PeerSpot user
Senior Consultant at a tech services company
Consultant
The most valuable features are the monitoring and the ease in which we can set it up at customer sites.
Pros and Cons
  • "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."
  • "The dashboard and the graph section could be a little bit more professional."

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Zabbix for about five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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.

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March 2024
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

How are customer service and support?

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

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use a solution previous to this one.

How was the initial setup?

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

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There are no licenses.

What other advice do I have?

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

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We have teamed up with Zabbix and have become a partner.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Associate Solutions Engineer with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
By proactively monitoring, it helped us to fix problems before any major disaster. Dashboards and reports can be improved.
Pros and Cons
  • "It provides high scalability, alerting, notification, templating, and end-to-end security."
  • "There are a lot of areas for improvement, specifically in the dashboards and reports functionalities."

What is most valuable?

It monitors almost everything.

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

How has it helped my organization?

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

What needs improvement?

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

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There were no stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There were no scalability issues.

How is customer service and technical support?

I haven’t used technical support yet.

How was the initial setup?

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.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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

What other advice do I have?

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.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user692547 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user692547Lead - Solution Specialist at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant

Zabbix is good solution considering open source platform. It meets customer basic needs . Inbuilt dashboard and report capabilities needs to improve more.

Regards
Sameer

Buyer's Guide
Zabbix
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Zabbix. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
768,886 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Associate Founder at KerBBo Consulting
Real User
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.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Director at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Consultant
Integration With Other Open Source Solutions Expand Possibilities For Data Visualization

What is most valuable?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What needs improvement?

Reporting and SLA customization.

For how long have I used the solution?

Five years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

None.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

None.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

None.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

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

Technical Support:

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

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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.

How was the initial setup?

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

What about the implementation team?

We are Zabbix's partners.

What was our ROI?

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.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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

What other advice do I have?

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.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are Zabbix resellers.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Consulting System Engineer at ENEA
Real User
We value the auto-host discovery, template import, and bulk import/export features.
Pros and Cons
  • "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 had some scalability issues with a large number of nodes."

What is most valuable?

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

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What needs improvement?

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

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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.

How was the initial setup?

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.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Nagios.

What other advice do I have?

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

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant
My extended experience with Zabbix or how to cook toasts

Hi everyone,

I want to share a story about cooking toasts and tell you how we were expanding the functionality of Zabbix by a coil of wire and an integrated circuit Open Source solutions. First things first.

Imagine, you work in an organization (and it can be yours) where its business process is supported by one or more IT systems. There is a monitoring system. Then a little blurred vision, and it is not clear whether /the industrial system is free or Open Source. However, there aresituations when all the sensors aregreen, but the business process gives unexplained setbacks, showing a decrease of key indicators. Matter-of-factly, the situation is out of control and your intervention is required. It’s quite a common case. A systematical approach for solving this problem will provide a drafting services model.

Tom Wujec who provides services for the visualization of the processes occurring in the companies (not just IT), carried out a curious study. He asked different people to draw the process of toasting. See below for some results of this work.

What do we see on this pictures? Right you are. You can see objects and links presented in any system. The more you see them , the more the approach will be systematical. The correct degree of granularity will more accurately monitor the "health" of business system. To construct a circuit, you can try to use the Visio, but much more interesting is to take a marker to draw connections, adhesive sheets for objects and to portray your system on the whiteboard. The more is the quantity of yellow leaves, the more are the links, the higher is the chance to determine the maximum number of monitoring points for right resolving of the problem.

And now it's high time to tell you about our experience in the field of expansion of standard functional Zabbix and of systematical approach described above. There are exactly two of them.

The first is Mapping systems and the installation of thermal services’ card. In view of our considerable experience in the monitoring of the banking business processes, we give an example of exactly this area. Let’s consider three of the most common banking systems. If there is a more typical system in your bank it will not be considered here.

Home banking (online banking):

Enterprise serial bus (ESB):

Decision-making system (Credit convey):

In our application, it will look like this (yes, the structure is somewhat broken, but visibility still persists):

You can go to a lower level in case of need. And, last but not least, when you move the object pops up pop-up window with the description of the event and with a link to the graph in Zabbix

Through this approach, and given the level of details, we get friendly dashboards in the output, and at the same time a simple problem of localization tool. A few words about the features of our system:

- Visualization of the dependencies among enterprise systems;
- Set up of the degree of mutual components’influence (due weight);
- Integration with Zabbix (objects on the heat map are associated with flip-flops);
- Pop-up windows with text events when you hover over the event object;
- Visual Interface Communication Configuration objects;
- Visual communication setup interface of objects with triggers Zabbix.

