Zabbix Reviews

• Stability
• Flexibility
• Expandability

My favorite features are auto-discovery and LLD (low-level discovery) with Zabbix (and with some programming experience), you can monitor absolutely everything.

Also, it is worth mentioning the good quality of documentation and great community support.

Before we implemented Zabbix, we were blind.

I'd like it if they'd have implemented some sort of SNMP auto-discovery.

Almost seven years (from version 1.8.2).

There were some issues, then I made an upgrade from version 1.8 to 2.4.
I had to migrate existing MySQL DB (that is sitting under the hood) from one engine to another.

Yes. But again, it was an upgrade issue.

From the very beginning, I used distributed monitoring that was based on the Zabbix nodes conception, but they got rid of the nodes since version 3.0.0.

So, I had to change Zabbix Nodes with Zabbix Proxies. Finally, I have found out that the Proxies have better performance, stable matching, and are easier to configure than the Nodes.

I know they have one but I never had a chance to use it.

Before Zabbix, It was another Open Source solution: Nagios. Actually, I set them both up simultaneously.

So, I had a chance to compare them side-by-side. Finally, I chose Zabbix.

Setup is the very first step. This step you have to perform just once. The process is easy and straightforward, but the product itself is not easy to use.

I would suggest reading documentation before the installation. It has a steep learning curve.

The monitoring of IT infrastructure is not a piece of cake. Don't think you can install it with a couple of clicks and be done.

To implement have a good implementation, you have to read the documentation thoroughly.

Like any other Open Source product, you can spend some money on support, but the product itself is free of charge.

No, I did not evaluate other options before choosing this product.

The most valuable features are the monitoring and the ease with which we can set it up at customer sites with our custom Zabbix proxy and tools. It is very agile and it is easy to do custom setups.

The dashboard and the graph section could be a little bit more professional.

We have been using Zabbix for about five years.

There were no issues with stability, but we needed to adjust some of the standard values in the configuration. However, that was to be expected.

I haven't scaled yet, but we plan to do this with two front-ends, two Zabbix cores, and HA MySQL.

We haven't used technical support yet. I have attended a course with one of the employees at Zabbix, and he was very good.

We did not use a solution previous to this one.

The initial setup and the subsequent upgrade were both very easy.

There are no licenses.

Just go for it. The possibilities are endless and very large.

Scalability, everything can be monitored.

Reporting is weak, if you want something better you must write your own SQL scripts/

3 years.

Sometimes.

Yes, web-page Zabbix server, database can be separate machine.

Never used the technical support.

Yes, previously used Cacti or Nagios but Zabbix has node communication.

Straightforward, if you understand basic things about databases or web services, it's easy.

All data is stored in the database. If you have more than 200 hosts you need a fast disk or good tuning of the OS/database.

We value the auto-host discovery, template import, bulk import/export features. Newer versions also add nice features, such as multi-IP per host.

We operate an HPC cluster. On several occasions, the datacenter(s) counted above 1000 hosts. An easily scalable solution is most valued against other solutions which are simpler to operate and have a smoother learning curve, such as Nagios.

The design of Zabbix allows the user to change metrics and check on the server side, instead of changing them on the client side, via a configuration file.

I use an older version of the product, so I cannot answer this question.

We have been using the solution for seven years.

The underlying database needs proper tuning and maintenance to avoid table fragmentation.

We had some scalability issues with a large number of nodes. It was as if the underlying relational database is on the same machine and has fragmented tables. The server CPU could ramp up to 100% and the metrics are not refreshed properly.

We switched in order to get the benefit of the ability to redefine metrics server-side, nested templates, and the really powerful graphs available at the time.

The initial setup was really straightforward. However, as soon as you reach 100 monitored clients, the default MySQL configuration doesn't scale up. I'm sure that a newer Zabbix version relies on better backend solutions for data storage.

It's free software released under the GNU/GPL license.

We evaluated Nagios.

It is unnecessary if you have below 100 hosts. Otherwise, it's a great tool, with a nice web interface.

Dashboard and the customization of the items and triggers are the most valuable features.

With just one look at the dashboard every morning, we can anticipate problems.

It should be easy to modify the front end.

I have used this solution for five years (started out with v1.8).

There were no stability issues.

There were no scalability issues.

Previously, we were using Nagios. The front end was poor so we switched over to Zabbix.

The product is an open source and free solution.

It's a complete solution. There is a learning curve but it is worth it.

It monitors almost everything.

It provides high scalability, alerting, notification, templating, and end-to-end security.

By proactively monitoring, it helped us to fix problems before any major disaster.

There are a lot of areas for improvement, specifically in the dashboards and reports functionalities.

I have used this solution for four years.

There were no stability issues.

There were no scalability issues.

I haven’t used technical support yet.

The initial setup is a bit complex, as lots of things need to be planned carefully during the implementation of the solution, such as the hardware sizing, customizing templates for monitoring the customer's environment, and much more.

It is a true open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs.

We evaluated many products such as HPE SiteScope, Nagios etc.

An in-depth knowledge of the product is needed to customize it, according to your customer's needs.

It is advisable to hire a consultant and do a PoC (proof of concept) before arriving at conclusion.

It has various features, I like its versatility the most.

It not only provides the preconfigured item monitoring feature, but it is also easy to configure custom items.

The template is another valuable feature, because hosts can be easily added.

My organization can get a proper alarm when some issues occur on a system.

Even though it’s such a powerful monitoring system, it would be more helpful if it had a flexible UI.

I have used this solution for more than three years.

There were no stability issues experienced, it’s so stable.

There were no scalability issues.

I’ve never used technical support because it is free.

I did the setup by referring to its documentation and that was enough.

It’s free of cost.

I checked Nagios, but I didn’t seriously evaluate it.

The documentation has all the information you need.

Zabbix is fully open-source - no paid features/versions, so you get everything for free. Great, totally free product:

• It is very customizable and flexible - you can monitor almost everything.
• It has many great options - like auto discovery/registration, many types of alerting and templates provided by the vendor.
• It is easy to implement, easy to use for technical people.
• It is very stable, flexible and scalable.
• It has many great features ready to use right after installation.
• It is a little hard to understand for the non-technical user.

Zabbix allows us to monitor critical parts of our systems, track performance and utilization, and prevent outages.

It allows us to monitor specific parts of the system as well as control how the whole environment is doing.

With the great alerting system we always know which component might fail and can prevent it.

Adding new hosts/items is easy and quick and the great function for mass updating many components at once is very helpful as well.

Zabbix is a great tool and fairly easy for a technical person but it could be more friendly for non-technical staff.

We have been using the solution for two years.

We did not encounter any issues with stability. Zabbix is very stable. I can't remember a Zabbix server ever failing.

We did not encounter any issues with scalability.

I've never contacted Zabbix technical support. I had no need to. The Zabbix forum was enough for my issues.

I switched from Nagios to Zabbix. For me Zabbix is more intuitive, flexible, offering more options out-of-the-box.

I didn't have troubles implementing it. The official documentation is more than enough.

Zabbix is free - no hidden costs, no paid features. Just download, install and enjoy.

I had the option to stay with Nagios or switch to Zabbix. I switched.

Make a plan for components you want to monitor, how these components are related, what groups and templates you want to create.

Also at the beginning don't be afraid to use templates provided by Zabbix - it will help you start. After that you can slowly tweak them or add new ones.

Make the database backup - that should be obvious.