- Monitoring servers
- Health and communication links availability
Gerente de Informática at a tech services company
Move from a reactionary approach to a proactive evaluation of equipment or systems
Pros and Cons
- "Health and communication links availability."
- "Look and feel."
What is most valuable?
How has it helped my organization?
By using the solution, we moved from a reactionary approach to a proactive evaluation of our equipment/systems.
What needs improvement?
Look and feel.
For how long have I used the solution?
Six years.
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Zabbix
December 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Not in the version we’re currently using.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No.
How are customer service and support?
We only use the free version without support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
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.
How was the initial setup?
The installation process was simple.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Nothing, because we’re using the free version, which covers all our current needs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
No.
What other advice do I have?
You’ll be pleasantly surprised if you give the product a chance.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Associate Founder at KerBBo Consulting
The most valuable feature is the monitoring of virtual machines
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the monitoring of virtual machines."
- "Zabbix isn't a great tool for cloud-specific monitoring - its connection to public clouds needs to be improved. Other areas for improvement would be the lack of dashboards and integrations."
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the monitoring of virtual machines.
What needs improvement?
Zabbix isn't a great tool for cloud-specific monitoring - its connection to public clouds needs to be improved. Other areas for improvement would be the lack of dashboards and integrations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used Zabbix for around three weeks on a test basis.
What other advice do I have?
I really do not like this solution, almost all of its features are awful. I would rate it nine out of ten for on-premises environments but five out of ten for cloud platforms or BAS.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Zabbix
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Zabbix. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Poor server monitoring, does not scale well, and lacks performance
Pros and Cons
- "The implementation process is very straightforward."
- "The server monitoring could be better."
What is our primary use case?
Our company works with the health ministry in our country. We implement the solution for them and they use it as a monitoring solution in order to watch trends and server patterns, etc.
What is most valuable?
The solution works well for monitoring our on-site server.
Sometimes, the server can go down. When this happens, the solution has the capability to alert us to problems and will automatically notify us of any issues via email.
The implementation process is very straightforward.
What needs improvement?
The server monitoring could be better.
I'm not well versed in Zabbix, so it's difficult for someone like me to handle the setup. They should work to make the implementation much easier. It would improve the useability of the solution.
The solution needs to have a higher quality of performance. Performance is very important to our clients, and this solution doesn't perform very well. The quality and code are difficult.
The solution does not scale well.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
HIgh performance is important to us, and this solution just doesn't offer it. It's unreliable. The quality just isn't there right now.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Our company needs a solution that can scale, and this product does not offer good scalability. It's one of its biggest downsides. If a company needs to expand the solution, they'll find that they won't be able to effectively.
How are customer service and technical support?
We haven't had any issues with technical support. They've satisfied our needs to far. We don't have any complaints about the service they offer their clients.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup isn't too complex. It's fairly easy to implement and set up.
What other advice do I have?
We're just a Zabbix user. We don't have a special relationship with the company.
I would rate the solution three out of ten. I would rate it higher if there was better scalability potential and the performance was of a much higher quality.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Network Security Specialist at SON Corporate Group
Enables the ability to execute a custom script on devices to solve problems in seconds.
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Creating a trigger to get alarmed on it and take action to solve them (automatically), and get management info to improve performance.
What is most valuable?
Zabbix scripts is the most valuable feature because you can execute a custom script on devices to solve problems in seconds.
What needs improvement?
It is a little complex to config and implement so I'd like for them to make it easier to config, for example, a configuration for SNMPv3 or trap listener on it.
For how long have I used the solution?
Still implementing.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We still do not have this software completely under the stress, but it has worked well so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Like other software, its efficiency and scalability depend on a variety of circumstances, one of the most important is to allocate enough resources to it and its database.
How are customer service and technical support?
There are good resources to help with fixing your needs.
And while this is an open source software but has a good support team, however, we have not had the support needed before.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Because zabbix is a open source NMS however it is very powerful and highly scalable.
How was the initial setup?
Its launch is more complicated than other software and requires more steps for settings. But when it comes to how it works and how to categorize the information in the database, you'll have a better idea of what you can say.
What about the implementation team?
We did this ourselves.
What was our ROI?
Of course, as with other network management software, the return on investment depends entirely on management responses to the information that is available from these systems.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is definitely a free software (it's open source), and You just need to allocate some resources to launch it
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Of course, we compared it with similar tools like Nagios, Zenoss, PRTG and OP Manager , and we chose it based on the benefits
What other advice do I have?
When you learn how to work with it, you will love it.
It is a complete network management system that will meet all your needs.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PostgreSQL Database Administrator at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Gives Flexibility Of Building Checks Without Relying On Special Plugins
What is most valuable?
- 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.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
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.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and technical support?
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.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
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.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is open source with optional commercial support, which is recommended to reduce the learning curve, avoid pitfalls, and keep the project going.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
SolarWinds. Nice product, but our particular project was more in line with the Linux, PostgreSQL, and the Open Source philosophy.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
System Integrator at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Scalability is extremely valuable.
What is most valuable?
Scalability, everything can be monitored.
What needs improvement?
Reporting is weak, if you want something better you must write your own SQL scripts/
For how long have I used the solution?
3 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Sometimes.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Yes, web-page Zabbix server, database can be separate machine.
How are customer service and technical support?
Never used the technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Yes, previously used Cacti or Nagios but Zabbix has node communication.
How was the initial setup?
Straightforward, if you understand basic things about databases or web services, it's easy.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Operations Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Stable and easy to set up, but problems that arise take a lot of research to solve
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is network traffic monitoring."
- "When we have a problem, we have to do a lot of research to solve it."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Zabbix for monitoring our servers and to display network traffic.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is network traffic monitoring.
What needs improvement?
When we have a problem, we have to do a lot of research to solve it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zabbix for a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This product is quite stable.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have not had to contact technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex. In fact, it's quite easy.
It was quite quick to deploy.
What about the implementation team?
We have our own team who installed it and know how it is used.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This solution is completely open-source, so it is quite affordable.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Flexible but the UI is hard to get used to.
Valuable Features:
Zabbix is very flexible and scalable.
Room for Improvement:
The UI is hard to get used to.
Use of Solution:
2 years
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: December 2024
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I'm surprised that you believe that scalability and performance are an issue. Having said that, much depends on the configuration that is implemented. I'm not suggesting that this is the case with your implementation, but we have often seen customers simply implementing the Zabbix "appliance" (a single VM) as a production instance. A full Zabbix implementation is highly scalable and performant with many hundreds of thousands of "values per second" possible. Of course, as with any monitoring software it does require a degree of administration. For example, if you are using only a single server for Zabbix you may wish to consider splitting the web server, zabbix server and database across multiple VM's. We also implement multiple web server front-end which are load balanced.
It's also possible to tune the number of pollers that are running to further improve performance.
I hope that gives you some ideas.