Zabbix Reviews

We are a solution provider and Zabbix is one of the products that we implement for our clients. I am the senior consultant for Zabbix in my organization.

The use cases are pretty basic. They include memory and disk monitoring, database monitoring, log file monitoring, and application monitoring.

The most valuable feature is the trigger dependencies.

The documentation is good.

Zabbix has a roadmap and they are continuously and frequently adding new features. Most of the features are good.

The reports are not great and should be improved. In other tools, we can schedule reports and fetch them. However, with Zabbix, we cannot export reports. It is possible to export some of the data but our monthly reports, including those for performance and availability, cannot be exported.

This product is not highly available by default. I have read that in the next major version, 6.0, they are planning to do that for the proxies.

I have been working with Zabbix for between three and four years.

This is a very stable product.

This solution is scalable and I have no issues with it in that regard. We have five to six people that use it. They primarily do admin work.

There are two or three who architect and design solutions. We add and manage servers, as well as perform maintenance.

We do not have a Zabbix technical support subscription. We manage it ourselves.

The blogs that are available online are okay.

There are a few problems but if they fix them, then Zabbix is a very good tool compared to others. This includes tools that you have to pay for.

The initial setup for the Zabbix server is pretty straightforward. 

Initially, it was just a single node, so the deployment didn't take long.

This is an open-source solution that can be used free of charge. Support is something that you have to pay extra for.

My advice for anybody who is implementing Zabbix is to read the documentation and go through the use cases before beginning the implementation. Many use cases are available online.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I use Zabbix for monitoring. For example, monitoring networks and applications.

The solution has been proactive in altering while monitoring which has been helpful.

The most valuable features of Zabbix are flexibility and a single interface for different types of monitoring.

Zabbix could improve when it comes to large-scale use cases. Additionally, the inventory could be better when connecting to other solutions, such as ServiceNow. There show to be better integration with other platforms and storage.

In the solution's next release, customizing scripts could be easier and API interactions could be better. If they would allow larger data metrics on one chart would be helpful.

I have been using Zabbix for approximately four years.

The stability of Zabbix has been good.

We have approximately 300 network devices being monitored, including data center monitoring. Additionally, we monitor servers by different performance metrics and services.

Old versions of the solution do not scale well. We only had one master server and we had to switch off and turn on other features to allow scalability. It was not easy.

I have not used any support for the solution.

The initial setup of Zabbix is of a medium level of difficulty. The documentation is beneficial.

For a middle-sized integration of the solution of approximately 100 hosts, it can take one to two months to do all the necessary layers.

This solution is open-source and free to use.

The solution has quick integration, templating, mapping, and monitoring.

I rate Zabbix a seven out of ten.

One of our services is implementation.

Basically what we're doing now in terms of use cases is we have customers that have implemented Zabbix including at one of the biggest banks out in Nepal and India. The basic monitoring for the banks are taken care of by Zabbix. Zabbix being open-source, has available APIs for any device or any service that can be easily mapped onto it for monitoring. 

If the customer comes and tells me that I need to monitor an ATM machine, typically, what happens is you need to go back to the OEM to ask for the API so that it can be integrated. However, in the case of Zabbix, we just need to get into the ATM machine or the contact OEM of the ATM and get the scripts for it and add it into Zabbix. It's that easy for us. 

Some customers may be using Zabbix, however, they don't know how to implement it. What we do is make our teams certified on Zabbix implementation. Sometimes customers may be using Zabbix but then have some issues in terms of configuration or they want to work on some specific reports that they need some help with. Getting in touch with Zabbix may be difficult  Therefore, we, as a partner, help out customers. If they need to do an implementation, we help them out in implementation and then with the support services.

We have our own certified guys who help the customers as a sort-of extended arm of Zabbix. Zabbix is open-source and therefore doesn't cost anything. That said, the configuration is something with which you need support, and it requires technical expertise. That's where we pitch in. We pitch and then we say, you download it and after that, whatever is required in terms of configuration, whatever it requires in terms of preparing reports, we can help with due to the fact that we are certified.

