Home CentOS How to install and configure Zabbix on CentOS 7

How to install and configure Zabbix on CentOS 7

by Darshana
Published: Updated:
install and configure zabbix on centos

Zabbix is an open-source monitoring software used for collecting metrics from various devices and systems such as networks devices, VM systems, Linux/Windows systems, and cloud services. Zabbix can send notification alerts of issues in any monitored system.

In this tutorial, we shall provide you a guide on installing and configuring Zabbix on CentOS system. Before that let’s take a look at the prerequisites.

Prerequisites

  • Apache web server
  • PHP with required extensions
  • MySQL/ MariaDB server

Installing Zabbix on CentOS

Login to Terminal as root and start firing up the commands below.

Step 1 – Disable SELinux

Open SELinux configuration and edit the file:

vim /etc/sysconfig/selinux

Change “SELINUX=enforcing” to  “SELINUX=disabled”

Save and exit the file. Then reboot the system.

reboot

Step 2 – Install and Configure Apache

Use the following commands:

yum -y install httpd

check service status.

systemctl status httpd.service

If Apache service is not running, start it manually.

systemctl start httpd.service

Enable httpd service on system boot.

systemctl enable httpd

Step 3 – Configure Needed Repositories

Install epel and remi repos.

yum -y install epel-release
yum install http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-7.rpm

Disable PHP 5 repositories and enable PHP 7.2 repo.

yum-config-manager --disable remi-php54
yum-config-manager --enable remi-php72

Step 4 – Install PHP

yum install php php-pear php-cgi php-common php-mbstring php-snmp php-gd php-pecl-mysql php-xml php-mysql php-gettext php-bcmath

Modify the PHP time Zone by editing the php.ini file.

vim /etc/php.ini

Uncomment the following line and add your time zone.

date.timezone = Australia/Sydney

Step 5 – Install MariaDB

yum --enablerepo=remi install mariadb-server

Start the MariaDB service.

systemctl start mariadb.service

Enable MariaDB on system boot.

systemctl enable mariadb

Run the following command to secure MariaDB.

mysql_secure_installation

Add a new root password and continue. Then it will ask a few questions. Type “Y” to agree to that.

MariaDB Secure Installation

MariaDB Secure Installation

Login to DB server and verify.

  mysql -u root -p

Step 6 – Create a Database for Zabbix

You can choose any name for the database in place of fosslinuxzabbix in the below command:

Create database fosslinuxzabbix;

Create a DB user and grant privileges.

create user 'zabbixuser'@'localhost' identified BY '@dfEr234KliT90';
grant all privileges on fosslinuxzabbix.* to zabbixuser@localhost ;

Flush privileges.

flush privileges;

Step 7 – Install Zabbix and needed dependencies

Adding Zabbix repository. Copy the latest download URL from the official website. Paste it in the below command appropriately.

rpm -ivh https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/4.0/rhel/7/x86_64/zabbix-release-4.0-1.el7.noarch.rpm

Install Zabbix.

yum install zabbix-server-mysql  zabbix-web-mysql zabbix-agent zabbix-get
Zabbix Installation

Zabbix Installation

Step 8 –  Configure Zabbix

Change Time Zone by editing the Zabbix Apache configuration file.

vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/zabbix.conf

Uncomment the following line and add your Time Zone.

php_value date.timezone Australia/Sydney

PHP Parameters should look like as follows:

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 max_input_vars 10000
php_value always_populate_raw_post_data -1
php_value date.timezone Australia/Sydney

Restart HTTPD service.

systemctl restart httpd.service

Generally, Zabbix installation package gives SQL file which includes an initial schema and data for the Zabbix server with MySQL.

Change directory and go the Zabbix directory.

cd /usr/share/doc/zabbix-server-mysql-4.0.4/

Import the MySQL dump file.

zcat create.sql.gz | mysql -u zabbixuser -p fosslinuxzabbix
Import SQL Dump

Import SQL Dump

Now modify the Zabbix configuration file with Database details.

vim /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf

Modify the following parameters

DBHost=localhost
DBName=fosslinuxzabbix
DBUser=zabbixuser
DBPassword=@dfEr234KliT90

Then save and exit the file. Restart Zabbix service.

systemctl status zabbix-server.service

Enable Zabbix on system boot.

 systemctl enable zabbix-server.service

Modify firewall rules.

firewall-cmd --add-service={http,https} --permanent
firewall-cmd --add-port={10051/tcp,10050/tcp} --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

Now restart httpd service.

systemctl restart httpd

Step 9 – Setup Zabbix

You can access Zabbix using following URL:

http://Server-Host-Name Or IP /zabbix/

You should see the welcome page.

