Edit me

Installing CENTOS 7

The assumption is you already have CENTOS 7 installed, connected to the internet and network location(s), and updated to current patch level.

This document will take the user from an initial CENTOS 7 setup to a full Zabbix installation.All steps should be included and anything missing should be added or relayed to the author for addition.

Before Beginning

Make sure the database Zabbix will be using is already installed.See my MySQL Install Guide for instructions on installing MySQL for Zabbix.

NOTE: This may be on the same or separate servers, but you need to ensure it exist first in either case.

Installing Zabbix Prerequisites

  • Install the Zabbix Repository
$rpm -ivh https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/4.0/rhel/7/x86_64/zabbix-release-4.0-1.el7.noarch.rpm
  • Download the mysql repository
$wget https://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql80-community-release-el7-1.noarch.rpm
$rpm -ivh mysql80-community-release-el7-1.noarch.rpm
  • Install the MySQL Client application used for testing/troubleshooting connections to remote database
$yum -y install mysql-community-client
  • Install Zabbix Packages
$yum-config-manager --enable rhel-7-server-optional-rpms
$yum -y install zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-agent zabbix-get
  • Install PHP repository
$yum -y install http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-7.rpm
  • Install PHP packages
$yum-config-manager --enable remi-php72
$yum -y install php

Configuring PHP for Zabbix

  • Edit the PHP.ini file
$vim /etc/php.ini

May also need to change in: /etc/httpd/conf.d/zabbix.conf

Change the values to match the configuration shown:

max_execution_time = 600
max_input_time = 600
memory_limit = 256M
post_max_size = 32M
upload_max_filesize = 16M
date.timezone = UTC
expose_php = Off
  • Edit the Zabbix Configuration file
$vim /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf
  • Edit the following lines with the appropriate entries:
DBHost=<hostIPAddr>
DBName=zabbix
DBUser=zabbix
DBPassword=<database password>
  • Open Firewall Ports
$firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=10050/tcp
$firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=10051/tcp
$firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=3306/tcp # only for external database connections
$firewall-cmd --reload
  • Start the Zabbix server
$systemctl start zabbix-server
$systemctl enable zabbix-server
  • Verify the server is working
$systemctl status zabbix-server

Known Issues and Resolution

  1. It is common for SELinux to get in the way of connecting to remote services, and connecting to an external MySQL database, I kept running into this issue:

    1166:20181028:033532.402 [Z3001] connection to database ‘zabbix’ failed: [2003] Can’t connect to MySQL server on ‘mysqlserver.com’ (13) 1166:20181028:033532.402 database is down: reconnecting in 10 seconds

    To fix this issue, update SELinux configurations

    $cd /etc/zabbix
$setsebool -P httpd_can_connect_zabbix on
$setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect_db on

#if database connection errors are seen, try changing to permissive
$setenforce permissive

#if that works, troubleshoot source or change to permissive permanently
$vim /etc/sysconfig/selinux

  2. The Application server lives and dies by it’s cache settings. Zabbix Server will shut itself down when the cache is overrun. Always monitor the cache and adjust as needed in the zabbix_server.conf file.

Do not forget to install the agent.See Agent Configuration Guide for details.

Note that you may need to come back and add or adjust this after you install the front end web server so you can verify functionality

Next Steps

Now the Database is prepared.See my Zabbix Frontend Installation Guide for instructions on setting up the web server interface.

Tags: getting_started zabbix