Easy addition of devices to monitor with customized thresholds and integrating with multiple tools for single dashboard.

The monitoring capabilities of the product are excellent.

The solution is quite mature and very stable.

The solution is very easy to scale.

The product is open-source, meaning there aren't any licensing costs associated with it.

• Action Log
• Agentless Monitoring
• Anomaly Detection
• Auditing
• Automated Actions
• Availability Reports
• Built-in Java Application Server Monitoring
• Capacity Planning
• Custom Scripts
• Custom Templates
• Data Retrieval
• Dependencies
• Distributed Monitoring
• Drill-Down Reports
• Encryption
• Event Correlation
• Hardware Monitoring
• History Data Analysis
• Issue Management
• Log Monitoring
• Messaging

• Metric Collection
• Mobile Apps
• Multiple Authentication Methods
• Multiple Severity Levels
• Native WMI Support for Windows Agent
• Network Discovery
• Notifications
• Optimized for High Performance
• Proactive Monitoring
• Real-Time Monitoring
• Root Cause Analysis
• Scaling to Large Environments
• Template management
• Trend Prediction
• True Open source
• User Permissions
• Virtual Marchine Monitoring
• WMI Support
• Web Services
• Widget-based Dashboards
• Zero-Maintenance

Zabbix isn't very good at automation just yet. It's something we are working on. The extent of automation and the scripts that we have in ManageEngine are much more than what Zabbix gives out. For Zabbix, what we are doing is, we are creating scripts and trying to run them, however, that's not always the right way to frame it. It would be much better if there was a tool within the solution itself.

The reporting is quite limited on the product. As an organization, what we did is we started utilizing a couple of connectors for the reporting. For example, we started using Power BI, and we started using Grafana. That's how we are enhancing our experience to the customers now. Zabbix doesn't give you a tool.

We are using Zabbix for the last three years now. 

On the stability front, we have never faced any issues. Zabbix has been in the market for many, many years, and has matured nicely. It's a very decent tool. 

The solution works with companies of various sizes. We have companies that are medium-sized, however, we also use this for enterprises.

I would recommend that enterprise customers start using Zabbix. Zabbix, being a free tool, saves a lot on operations. You remove out your license cost, and you don't have a maintenance cost, and it's only the housekeeping that is required. It's easy to take a contract with certified implementation partners to get going. For enterprise customers, if you go with any other tool, you pay licenses on 50 hosts or 100 hosts or 150 hosts. With this tool, you don't have to work with growing costs, and it still grows with you.

It's very easy to scale as you don't have a licensing model. You only have a proxy model. It's only that the client or the customer has to have a supported VM to add more hosts onto it. There's nothing that the customer loses. There's also no investment as such. It's just a matter of for VM to be popped up and then you can start adding those devices to make it scalable.

When it comes to the code level on the development of issues, we contact Zabbix directly. Everything else, we have a few different people that can handle it internally. If we fail on that is when we contact Zabbix. Over the last three or four years, we have only contacted Zabbix once for a technical issue. Otherwise, our team is capable enough 

They also have a good amount of data on the forums. It's very unlikely that we would need to get in touch with the support service as the forum itself is great in that it has huge amounts of data. Any issues that you have, you just browse the forum, and you get a response if you ask questions. 

For us, that has been a good experience.

Positive

We also use ManageEngine for monitoring.

Comparing the two is tricky. When it comes to Zabbix flow, I would not be comfortable working with Zabbix as there's a bit of a lack on the reporting and automation front. That's the negative part of Zabbix at this point in time. When it comes to ManageEngine, they have been very proactive. They have a very good reporting dashboard and they have very good automation. The only concern that comes to us when we go to the customer is that I can sell Zabbix at very low costs as I don't have any investment in it. I can fulfill almost 75 to 80% of the customer's request with very little overhead. However, when it comes to ManageEngine, it's expensive as you will need the licenses.

