Installing Zabbix on Ubuntu 14.04

Thank to: https://thedutchlab.com

Edit apt source list to add the PPA:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following items at the end of the file:

# Zabbix Application PPA
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/tbfr/zabbix/ubuntu precise main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/tbfr/zabbix/ubuntu precise main

Add the PPA's key so that apt-get trusts the source:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys C407E17D5F76A32B

Set the server it's hostname

echo "zabbix.mydomain.com" > /etc/hostname
hostname -F /etc/hostname

Update /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
52.28.99.149 zabbix.mydomain.com zabbix

Update and install Zabbix server and required packages.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install zabbix-server-mysql php5-mysql zabbix-frontend-php

Memorize the root password you have chosen, you'll need it later. Next edit the Zabbix configuration.

sudo nano /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf

Adjust the following values and make a note of the password you've chosen. You'll need it later too.

DBName=zabbix
DBUser=zabbix
DBPassword=your_chosen_password_here

Also memorize the chosen password because you will need it when setting the rights in the MySQL commands.

Unzip the mysql data for importing them into the database you'll create in the next step.

cd /usr/share/zabbix-server-mysql/
sudo gunzip *.gz

Login to MySql using the root password.

mysql -u root -p

Create a user for Zabbix (and a database) that matches the information we entered in the "/etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf" file.

create user 'zabbix'@'localhost' identified by 'your_chosen_password_here';
create database zabbix;
grant all privileges on zabbix.* to 'zabbix'@'localhost'; flush privileges;
exit;

Next we'll import the schemas into the newly created database.

mysql -u zabbix -p zabbix < schema.sql
mysql -u zabbix -p zabbix < images.sql
mysql -u zabbix -p zabbix < data.sql

Edit a few PHP settings by modifying the php.ini file.

sudo nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Search and adjust the following data. (Or add them if they can't be found.)

post_max_size = 16M
max_execution_time = 300
max_input_time = 300
date.timezone = "Europe/Amsterdam"

Next copy the example config to the /etc/zabbix directory. Then make the necessary adjustments too.

sudo cp /usr/share/doc/zabbix-frontend-php/examples/zabbix.conf.php.example /etc/zabbix/zabbix.conf.php
sudo nano /etc/zabbix/zabbix.conf.php

$DB['DATABASE'] = 'zabbix';
$DB['USER'] = 'zabbix';
$DB['PASSWORD'] = 'your_chosen_password_here'

Then copy the example apache config to the /etc/apache2/conf-available/ directory to make Zabbix and Apache work together.

sudo cp /usr/share/doc/zabbix-frontend-php/examples/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf-available/zabbix.conf
sudo a2enconf zabbix.conf
sudo a2enmod alias
sudo service apache2 restart
sudo nano /etc/default/zabbix-server

Go to the bottom and adjust the "START" property to read "yes":

START=yes

And start the Zabbix server.

sudo service zabbix-server start

If you would like to have zabbix running on the root of the domain instead of /zabbix execute the following;

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

And set the "DocumentRoot" like this;

DocumentRoot /usr/share/zabbix

Then restart Apache.

Installing Zabbix agent(s) on server machines.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install zabbix-agent
sudo nano /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf

Look for: Server=localhost (or Server=127.0.0.1) and change 'localhost' with the IP address of your Zabbix install.

Save and close the file and restart the agent software:

sudo service zabbix-agent restart

In your web browser, navigate to your Zabbix server's IP address followed by "/zabbix": http://xx.xx.xx.xx/zabbix

Use the following default credentials to login.

Username = admin
Password = zabbix

When you have logged in, click on the "Configuration" button, and then "Hosts" in the top navigation bar.

Click on the name of the server (by default, this should be "Zabbix server"). This will open the host configuration page. Adjust the Hostname to reflect the hostname of your Zabbix server (this should be the same hostname you entered in the agent configuration for the server machine). At the bottom, change the "Status" property to "Monitored". Click save.

You will be dopped back to the Hosts configuration page. Re-click on the hostname again. This time, click on the "Clone" button at the bottom of the page. We will configure this to reflect the settings of the client machine. Change the hostname and the IP address to reflect the correct information from the client agent file.

In the "groups" section, select "Zabbix servers" and click the right arrow icon to remove that group. Select the "Linux servers" and click the left arrow icon to add that group setting.

Click "Save" at the bottom. After a few minutes, you should be able to see both computers by going to "Monitoring" and then clicking on "Latest data"
 There should be information for both the server and client machines populating.

If you click on the arrows next to an item, you can see the collected information. If you click "Graph" you will see a graphical representation of the data points that have been collected: