Best way to connect a DB Server

[Samwarez]

I am looking to deploy Zabbix in our organization to replace our failing Cacti/Nagios/Ichinga/PRTG/horrid-mess-o-perl-scripts system.

I did some math and I think a separate DB server would be the best way to go, but there is one thing I am stumped on. What is the best way to connect the zabbix server to the DB server? would ethernet work just fine, or is there a better option out there? I was really thinking some sort of direct connection between the two would be better than bogging down our router with the constant traffic.

Also, could there be any issues with running other databases on the same server? I am hoping to use this opportunity to consolidate the databases for several systems into one dedicated DB server.

If it matters, the needed performance for Zabbix(calculated from rough estimates):
~140 NVPS (this could go way up)
~7500 Devices

Thank you

[tritsako]

Hi Samwarez,

With distributed zabbix infrastructure, Yes, Ethernet will work fine.
All in one server zabbix is working just fine but for small monitored environments. In large environments, zabbix is better be installed on distributed infrastructure, one Zabbix server and one DB Server, for performance reasons.

See the below url, it might help you.

https://www.zabbix.com/documentation/3.0/manual/installation/requirements

Costas

[peatb]

An ethernet connection will be fine. If you're worried about your router you could try creating a direct ethernet connection (second network interface in both machines on different subnet or even crossover cable).

The database is by far the part of zabbix with the highest load. You can of course run other databases on the same server but you could end up with performance issues. Of course this depends on the size of your environment and the database hardware. If you can afford it and expect your zabbix environment to grow, use a dedicated database.

[Samwarez]

Thank You, I am definitely planning on using a separate server for the database. I have been reading through the forums and getting a good idea what sort of specs I need, and I am finding some good deals on hardware that exceeds the spec of some much larger deployments. Also, the other databases are relatively small and currently running off some old opteron64 systems, so I don't think they will add much.

I know not a Zabbix question but another thing I have be considering is just doubling the hardware to provide redundancy, but can that provide load balancing as well?

[peatb]

There's no way to do loadbalancing with multiple hardware for zabbix server. You *might* be able to do it with the database, but that won't be easy.

Best way to 'loadbalance' the zabbix server is with the use of proxies.

By the time your database can't handle it anymore on its own (after you're running on SSD's, maxed out memory and cpu, setup partitioning, tune to the max) you'll have to look into more serious options, but it will take quite a while before you reach that point.