Even though ManageEngine gives you better reporting and automation, there's a cost to it. That is where we are trying to make Zabbix more efficient. We have started working on the automation front. When it comes to reporting, we have reached a level where we can say that we are okay with the reports. We are using a couple of other reporting tools to extend the data. However, with automation, we're starting at zero. That's where we are working hard.

The initial setup is a very simple process. It's only when it comes to configurations where it gets complicated. You need expertise so that you do the right configurations and set up the right parameters for the devices. Before that, it's very easy. You just follow the steps that have been given to you and you can just install it. 

For a basic installation, it takes just two days. You set up a VM and you have the basic configuration, and that part takes two days. Configurations, however, depend on each customer. Some customers need some devices to be monitored at track level, for example.

It doesn't require maintenance, per se, however, there is required housekeeping. That's how I would put it. For example, today you may have to put in a hundred devices for monitoring, but tomorrow you start decommissioning some devices. If you don't remove them out from Zabbix, then your dashboard itself is going to give you false alerts. That's why you need to have regular housekeeping whereby you know your map, and what is required. 

When it comes to upgrades, it is pretty easy. We have a change management process. We have never faced an issue on the maintenance spot as such with any of our customers. 

We handle the process for our clients. We've got a couple of clients who already have Zabbix on-premise. Typically we come in to configure the devices as per the parameters for that specific device. So that is something which you need expertise on the tool now. The customers are not able to do that. If they want to outsource the entire local operations to us, then we take it up. If they say no, that they want to run their own lock, then we put in our team and we stabilize their entire Zabbix implementation beside it. 

Depends on the environment and the existing product the customer is using .

The solution itself is open source and doesn't cost anything, however, many companies need technical expertise for configurations.

We are a certified implementation partner for Zabbix.

In our operations, we are the only certified implementation partners for Zabbix and just two months ago, we got certified for the Middle-East operations as well. When it comes to this region, we are the only certified implementation partners for Zabbix in the entire Middle-East.

We are working with the latest version and it getting upgraded right now. We have two environments basically. We have a production as well as a development (or staging) environment. Presently, our upgrades are going onto the staging environment. We have a go ahead on the staging environment after that. We will start on the production as we have around 50 to 70 customers who are already on the Zabbix. Directly upgrading it on the production is a challenge for us. We don't want to get into a situation where the entire thing goes down. We plan to roll the updated version around February.

Presently we have it on a hybrid module. With a primary running on the cloud and a secondary running on our data center, which is on-premise. This way, if the primary site goes down, we have a secondary site to support the customers. 

I'd recommend organizations try the solution, however, if they have issues, they should not just throw it out. The tool is capable. You just need implementation partners. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We primarily use Zabbix for monitoring our infrastructure.

The most valuable feature is monitoring.

Having a more customizable interface and dashboard would be an improvement.

The interface could be more user-friendly because it is can be really complicated if an end-user has to configure it. The administrator usually has to take care of that.

I would like to see more SNMP and storage support.

Application monitoring should be included in the future. I would like to see voice telephony monitoring and database monitoring.

The reporting functionality is limited.

I have been working with Zabbix for the past four years.

This is a stable product.

We have had no problem with scalability. The only people who use it are the IT staff, which is between 10 and 12 people.

As we are using the free version, we do not have a support contract.

We are using the free, open-source version.

This is not a product that I recommend. Instead, I recommend using SolarWindows or ManageEngine for monitoring because there are more features on Zabbix with limited usability. Reports are also limited. Basically, you get more features in SolarWinds or ManageEngine.

I would rate this solution a five out of ten.

Monitoring systems and services that don't have their own solution in our environment. Single place to monitor multiple systems and processes. We monitor servers, websites, key card devices, etc..

Before we didn't really have a centrally managed monitoring solution, so adding this product has been a blessing as we are able to actively monitor and react accordingly. Being able to monitor almost any device in one location is extremely convenient.

The feature which I like the most would have to be the GUI. At first, I was put off, as I felt it was too complex or busy. Upon using it to setup devices, I found it was well laid out and has come a long way.

The agents are also very easy to install and manage, making this more of a turnkey solution for most.

