Update path from Zabbix 4 to 6 LTS

[aitorms]

Hello everyone,

Is it possible to update from Zabbix 4.0.15 to Zabbix 6.0 LTS?
I am actually running Zabbix on a production environment under CentOS Linux release 7.7.1908 (Core) and I don't want to start from the beggining configuring everything again...

Is there any guide to do this?

Thank you in advance.

[tim.mooney]

Is it possible to update from Zabbix 4.0.15 to Zabbix 6.0 LTS?

Yes, definitely. That's one of the supported upgrade paths. A lot changed between 4.0 and 6.0, so you'll definitely want to spend time reading the upgrade notes, including the notes for the intervening versions.

I am actually running Zabbix on a production environment under CentOS Linux release 7.7.1908 (Core) and I don't want to start from the beggining configuring everything again...

Ah, that does present a challenge. There are no pre-built packages for the Zabbix 6.x server components for CentOS 7, because the Zabbix developers felt some of CentOS 7's packages were too old. It's possible (but fairly complex) to build your own packages for Zabbix for CentOS 7, but for most sites, I wouldn't recommend that. The Zabbix developers made these decisions before Red Hat changed how CentOS 8 works, though, so now it's hard to know what RPM-based distro to recommend. I keep hoping the Zabbix developers will announce they support Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux, but if they've said anything about supporting those RHEL-compatible systems, I haven't seen it.

Conceptually, what you want to do is move your 4.0.15 install to a newer OS, make sure it's stable, and then upgrade the Zabbix install to 6.0 on the newer OS. The problem is that 4.0 required a much different version of PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, system libraries, etc, than Zabbix 6.0 does, so finding a newer OS that can support both your starting Zabbix version (4.0.15) and your desired target Zabbix version is difficult.

What I strongly recommend you do is upgrade in steps. CentOS 7 can run Zabbix 5.0 LTS server, and it also has access to the necessary PHP 7.x and MariaDB 10.x versions. Start by planning your upgrade on your existing CentOS 7 system, going from Zabbix 4.0.15 to 5.0.21 or whatever is current in the 5.0 LTS. This may require you to update your database (possibly including a dump & restore, depending on what you're running now) before doing the Zabbix 5.0 upgrade, and it will definitely require that you update your PHP to something in the PHP 7.x series as part of your upgrade.

Once you've done that and have 5.0 LTS stable, the move to 6.0 LTS is a lot easier. You're still going to have to install a newer OS distro somewhere and then move/restore your Zabbix 5.0 install there, including the database, but from that point forward the upgrade from Zabbix 5.0 to Zabbix 6.0 is much easier.

If you have specific questions or don't understand something about the process, follow up in this thread. Either I or someone else will likely be able to make suggestions on how to proceed.

[aitorms]

Yes, definitely. That's one of the supported upgrade paths. A lot changed between 4.0 and 6.0, so you'll definitely want to spend time reading the upgrade notes, including the notes for the intervening versions.



Ah, that does present a challenge. There are no pre-built packages for the Zabbix 6.x server components for CentOS 7, because the Zabbix developers felt some of CentOS 7's packages were too old. It's possible (but fairly complex) to build your own packages for Zabbix for CentOS 7, but for most sites, I wouldn't recommend that. The Zabbix developers made these decisions before Red Hat changed how CentOS 8 works, though, so now it's hard to know what RPM-based distro to recommend. I keep hoping the Zabbix developers will announce they support Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux, but if they've said anything about supporting those RHEL-compatible systems, I haven't seen it.

Conceptually, what you want to do is move your 4.0.15 install to a newer OS, make sure it's stable, and then upgrade the Zabbix install to 6.0 on the newer OS. The problem is that 4.0 required a much different version of PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, system libraries, etc, than Zabbix 6.0 does, so finding a newer OS that can support both your starting Zabbix version (4.0.15) and your desired target Zabbix version is difficult.

What I strongly recommend you do is upgrade in steps. CentOS 7 can run Zabbix 5.0 LTS server, and it also has access to the necessary PHP 7.x and MariaDB 10.x versions. Start by planning your upgrade on your existing CentOS 7 system, going from Zabbix 4.0.15 to 5.0.21 or whatever is current in the 5.0 LTS. This may require you to update your database (possibly including a dump & restore, depending on what you're running now) before doing the Zabbix 5.0 upgrade, and it will definitely require that you update your PHP to something in the PHP 7.x series as part of your upgrade.

Once you've done that and have 5.0 LTS stable, the move to 6.0 LTS is a lot easier. You're still going to have to install a newer OS distro somewhere and then move/restore your Zabbix 5.0 install there, including the database, but from that point forward the upgrade from Zabbix 5.0 to Zabbix 6.0 is much easier.

If you have specific questions or don't understand something about the process, follow up in this thread. Either I or someone else will likely be able to make suggestions on how to proceed.

First of all thank you for your answer Tim.

I already upgraded all the packages and components to meet the requirements for Zabbix 6.0 LTS. Now on my Centos 7 I have Zabbix 4.0 running on MySQL 8.0 (with perl, openssl 1.1, PHP 7.4, etc). Do you know if there are any packages of Zabbix 6.0 LTS to CentOS 7? I could not find it on the repository: https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/6.0

I want to try this path. I know that I can deploy a fresh CentOS 8 with MySQL and restore the zabbix database...

PS: Now working with Zabbix 5.0.22

Thanks.

[tim.mooney]

First of all thank you for your answer Tim.

I already upgraded all the packages and components to meet the requirements for Zabbix 6.0 LTS. Now on my Centos 7 I have Zabbix 4.0 running on MySQL 8.0 (with perl, openssl 1.1, PHP 7.4, etc). Do you know if there are any packages of Zabbix 6.0 LTS to CentOS 7? I could not find it on the repository: https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/6.0

Did you build the updated packages (openssl 1.1 especially) yourself, or is there a repo providing them from CentOS 7?

There are not pre-built packages provided by the Zabbix developers for Zabbix 6.0 for CentOS 7. Because CentOS 7 was never going to get official support for some of the updated software you've installed, the developers decided to stop supporting CentOS 7 as a server (and eventually, proxy) platform for Zabbix. They eventually posted about their decision in this Zabbix blog entry:

https://blog.zabbix.com/staying-up-t...ackages/12806/

As far as getting 6.0 on CentOS 7, the Zabbix developers aren't going to do it, but as I said earlier, it's possible once you get the software pre-reqs in place. You've already done that. If you built packages for those pre-reqs, then I definitely believe you have the knowledge and ability to build your own Zabbix 6.0.x packages for CentOS 7. If you have experience packaging any software with RPM already, then you won't have any problem with this. The nice part is you can start with the Zabbix developer's source RPM for 6.0 and just make some minor adjustments to it for your install.