About Zabbix Server
Zabbix is an open source monitoring platform that collects metrics from your servers, network devices, services and applications, then raises alerts when a threshold is crossed. System administrators, operations teams and small organisations use it to keep an eye on their infrastructure without relying on a third-party service.
On delivery, your Linux VPS (Paris or Frankfurt) is running Zabbix 7.0 LTS: the server, the PHP web interface, Agent 2 and a dedicated MariaDB database. Apache serves the interface over HTTPS with a self-signed certificate, and the site root redirects to /zabbix.
The web setup wizard has already been completed: the frontend configuration file is written, the database schema is imported, and the password of the Admin account (zabbix by default in Zabbix) has been replaced with a random value. You can find it in /tmp/credentials.txt.
What you can do with Zabbix Server
Server, web interface and Agent 2
The official packages from the Zabbix 7.0 repository are installed and enabled at boot: zabbix-server, the web interface and zabbix-agent2. The server can therefore monitor itself from your first login.
Preconfigured MariaDB database
The
zabbixdatabase (utf8mb4) is created with a dedicated user, a random password and the schema already imported. No manual database step is required.HTTPS from the first login
Apache publishes the interface over HTTPS using the self-signed certificate from the ssl-cert package. You can replace it later with a certificate for your own domain.
Generated Admin password
The default password is removed during installation. The
Adminaccount and its random password are saved in/tmp/credentials.txt, readable by root only.LTS release
Zabbix 7.0 is a long-term support branch, a good fit for a monitoring server you do not want to migrate every six months.
Get started with Zabbix Server
From order to production in a few minutes.
- 1
Order the VPS with Zabbix ticked
Choose a Linux VPS in Paris or Frankfurt (Debian 12, Debian 13, Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04 or 24.04), then tick Zabbix Server in the "Applications" tab of the order form. Aim for 4 GB of RAM if you will monitor several dozen hosts; 2 GB is the minimum.
- 2
Connect and retrieve your credentials
Once the server is delivered, connect over SSH and read the credentials file. It contains the interface URL, the
Adminaccount and its password. Copy it somewhere safe:/tmpmay be cleared on reboot.Bashssh root@SERVER_IP cat /tmp/credentials.txt - 3
Add your first host to monitor
Open https://SERVER_IP/zabbix and accept the self-signed certificate warning. On the machine you want to monitor, install zabbix-agent2 from the Zabbix 7.0 repository, set
Server=SERVER_IPin/etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf, restart the agent, then create the host under Data collection > Hosts with a template (for example "Linux by Zabbix agent").Bashsudo nano /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf sudo systemctl restart zabbix-agent2 - 4
Secure it before going to production
Change the Admin password in the interface, create named user accounts, then restrict access with a firewall. Point a domain at the VPS and replace the self-signed certificate with a Let's Encrypt certificate.
Bashufw allow 22/tcp ufw allow 80/tcp ufw allow 443/tcp ufw allow from AGENT_IP to any port 10051 proto tcp ufw enable
Zabbix Server use cases
Monitor a fleet of Linux servers
Track CPU, memory, disk, services and processes across your VPS or dedicated servers, with email or webhook alerts when a threshold is exceeded.
Watch websites and services
Check HTTP availability, TLS certificates, open ports and response times for your sites or APIs from a single central point.
Replace a SaaS monitoring tool
Keep your metrics and history on a server you control, in Europe, rather than with a third-party monitoring service billed per host.
Track network equipment
Poll routers, switches and UPS units over SNMP, and visualise interface traffic in dashboards and maps.
Zabbix Server FAQ
It is written to /tmp/credentials.txt at the end of the installation. The account is Admin and the password is randomly generated, so it is not the default zabbix value. Copy the file somewhere safe, because /tmp may be cleared on reboot.
More about Zabbix Server
Files and services to know
The server configuration is in /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf (the DBPassword= line was added during installation). The frontend configuration is in /etc/zabbix/web/zabbix.conf.php, and the agent configuration is in /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf. The services are zabbix-server, zabbix-agent2, apache2 and mariadb.
systemctl status zabbix-server zabbix-agent2 apache2 mariadb
Ports and firewall
By default, Zabbix uses port 10051 on the server side (active agents, proxies) and 10050 on the agent side (passive checks). On a machine monitored in passive mode, allow port 10050 from your Zabbix server's address only. Never open these ports to the whole Internet.
Switching to a real certificate
The self-signed certificate protects the connection but triggers a browser warning. Once your domain points to the VPS, set ServerName YOUR_DOMAIN in /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl.conf, then run Certbot with the Apache plugin. You can manage your domain names at /web-domains.
Backing up the database
All configuration and history live in the zabbix database. A regular logical backup, copied off the server, is the bare minimum.
mariadb-dump --single-transaction zabbix | gzip > /root/zabbix-$(date +%F).sql.gz
Back up /etc/zabbix/ as well. History grows with the number of collected items and how often they are polled: keep an eye on disk space, as it is the most common cause of a full disk on a monitoring server. More guides are available at /learn.
