1 Installation and first steps

To set up Zabbix from scratch, follow this process:

1. Ensure required software is installed and running
2. Install Zabbix
3. Install Zabbix web interface
4. Start monitoring

More details on each step follow.

Required software

Zabbix works well with the following software (often called the LAMP stack):

• Linux operating system: Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, or others
• Web server: Apache or NGINX
• Database server: MySQL/MariaDB or PostgreSQL
• PHP

On most modern Linux systems, PHP may already be installed. In that case, you may only need to set up the database server and web server.

For more detailed information, such as software supported versions, see Required software.

Install Zabbix

The easiest way of installing Zabbix is from distribution packages. The packages install minor software dependencies.

Precise installation instructions, tailored for your operating system, are available on the Zabbix website.

Select your platform and follow the instructions provided. It is recommended to install a Zabbix server, a Zabbix agent 2 and the frontend (web interface) for a start. You may add Zabbix proxies and more agents later.

Part of the installation process is creating a database (for keeping configuration and history data) and importing initial data into it.

Install Zabbix web interface

Complete the steps of the web interface installation wizard.

You will be asked for the database password (created in the previous step), so that the frontend can communicate with the database.

Start monitoring

Log in to the Zabbix web interface.

Use quickstart guides to start monitoring popular resources (Linux, Apache, MySQL, or other). These quick guides explain which templates you want to work with to start monitoring popular resources.

You may want to start with the quickstart guide for monitoring a Linux server.