Zabbix Welcome Page

Zabbix Welcome Page

Click Next.

Check Of Pre-Requisites

Check Of Pre-Requisites

Here you Zabbix will check installed PHP, MySQL/MariaDB versions and parameters, etc.

If you see any parameter failing, you have to modify it and refresh the page.

E.g.:- for PHP parameter you have to modify (/etc/php.ini) file. Click Next.

Configure DB Connection

Configure DB Connection

Add database details and click Next. Then you will see server details, and you can add any name for “Name”.

Zabbix Server Details

Zabbix Server Details

Click Next. You should see the Database details and server details.

Pre-installation Summary

Pre-installation Summary

Click Next to complete the installation.

Successfully Installed

Successfully Installed

Click finish to access the login page.

Login Page

Login Page

The default login name is “admin” and password is “zabbix”. You will go to the Zabbix Dashboard.

Dash Board

Dash Board

Step 10 – Monitor Servers with Zabbix Agent

Zabbix Agent collects the data from the client machine and sends them to the Zabbix Server.  We will install the Zabbix agent on the Ubuntu machine to monitor it.

Execute following commands to install the agent on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. As usual, replace the URL with the latest from the official website.

wget https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/4.0/ubuntu/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_4.0-2+bionic_all.deb
dpkg -i zabbix-release_4.0-2+bionic_all.deb
apt update

Install agent.

apt-get install -y zabbix-agent

Now modify the agent configuration file.

vim  /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf

Modify the following parameters. Replace IP and hostname with yours in the below command:

Server=10.94.10.205
ServerActive=10.94.10.205
Hostname=UbuntuFosslinux

Save and exit the file.

Restart Zabbix agent.

systemctl restart zabbix-agent

Enable on system boot.

systemctl enable zabbix-agent

Step 11 – Add host to monitor on Zabbix server

Go to Configuration > Hosts > Create host.

Create Host

Create Host

Then you will get the interface as follows:

Add New Host

Add New Host

Add Hostname, Visible Name and agent interface IP. Select a group from the list. In our scenario, we are going to monitor the Ubuntu server. So we will select Linux servers from the list.

Select Group

Select Group

Select and go to Template Tab. Then click on the select button and select “Template OS Linux” from the list.

Select Template

Select Template

Click “add,” and it will list linked templates.

Add Template

Add Template

Click on the update button to update.

Step 12 – View Graphs

Go to Monitoring > Graphs. You can select needed group, host and graph to display the graphs.

CPU Graph

CPU Graph

Memory Usage

Memory Usage

Congratulations! You have successfully configured Zabbix server and added hosts to monitor. Let us know your feedback in the comments below.

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24 comments

cartert tune July 24, 2019 - 5:34 PM

Install fails! even when disabling php5.4, it can’t get past dependencies:

–> Processing Conflict: php-mysql-5.4.16-46.el7.x86_64 conflicts php-mysqlnd
–> Finished Dependency Resolution
Error: Package: php-pecl-mysql-1.0.0-0.17.20160812git230a828.el7.remi.7.2.x86_64 (remi-php72)
Requires: php(api) = 20170718-64
Installing: php-common-5.4.16-46.el7.x86_64 (base)
php(api) = 20100412-64
Error: php-mysql conflicts with php-mysqlnd-5.4.16-46.el7.x86_64
Error: Package: php-pecl-mysql-1.0.0-0.17.20160812git230a828.el7.remi.7.2.x86_64 (remi-php72)
Requires: php(zend-abi) = 20170718-64
Installing: php-common-5.4.16-46.el7.x86_64 (base)
php(zend-abi) = 20100525-64
You could try using –skip-broken to work around the problem
You could try running: rpm -Va –nofiles –nodigest

Reply
LSC November 26, 2019 - 11:04 PM

yeah, as per testing I encounter the same errors as you mentioned

Reply
Kevin December 6, 2019 - 6:56 AM

I think you install php-mysqlnd instead php-mysql

Reply
se September 27, 2019 - 11:53 PM

very nice article.

Reply
ap November 5, 2019 - 12:26 AM

Thanks, the best tutorial that works for me than on the official website.

