Zabbix Reviews

We have a lot of servers (about 10,000). We monitor and manage them using Zabbix.

It has rich functions.

The financial setting is the most valuable feature, since Zabbix can use old data to current data to set the threshold. We can use previous data to set the threshold.

I want Zabbix to improve the UX/UI. Zabbix doesn't use a JavaScript chart for images, and I want them to improve this.

Performance is really stable.

It is scalable.

We don't use technical support. We have a contract, but we don't use it because there are not many problems.

We switched from our previous solution because of cost.

I installed Zabbix, and it was easy.

It is free, which allows us to reduce costs.

Our choices were Geneos, Nagios, Zabbix, Centreon, and Cacti. We chose Zabbix because we did a proof of concept, and Zabbix was the best. It had the richest functions, and it was free.

I would rate this solution as a 10 out of 10. It is the best product. I really love Zabbix because it has a lot of functions and works well. My advice is to use Zabbix.

When selecting a vendor, the number of customers is very important along with the price.

We use it to monitor Linux systems. It has performed well.

We are able to do problem determination on runaway processes. 

Graphing processes. It can send messages to our ticketing system. It has good graphs of what is going on within the operating system.

I would like to better be able to monitor Oracle processes.

The stability is good.

The scalability is good.

I have not used technical support.

We did not previously use a different solution, so I asked my manager to look into it.

I was involved in the initial setup. The initial setup was straightforward.

We evaluated SCOM.

Most important criteria when selecting a vendor: 

1. Features
2. Price.

Monitor systems and networks devices and web applications. Increase monitoring by including powershell script and automation on incidence responses.

We are now more pro-active before an issue appears to our customer because all the layers are now converged by Zabbix monitoring.

In addition, this monitoring product is easier to maintain, configure and less expensive in the total cost of ownership than the others.

The most valuable features are its performance (scalability) in monitoring, the monitoring centric (agent compatibility with the large vendors OS, SNMP, IPMI, JMX), VMware monitoring, web monitoring, capacity planning and the proxifying monitoring.

The capacity planning feature and SLA monitoring need to be improved.

The capacity planning feature should give to administrator recommendations regarding the actions to be done on systems to ensure scalability and stability. In addition, currently this feature only provides basic information (disk usage time left, cpu consumption forecast, etc.). You cannot predict easly the capacity planning of virtual infrastructure or scale-out network storage.

There were no stability issues experienced because the server component is compiled in C and is separated from the web dashboard (PHP).

There were no scalability issues experienced because Zabbix is optimized for a high performance. The Zabbix server and the Zabbix proxy use various data caching solutions, giving them great performance and reducing the load on the back-end database.

We have a partnership with a solution integrator, so we don't open a case directly with Zabbix LLC.

Previously, we were using Nagios coupled with Centreon. We switched because Centreon has some paid features and so, there are some hidden costs. In addition, we needed to use an agent in our client OS because some metrics are deprecated by SNMP and are only available via WMI; WMI is known for its performance problem in monitoring.

The setup was very simple, it is very well-documented and packaged for a lot of Linux distribution.

This product is free, i.e., no vendor lock and all the features are included without the Enterprise Edition. However, just like the other products used in production, it's better to subscribe to a support contract.

We looked at other solutions; stay with Centreon's newer version.

The only advice is:

• To read the documentation before implementing.

• Test the software with the appliance (i.e., only for testing and not for the production environment).

• Participate with the community on the forum.

• Monitoring servers
• Health and communication links availability

By using the solution, we moved from a reactionary approach to a proactive evaluation of our equipment/systems.

Look and feel.

Six years.

Not in the version we’re currently using.

No.

We only use the free version without support.

Yes, we used to use another solution. We migrate to Zabbix after evaluating when it was implemented as a part of a web-based software solution that was acquired by the company in which I was working at that time.

The installation process was simple.

Nothing, because we’re using the free version, which covers all our current needs.

No.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised if you give the product a chance.