I wish it had more options for personalizing the product, such as being able to include your company's logo without editing text files. More templates for specific devices.

More than three years.

None yet. Runs solid on very light resources.

Not yet, but as of now, it's a single server - might have to dive in at some point with the proxy configuration.

I have used publicly available resources. I can't comment on their customer service.

We used Cacti, which worked well for our uses. We moved because we needed a more updated solution that had support for a myriad of devices. The community is also active in development of plugins.

It's a decently complex system to get setup, it's not a simple package based system (well technically it is, but not as easy as others). It's also not as extreme as Nagios or Prometheus. We added Grafana, which made it a little more complex.

In-house team.

Time and knowledge. Without it, we wouldn't have known of current issues in our environments. It allows us to deep dive and get to the core issues quicker.

It's open source, so no cost/licensing needed.

Nagios, Prometheus, Check_MK, Adagios, Icinga 2, Zenoss, PRTG, and Cacti.

Zabbix coupled with Grafana (there's a plugin for Zabbix, very easy to setup), is a great monitoring stack. Leveraging "Let's Encrypt for SSL" is also a must!

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.

We needed a tool to know what the space inside of the infrastructure is like. My work was to use Zabbix to get information about the IT infrastructure in the village or in the towns that are very far from the headquarters. I had to use Zabbix to provide information with maps that the IT was working and so that the headquarters can see in real-time what the healyh of the IT infrastructure we had deployed in the electrical network is.

After this experience, I tried Zabbix in african organization based in my country and it was used to monitor the IT infrastructures in three countries, cameroon, benin and ivory coast. For the moment, Zabbix is not yet very popular here but I really appreciate it and really want to make people know that it's very simple to use. 

In 2023 i tried Zabbix 6.0 on Rocky Linux 9. And news features like pdf report have improved my Admin Sys routine.

Zabbix has improved the daily monitoring tasks by making them easier and faster.

The feature that I find most valuable is the stateful map. In fact, the Zabbix map designing tools permit to make monitoring stateful maps with topologies similar to the reals IT network maps.

My company wanted to do an exercise command to access IT from Cameroon. They wanted to access an FSS to a second host with second equipment that was on another coast but it is not possible on Zabbix to do it. They want to directly access from the front-end of Zabbix to access a prompt in Zabbix to an access terminal. In the front-end, there is no way to do that. That would be an important improvement. 

II have been using this product for seven years.

It is very scalable because I tried version 5. I used 5 from 0 and I see that they have improved many things, but there is not yet this option to have an access terminal where you have many functionalities. 

The scalability works fine because the community is very active. When a new version comes out, we can see that they have tried to add.

The technical support is very quick. When I have a problem and I post it in the community, they answer me very quickly. For now, i don't need any technical support. 

Positive

In fact, even if I have looked at Nagios first, before Zabbix I did not really use it or any other monitoring solution.

The initial setup was very quick. The first time it was long because I didn't know it yet. I was only using Windows. The first time was very difficult because of the operating system. 

I implement Zabbix in-house with as outsourcing offficials webs tutorials

Zabbix exploitation has dispensed with financing frequent visits to the technical area through alerts, notifications, and stateful maps. Thus, the return on investment is more than 100%.

Zabbix is an effective cheaper network monitoring solution because it doesn't need any ongoing cost due to licensing.

Before choosing Zabbix, we evaluated Nagios but we were not comfortable with notifications messages syntax and configurations.

I would recommend Zabbix to people who want to monitor a simple network.

I have found that the literature on the website is not very easy for some people. They want to be in those to read more about Zabbix, how to install it, and what the normal problems are.

I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

Our primary use case is server and network monitoring.

The features I found most valuable are the user interface and a wide range of network devices that are easy to configure.

I would like for this solution to be more cloud-friendly.

I have been using this solution for about one year.

I would rate the stability of this solution a nine, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.

Previously, we used Splunk and we switched because the solution's pricing was too high.

I would rate the initial setup process a seven, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best. Our model of deployment is on-premises.

This solution was used by 200 people in our company.

I would rate this solution an eight, on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best.