schema.sql, images.sql and data.sql files are located in the database subdirectory of Zabbix sources. If Zabbix was installed from distribution packages, refer to the distribution documentation.

For a Zabbix proxy database, only schema.sql should be imported (no images.sql nor data.sql)

UTF-8 is the only encoding supported by Zabbix. It is known to work without any security flaws. Users should be aware that there are known security issues if using some of the other encodings.

MySQL

Character set utf8 and utf8_bin collation is required for Zabbix server to work properly with MySQL database.

shell> mysql -uroot -p<password>
mysql> create database zabbix character set utf8 collate utf8_bin;
mysql> grant all privileges on zabbix.* to zabbix@localhost identified by '<password>';
mysql> quit;

If you use Zabbix packages continue with instructions for Debian/Ubuntu or RHEL/CentOS to import the data into the database.

shell> cd database/mysql
shell> mysql -uzabbix -p<password> zabbix < schema.sql
# stop here if you are creating database for Zabbix proxy
shell> mysql -uzabbix -p<password> zabbix < images.sql
shell> mysql -uzabbix -p<password> zabbix < data.sql

PostgreSQL

You need to have database user with permissions to create database objects. The following shell command will create user zabbix. Specify password when prompted and repeat password (note, you may first be asked for sudo password):

shell> sudo -u postgres createuser --pwprompt zabbix

Now we will set up the database zabbix (last parameter) with the previously created user as the owner (-O zabbix) and import initial schema and data (assuming you are in the root directory of Zabbix sources):

shell> sudo -u postgres createdb -O zabbix -E Unicode -T template0 zabbix

If you use Zabbix packages continue with instructions for Debian/Ubuntu or RHEL/CentOS to import the data into the database.

shell> cd database/postgresql
shell> cat schema.sql | sudo -u zabbix psql zabbix
# stop here if you are creating database for Zabbix proxy
shell> cat images.sql | sudo -u zabbix psql zabbix
shell> cat data.sql | sudo -u zabbix psql zabbix

The above commands are provided as an example that will work in most of GNU/Linux installations. You can use different commands, e. g. "psql -U <username>" depending on how your system/database are configured. If you have troubles setting up the database please consult your Database administrator.

TimescaleDB

Support of TimescaleDB has been added on experimental basis in Zabbix 4.2.0.

Currently TimescaleDB is not supported by Zabbix proxy.

We assume that TimescaleDB extension has been already installed on the database server (see installation instructions).

TimescaleDB extension must also be enabled for the specific DB by executing:

echo "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS timescaledb CASCADE;" | sudo -u postgres psql zabbix

Running this command requires database administrator privileges.

If you use a database schema other than 'public' you need to add a SCHEMA clause to the command above. E.g.:
echo "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS timescaledb SCHEMA yourschema CASCADE;" | sudo -u postgres psql zabbix

The timescaledb.sql script is located in database/postgresql. The script must be run after the regular PostgreSQL database has been created with initial schema/data (see section above):

cat timescaledb.sql | sudo -u zabbix psql zabbix

Note that the timescaledb.sql script sets the following housekeeping parameters (from Administration → General → Housekeeping):

Override item history period
Override item trend period

In order to use partitioned housekeeping for history and trends both these options must be enabled. It's possible to use TimescaleDB partitioning only for trends (by setting Override item trend period) or only for history (Override item history period).

You may want to run the timescaledb-tune tool provided by TimescaleDB to optimize PostgreSQL configuration parameters in your postgresql.conf.

Oracle

We assume that a zabbix database user with password password exists and has permissions to create database objects in ORCL service located on the host Oracle database server with a user shell user having write access to /tmp directory. Zabbix requires a Unicode database character set and a UTF8 national character set. Check current settings:

sqlplus> select parameter,value from v$nls_parameters where parameter='NLS_CHARACTERSET' or parameter='NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET';

If you are creating a database for Zabbix server you need to have images from Zabbix sources on the host where Oracle is running. Copy them to a directory /tmp/zabbix_images on the Oracle host:

shell> cd /path/to/zabbix-sources
shell> ssh user@oracle_host "mkdir /tmp/zabbix_images"
shell> scp -r misc/images/png_modern user@oracle_host:/tmp/zabbix_images/

Now prepare the database:

shell> cd /path/to/zabbix-sources/database/oracle
shell> sqlplus zabbix/password@oracle_host/ORCL
sqlplus> @schema.sql
# stop here if you are creating database for Zabbix proxy
sqlplus> @images.sql
sqlplus> @data.sql

Please set the initialization parameter CURSOR_SHARING=FORCE for best performance.

Now the temporary directory can be removed:

shell> ssh user@oracle_host "rm -rf /tmp/zabbix_images"

IBM DB2

shell> db2 "create database zabbix using codeset utf-8 territory us pagesize 32768"
shell> cd database/ibm_db2
shell> db2batch -d zabbix -f schema.sql
# stop here if you are creating database for Zabbix proxy
shell> db2batch -d zabbix -f images.sql
shell> db2batch -d zabbix -f data.sql

It is important to set UTF-8 locale for Zabbix server, Zabbix proxy and the web server running Zabbix frontend. Otherwise text information from Zabbix will be interpreted by IBM DB2 server as non-UTF-8 and will be additionally converted on the way from Zabbix to the database and back. The database will store corrupted non-ASCII characters.

Zabbix frontend uses OFFSET and LIMIT clauses in SQL queries. For this to work, IBM DB2 server must have DB2_COMPATIBILITY_VECTOR variable be set to 3. Run the following command before starting the database server:

shell> db2set DB2_COMPATIBILITY_VECTOR=3

SQLite

Using SQLite is supported for Zabbix proxy only!

If using SQLite with Zabbix proxy, database will be automatically created if it does not exist.

shell> cd database/sqlite3
shell> sqlite3 /var/lib/sqlite/zabbix.db < schema.sql

Return to the installation section.

What’s next?

2 Zabbix agent on Microsoft Windows

Docs

1 Database creation

Overview