• Multi-level infrastructure maps. You can set up highly customizable maps of your infrastructure, including each component status, maps which can contain submaps, and if something’s wrong at the submap level - the submap will be shown with problems.
• Agent and agentless monitoring. Installing an agent is the easiest way, but SSH, SNMP, Impi, custom scripting and other protocols are supported.
• Templates. There are a broad set of templates that define monitoring items for common OS and applications, you can build your own or use one developed by the community.
• An API for you to create, modify, and delete most things programmatically, including items, triggers, charts, etc.

As we know how are systems are supposed to work, Zabbix has given us the flexibility of building our checks without relying on special plugins. If some monitoring item is not provided already, building your own is very easy, and any scripting language will do. We’re able to pinpoint with accuracy where issues lie, and respond to them in a cost effective way, due to the nature of it being open source, with fairly decent documentation and optional commercial support.

The Java gateway for monitoring Java applications didn’t work for us. Our JMX Service URL’s are somewhat complex, but we were able to write our own JMX checks.

Three years.

When your checks grow to a certain volume, you need to adjust some settings on the server related to cache sizes, preforked workers, and so on. This is expected as with any service that grows beyond its default settings, there’s documentation about it.

The system is as scalable as your database is. We applied partitioning on the biggest tables to keep the performant at 14 new values per second. You can setup a distributed architecture consisting of an N number of proxies capturing data and reporting to N master servers.

Fortunately, we’ve never needed it, because we have very talented engineers in our team and there’s plenty of documentation available online. There are also user forums which are helpful most of the time.

A fork of Nagios called Icinga, it’s pretty good, but something like the Zabbix Maps feature was a must have for us. We needed something very schematic and flexible to show the overall status of our systems.

It wasn’t complex, but we have very skilled engineers.

The quickest way to go is to have a turnkey virtual instance tailored to your needs by Zabbix, or use one of the freely available ones.

The product is open source with optional commercial support, which is recommended to reduce the learning curve, avoid pitfalls, and keep the project going.

SolarWinds. Nice product, but our particular project was more in line with the Linux, PostgreSQL, and the Open Source philosophy.

If you’re into the Open Source and freedom principles, don’t mind getting your hands dirty, and have the technical skills, Zabbix is a good choice. Commercial support is available if you don’t want to go at it alone, lack sufficient technical skills, and you need help to keep the project going.

Highly adaptable to almost any environment and technology. The use of features, like Low Level Discovery, Templates, and Macros, allow an easy and customizable deployment over large environments.

Regarding notifications, the ability to use different media types and custom scripts gives Zabbix virtually no limits (mail, SMS, Telegram, Slack, etc.). Integration with other Open Source solutions, like Grafana, expand the possibilities for data visualization.

Availability problems are easily detected, minimizing downtime. Performance problems are detected before having an impact in customer experience. There is a centralized view of the whole IT system (HW to apps), and new devices services are easily integrated.

Reporting and SLA customization.

Five years.

None.

None.

None.

We are partners, so customer service does not apply to us.

We are partners with Zabbix. The response whenever we needed their technical assistance was excellent.

We used Cacti for data visualization. We switched because of the benefits of using Zabbix as a central monitoring solution instead of having multiple tools to manage.

Straightforward. Documentation on the initial setup is available at Zabbix's website and easy to follow.

We are Zabbix's partners.

Being truly Open Source, the only investment is in the time needed to get to know Zabbix and all the features it brings. This time is later gained in downtime minimization, easy scalability, and overall system status visualization.

Zabbix is Open Source, there is no licensing or pricing. As with any monitoring tool, there is a time cost which is required to learn how to use it well.

We evaluated Nagios. We preferred Zabbix for the easy to use GUI and because it is 100% Open Source.

In our opinion Zabbix is an amazing monitoring solution which allows for any service or device to be monitored. In most cases, integration is supported out-of-the-box. In some cases, additional scripting or minor development is required.

• 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.