This post has been updated, see here

Now that apache and mysql are installed, here is my first use for them: zabbix.

zabbix

Packages provides by ubuntu 18.04 are a little bit outdated, let’s use the packages provided by upstream:

wget http://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/3.4/ubuntu/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_3.4-1+bionic_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i zabbix-release_3.4-1+bionic_all.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-frontend-php zabbix-agent zabbix-cli pwgen
sudo systemctl reload apache2

Configure php

Edit /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini, and change the following options (here is the timezone list):

...
post_max_size = 16M
date.timezone = europe/zurich
max_execution_time = 300
max_input_time = 300
...

And restart php:

sudo systemctl restart php7.2-fpm.service

The rest of the zabbix setup is interactive, partly on your browser at https://YOUR_SERVER_IP_HERE/zabbix and partly in the console.

Welcome screen
- Next step
Check of pre-requisites
- Should be OK because we already changed the php configuration.
- Next step
Open https://YOUR_SERVER_IP_HERE/phpmyadmin
- Login as root
- Goto the User accounts tab
- Click add user
  - username : zabbix
  - host name : localhost
  - password : click on generate and save it for later
  - select : Create database with same name and grant all privileges.
  - Go
  - Select the SQL tab and execute::
  - ALTER DATABASE zabbix CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;
On the console:
```
zcat /usr/share/doc/zabbix-server-mysql/create.sql.gz | mysql -uzabbix -D zabbix -p
```
- paste the password
- wait some long time, 2 minutes here…
- edit /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf:
```
DBPassword=paste the password
```
- edit /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf Hostname=YOUR_SERVER_NAME_HERE
Back into the browser, in the zabbix tab : Configure DB connection
- Paste the password
- Next step
Zabbix server details
- Name : YOUR_SERVER_NAME_HERE
Pre-installation summary
- Next step
Congratulations
- Finish
Zabbix page -Login using Admin/zabbix
- Change the password immediately here : Administration > Users > Admin > Change password
- Enable monitoring of the server in Configuration > Hosts (click the “Disabled” red button)

On the console:

sudo systemctl enable zabbix-server
sudo systemctl restart zabbix-server
sudo systemctl enable zabbix-agent
sudo systemctl restart zabbix-agent

# Create a zabbix user for grafana:

Administration > User groups > Create user group
- name: grafana
- permissions : select all, read then click add (in the permissions)
- Add
Administration > Users > Create user
- alias: grafana
- name: grafana
- group: grafana
- password: use pwgen in the console, save the result

zabbix alerts by email

Create the file /usr/lib/zabbix/alertscripts/mail

#!/bin/bash

to=$1
subject=$2
body=$3

cat <<EOF | mail -s "$subject" root
TO:$to

$body

EOF

Make it executable.
Go to zabbix web interface, Administration > Media types
Disable all media type
Click create media type
- Name : sendmail
- Type : script
- Script name : mail
- parameters :
  - {ALERT.SENDTO}
  - {ALERT.SUBJECT}
  - {ALERT.MESSAGE}
Go to Configuration > Report problems > enable
Go to Administration > User > Admin > Media
- Add
- type : sendmail
- send to : unused
- Add

Alert testing

Restart the zabbix server to enable emails, then watch the /var/log/mail.log file, and try to stop the zabbix-agent service for 5 minutes. An email should be sent.

Don’t forget to restart the agent after testing.

grafana

Package setup

curl https://packagecloud.io/gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://packagecloud.io/grafana/stable/debian/ stretch main"
sudo apt-get install grafana

grafana normally stores it’s configuration into a sqlite file, but since mysql is already installed, let’s use it:
- Open https://YOUR_SERVER_IP_HERE/phpmyadmin
  - Login as root
  - Goto the User accounts tab
  - Click add user
    - username : grafana
    - host name : localhost
    - password : click on generate and save it for later
    - select : Create database with same name and grant all privileges.
    - Go
    - Select the SQL tab and execute::
    - ALTER DATABASE grafana CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;

grafana will be hidden behind apache, so edit /etc/grafana/grafana.ini:

...
url = mysql://grafana:*paste the grafana mysql passord here*@localhost/grafana
...
http_addr=127.0.0.1
...
root_url = https://server-test-setup.mooo.com/grafana
...

install the grafna-zabbix plugin, reload apache and start grafana

sudo grafana-cli plugins install alexanderzobnin-zabbix-app
sudo systemctl enable grafana-server --now
sudo sudo a2enmod proxy_http
sudo systemctl reload apache2

log into https://YOUR_SERVER_IP_HERE/grafana, log in using admin/admin, and enter a suitable password.

Linking zabbix to grafana

goto https://YOUR_SERVER_IP_HERE/grafana
login
Configuration > pluggins > zabbix > enable
Configuration > data sources > new
- default data source : checked
- name : zabbix
- type : zabbix
- url : https://localhost/zabbix/api_jsonrpc.php
- skip TLS : checked (insecure but no problem on localhost)
- username : grafana
- password : the password generated for grafana in zabbix
- Save and Test should display “Zabbix API version…”

~~~

Question, remark, bug? Don't hesitate to contact me or report a bug.