Reply
Ahmed Ali Mohammed December 10, 2019 - 12:55 AM

this article guided the installation completely with php 5.4 errors. the remi repo helped to install php72 flawlessly and setup got successful.

Reply
Mike January 26, 2020 - 8:33 AM

hi guys, there is always issues with php. As I change /etc/httpd/conf.d/zabbix.conf settings, it shows post_max_size, “max_execution_time”, “max_input_time” failed. As I change to any value and restarted httpd, it does not affect to config file and shows the old values. Could u pls help.

Reply
Wilson Humanikwa February 9, 2020 - 2:37 PM

Is there any /etc/php/php.ini or /etc/php.ini file ?

EDIT : to check which php.ini file is used, create a .php file with in it, browse it and look for Loaded configuration file, that should give you the right php.ini file to modify

Reply
Nima February 3, 2020 - 1:15 PM

Thank you so much.
Wish you best

Reply
Antonio Karpilovsky June 15, 2020 - 10:15 AM

Logging in with “admin” | “zabbix” does not work for me.

Reply
idscomm June 20, 2020 - 1:18 PM

upper case “A”

Reply
Navneet September 3, 2020 - 10:09 AM

need to update Admin password in database…

Reply
mohammad November 7, 2020 - 6:58 AM

hi there
at the very first i appreciate all your effort on preparing this very useful article.
i got an issue with timezone part. since i changed the default value meaninng ‘Australia/Sydney’ to ‘Iran/Tehran’ and while i was loading zabbix UI it gave back the timezone erro and when i intend to change the timezone value by /etc/php.ini directory i no longer can change this value like whem i set it to ‘Iran/Tehran’ consequently i can’t access to my VM zabbix UI.
can anybody help me?

Reply
Godfrey Oritseshutieyimi Tutu April 7, 2021 - 6:44 PM

The article is straight forward, thanks.

Reply
Jordi Cathew September 4, 2022 - 6:13 PM

This works great, thank you.

Reply
Karthick October 6, 2022 - 12:52 PM

Hello all,

I’m getting the below issue while trying to access Zabbix in the browser. Kindly help me to fix it.

Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /zabbix/ on this server.

Reply
Aurangzeb October 27, 2022 - 2:56 AM

Hello, my db connection stuck.
incorrect default charset for zabbix database” “utf8mb4” instead “UTF8,UTF8MB3”.

Please help me.

Reply
Md.Manzil November 19, 2022 - 12:13 AM

Incorrect default charset for Zabbix database: “latin1” instead “UTF8,UTF8MB3”.

Reply
Ulugbek November 29, 2022 - 9:55 PM

create database zabbixdb character set utf8 collate utf8_bin;
The “character set” is important to improve the fail

Reply
ok February 2, 2023 - 3:28 AM

Please show me haw to do it. many thanks.

Reply
S'neath March 6, 2023 - 5:00 AM

work well bruhh

Reply
SHAH June 9, 2023 - 2:42 AM

while connecting to DB Connection. I am facing the below error. I have tried to change the variables, tried different solution but issue is still persisting. can u please provide solution
“Details Cannot connect to the database.Incorrect default charset for Zabbix database: “utf8mb4” instead “UTF8,UTF8MB3″..”

Reply
Kiran Kumar June 9, 2023 - 1:19 PM

It appears you’re having a problem connecting to the Zabbix database due to a character set mismatch. The default character set for your database is “utf8mb4”, while Zabbix expects “UTF8” or “UTF8MB3”.

The utf8mb4 character set is capable of storing any unicode character, which is useful for certain applications that need full unicode support. However, Zabbix until version 5.0 does not support utf8mb4.

The solution depends on your MySQL/MariaDB version and your Zabbix version. If your Zabbix version supports utf8mb4 (Zabbix 5.2 and onwards), you should update your Zabbix configuration to use utf8mb4.

If your Zabbix version does not support utf8mb4, you have to change the default character set for your Zabbix database to “UTF8”.

Reply
LMT August 11, 2023 - 8:27 PM

If you stuck at error “Details Cannot connect to the database.Incorrect default charset for Zabbix database: “utf8mb4” instead “UTF8,UTF8MB3″..”, I have a blog to fix this with script
https://viblo.asia/p/zabbix-incorrect-characterset-for-zabbix-database-latin1-instead-utf8-utf8mb3-EoW4oRZXVml

Reply

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