As an example, some already developed interfaces.

Adding objects to a heat map:

Adding integrations from Zabbix:

Connecting Zabbix triggers to objects on the heat map:

The system is based on Google Charts and Bootstrap. While this is an alpha version, we plan to develop it further, adding useful pieces of industrial systems, which have been working successfully for many years. I will try to keep you in touch and to publish posts on the basis of practices developed.

The second experience is the integration with Zabbix and heat maps of synthetic transactions functionality. In fact, it’s a continuation of the heat map, and the look from the other side. Definitely controlling the system only from the application and infrastructure, you will not have the necessary information completeness. Synthetic transactions will allow having a look as a user and isolate the problem even before the first user requests to the Help Desk.

Synthetic transactions are based on the framework phantom.js (but nothing prevents you to go to casper.js, to pure selenium or anything else on your liking). In our test lab the execution of scenario is configured through cron and then the data are transferred to Zabbix by Zabbix trapper. As an example, the test scripts are logged into the MTS (Russia's mobile operator) personal account and receive money from the demand balance and the traffic in the Internet package (I can send it to you if you interested in this script). In the banking community, the most likely use of this tool can be, for example, online banking. Nobody will prevent you to log into the system and flip 1 dollar from one account to another.

Collected items from our example are as follows:

Each has its own schedule.

I do not want to say that the use of Open Source solutions monitoring is a tablet from all troubles. I will reveal an open secret: as in physics, there is the law of conservation of money and effort. The more money you invest into a finished product, the less effort for improvement, and vice versa. Always should be guided by common sense, the available budget and the human factor: ready to be your team to throw in the recess of business monitoring on the first call?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Junior Network Engineer at Easy Systems
Real User
Straightforward installation, high performance, but support could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The performance and bandwidth are valuable features."
  • "The performance reporting could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to monitor our network devices.

What is most valuable?

The performance and bandwidth are valuable features.

What needs improvement?

The performance reporting could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability could be improved, there are some limitations.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 11 people using this solution in my organization. We have four engineers and six technicians that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support is good. However, the support could be more knowledgeable.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is straightforward and it took approximately one hour.

What about the implementation team?

We did the installation ourselves. However, I had to watch some video tutorials and view some PDF help files online to complete the installation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is a license required for this solution and we pay annually for our license.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Zabbix a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Adilson Dombaxi - PeerSpot reviewer
Adilson DombaxiJunior Network Engineer at Easy Systems
Real User

The Zabbix is top because is fundamental easy to manager.

IT Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Free to use with good functionality and good stability
Pros and Cons
  • "There are lots of great features and functionality within the solution."
  • "The user interface could be a bit better. They could update it a bit."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use this solution in some of our different monitoring systems, including our different servers, and applications. We use it for the maintenance of the main server in the laboratory.

What is most valuable?

The ability to connect with monitoring is very useful for us. It's great that we can monitor different applications. We can even monitor remotely.

I recently tested the solution's ability to hold up to rebooting machines remotely and we were able to do so with ease. 

There are lots of great features and functionality within the solution.

So far, we've found the solution to be quite stable.

The product has a large community and therefore has lots of documentation around various aspects of the product.

What needs improvement?

I don't recall coming across missing features. It's a fairly complete solution.

The user interface could be a bit better. They could update it a bit.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution offers very good stability. It doesn't have bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze on us. It's been reliable from the very start.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have never tried to scale the solution. I can't speak to its level of scalability.

However, it is my hope that it is. It's important to be able to scale it.

We only currently have 10 people on the solution. It's a small group and therefore we haven't yet had a need to expand it.

How are customer service and technical support?

While I haven't ever actually reached out to technical support, I'd say that it would important to have access. If there was a question the community couldn't answer it would be nice to know if we could turn to Zabbix directly for assistance. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did previously use a different solution prior to Zabbix. It was a suite of applications that included, for example, DLP and myShell. I haven't used it in a very long time, so I can't speak too much about my experience with it or how it compares.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup isn't overly complex. It's largely straightforward.

There's also a fairly sizable community around the solution and there's just so much documentation and insights from other users you have access to, therefore it's very easy to find answers to your questions when it comes to implementation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We use a free community version of the solution. We don't have to pay for licensing. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm not really a user. I deploy the solution.

Overall, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Zabbix Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Zabbix Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.