pzabbix zabbix < create/data/data.sql  
mysql -uzabbix -pzabbix zabbix < create/data/images_mysql.sql

Su to zabbix and run:

tar xzf ~alexis/zabbix-1.8.3.tar.gz 
cd zabbix-1.8.3/
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3 --sysconfdir=/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc --enable-server --with-mysql --with-net-snmp --with-jabber --with-libcurl --enable-agent --with-openipmi
make

As root run:

cd ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/
make install
#  Fix the '--sysconfdir' problem
mkdir -p /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc
ln -s /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc /etc/zabbix
mkdir -p /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/share/frontends
cp -r frontends/php /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/share/frontends/php
#  the web interface will want to save a config file so ensure right ownership
chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/share/frontends/php
ln -s /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/share/frontends/php /var/www/zabbix

If necessary (see above commands), as root, run:

echo -e zabbix-agent    10050/tcp  Zabbix Agent\nzabbix-agent    10050/udp  Zabbix Agent\nzabbix-trapper  10051/tcp  Zabbix Trapper\nzabbix-trapper  10051/udp  Zabbix Trapper" >> /etc/services

As root run:

cp ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/misc/conf/zabbix_agentd.conf /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc
cp ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/misc/conf/zabbix_server.conf /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc

Edit /usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/etc/zabbix_server.conf file and change:
```
DBUser=zabbix
DBPassword=zabbix 
```

As zabbix run:

/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/sbin/zabbix_server
/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3/sbin/zabbix_agentd

As root run:

apt-get install php5 php5-gd php5-mysql
#  PHP won't work without this
service apache2 reload

Visit http://<'hostname'>/zabbix and, once you are past the license acceptance screens, you see several settings that need to be be fixed.

Edit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini and set:

memory_limit = 256M
post_max_size = 32M
upload_max_filesize = 16M
max_execution_time = 600
max_input_time = 600
date.timezone = Europe/Berlin

this will leave only this failing:

Set up the init.d scripts to start the server by running:

cp ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/misc/init.d/debian/zabbix-server /etc/init.d/
perl -pi -e 's@/home/zabbix@/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3@g' /etc/init.d/zabbix-server
perl -pi -e 's@^(DAEMON=.*)/bin/(.*)@$1/sbin/$2@g' /etc/init.d/zabbix-server
perl -pi -e 's@^(#!.*)@$1\n### BEGIN INIT INFO\n# Provides:          zabbix-server\n# Required-Start:    mysql\n# Required-Stop:     mysql\n# Should-Start:\n# Should-Stop:\n# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5\n# Default-Stop:      0 1 6\n# Short-Description: Start and stop the Zabbix server daemon\n### END INIT INFO@' /etc/init.d/zabbix-server
update-rc.d zabbix-server defaults

zabbix-server/postgres

Not covered.

zabbix-agent on the zabbix server

Edit /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf and set:

Server=ziti.pasta.net
Hostname=noodle.pasta.net

As root run:
```
service zabbix-agent restart 
```

Set up the init.d scripts to start the agent by running:

cp ~zabbix/zabbix-1.8.3/misc/init.d/debian/zabbix-agent /etc/init.d/
perl -pi -e 's@/home/zabbix@/usr/local/opt/zabbix-1.8.3@g' /etc/init.d/zabbix-agent
perl -pi -e 's@^(DAEMON=.*)/bin/(.*)@$1/sbin/$2@g' /etc/init.d/zabbix-agent
perl -pi -e 's@^(#!.*)@$1\n### BEGIN INIT INFO\n# Provides:          zabbix-agent\n# Required-Start:\n# Required-Stop:\n# Should-Start:    zabbix-server\n# Should-Stop:     zabbix-server\n# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5\n# Default-Stop:      0 1 6\n# Short-Description: Start and stop the Zabbix agent daemon\n### END INIT INFO@' /etc/init.d/zabbix-agent
update-rc.d zabbix-agent defaults

zabbix-agent on all other systems

As root run:
```
apt-get install zabbix-agent 
```

Edit /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf and set:

Server=ziti.pasta.net
Hostname=noodle.pasta.net

Navigation

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User

Introduction

Procedures

zabbix-server/sqlite3

zabbix-server/mysql

zabbix-server/postgres

zabbix-agent on the zabbix server

zabbix-agent on all other systems

See also