How To Install Zabbix 3.4 Server On CentOS 7 / RHEL 7

About Zabbix

Zabbix is a free and open source network monitoring Software tool which is used to monitor and track the availability and performance of your IT infrastracture: servers, network devices and other IT assets.

In this article we will install Zabbix 3.4 on CentOS 7 and RHEL 7, in order to use Zabbix we required a Web Server (Apache), database server(Mysql, Mariadb, Postgresql …) and PHP to work.

Environment:

• Hostname = zabbix.yallalabs.com
• IP Address = 192.168.1.200
• OS = CentOS 7 / RHEL 7

Before we begin, note that I have installed lamp stack in my server:

[root@zabbix ~]# yum update
[root@zabbix ~]# yum install httpd -y
[root@zabbix ~]# yum install php php-cli php-common php-devel php-pear php-gd php-mbstring php-mysql php-xml -y
[root@zabbix ~]# yum install mariadb-server -y
[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl enable httpd && systemctl start httpd
[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl enable mariadb && systemctl start mariadb 

– Don’t forget to set a password for the root using mysql_secure_installtion, take a look to this tutorial: Securing MySQL server / Mariadb with mysql_secure_installation 

Step 1 – Install Zabbix Server with MySQL

Before starting the installation we need to enable the zabbix repository using this commands:

[root@zabbix ~]# rpm --import http://repo.zabbix.com/RPM-GPG-KEY-ZABBIX
[root@zabbix ~]# rpm -ivh http://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/3.4/rhel/7/x86_64/zabbix-release-3.4-1.el7.centos.noarch.rpm

 
Now use the below command to install Zabbix and necessary packages

[root@zabbix ~]# yum install zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-web-mysql zabbix-agent zabbix-get zabbix-sender zabbix-java-gateway -y

 

Step 2 – Edit PHP timezone

Open the file /etc/httpd/conf.d/zabbix.conf created by Zabbix with your favourite editer

[root@zabbix ~]# vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/zabbix.conf

 
It’s necessary to uncomment the “date.timezone” setting and set the right timezone for you.

php_value date.timezone Europe/Rome

 
– Save the file and don’t forget to reload httpd service using the below command:

[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl reload httpd

 

Step 3 – Edit create and import initial zabbix database and user

First we need to create zabbix database (zabbixdb) and create a zabbix user (zabbixuser).

[root@zabbix ~]# mysql -u root -p
Enter password: 
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 10
Server version: 5.5.47-MariaDB MariaDB Server
Copyright (c) 2000, 2015, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE zabbixdb CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec) 
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON zabbixdb.* TO zabbixuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY "Password";
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
MariaDB [(none)]> exit
Bye
[root@zabbix ~]#

 
– After creating the zabbix database and user we need to import the zabbix initial database using the below commands:

[root@zabbix ~]# zcat /usr/share/doc/zabbix-server-mysql-3.4.0/create.sql.gz | mysql -uroot -p zabbixdb

 
– Now we need to edit database configuration in the zabbix server configuration file zabbix_server.conf

[root@zabbix ~]# vi /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf

 
Specify the database name for zabbix , database user name and the password

DBHost=localhost
DBName=zabbixdb
DBUser=zabbixuser
DBPassword=Password

 

Step 4 – Set SELinux settings and adjust Firewall

– Having SELinux status enabled in enforcing mode, you need to execute the following command to enable successful connection of Zabbix frontend to the server

[root@zabbix ~]# setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect=1
[root@zabbix ~]# setsebool -P httpd_can_connect_zabbix=1
[root@zabbix ~]# setsebool -P zabbix_can_network=1

 

– SELinux configuration is done, you need to restart Apache web server:

[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl start httpd

– Execute the following command to enable http service and connection between the Zabbix server and agents:

[root@zabbix ~]# firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
success
[root@zabbix ~]# firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=10051/tcp
success
[root@zabbix ~]# firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=10050/tcp
success
[root@zabbix ~]# firewall-cmd --reload
success

 

– After adjusting the Selinux settings and the firewall we need to enable and start zabbix service on boot using the bellow commands

[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl enable zabbix-server 
[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl start zabbix-server
[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl enable zabbix-agent 
[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl start zabbix-agent

 

Note: If you have issues starting the zabbix-server daemon and the zabbix-agent daemon and you got this error “Job for zabbix-server.service failed because a configured resource limit was exceeded. See “systemctl status zabbix-server.service” and “journalctl -xe” for details“, you need to set Selinux roles using the audit2allow command:

[root@zabbix ~]# yum install policycoreutils-python -y

 
* SELINUX for Zabbix-agent:

[root@zabbix ~]# cat /var/log/audit/audit.log | grep zabbix_agentd | grep denied | audit2allow -M zabbix_agent_setrlimit
[root@zabbix ~]# semodule -i zabbix_agent_setrlimit.pp

 
* SELINUX for Zabbix-server:

[root@zabbix ~]# cat /var/log/audit/audit.log | grep zabbix_server | grep denied | audit2allow -M zabbix_server_setrlimit
[root@zabbix ~]# semodule -i zabbix_server_setrlimit.pp

– Finaly:

[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl start zabbix-server
[root@zabbix ~]# systemctl start zabbix-agent

Step 5 – Configure Zabbix via Web console

– Navigate to http://ip_address/zabbix or http://host_name/zabbix

– Make sure that all software prerequisites are met.

– Enter details for connecting to the database. Zabbix database must already be created.

– Enter Zabbix server details.

– Review a summary of settings.

– Finish the installation.

– Now you’ll be redirected to the zabbix web console page. The default user name is Admin and the password is zabbix .

 

Last thing to do is to enable your server zabbix to be monitored: go to Configuration -> Hosts. Select the host (zabbix server) and click “Disabled”

 
We hope this tutorial was enough Helpful. If you need more information, or have any questions, just comment below and we will be glad to assist you!