The Zabbix proxy plays a crucial role in handling performance and availability data for the Zabbix server, effectively distributing the data collection workload. By employing a proxy, the server can delegate some of its responsibilities, lightening its load.

Moreover, integrating a proxy offers a straightforward method for establishing centralized and decentralized monitoring systems, as all agents and proxies report data to a singular server, streamlining data collection.

The functionalities of a Zabbix proxy include:

• Monitoring areas with unreliable communication networks.
• Offload  the Zabbix server, particularly when monitoring extensive device networks.
• Distributed environment monitoring
• For monitoring a client server that belongs to different network as that of the server

 Here, we are discussing the steps involved in adding a client server that belongs to different network as that of the server to Zabbix monitoring,

Install and configure Zabbix for your platform

Download the latest version from the official website of Zabbix for your Operating system. Please note that the proxy should have the same major version as the zabbix server.

Install Zabbix repository

wget https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/6.4/ubuntu/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_6.4-1+ubuntu22.04_all.deb

dpkg -i zabbix-release_6.4-1+ubuntu22.04_all.deb

apt update

Install Zabbix proxy

You could choose MySQL/PostgreSQL/SQLite3 as database. Here we choose SQLite3.

apt install zabbix-proxy-sqlite3

Configure the database for Zabbix proxy

Edit file /etc/zabbix/zabbix_proxy.conf and set DBName parameter as /tmp/Zabbixproxy

For Passive mode, set ProxyMode=1 and for active mode,set  ProxyMode=0

The IP address of the server needs to be provided in the “Server=” parameter of configuration file.

Start Zabbix proxy process

systemctl restart zabbix-proxy

systemctl enable zabbix-proxy

Configure Zabbix agent

In /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf , give private IP address of proxy server in the “Server=” field

Retart Zabbix proxy process

systemctl restart zabbix-agent

Add zabbix proxy

Add it in frontend interface with public IP of the proxy server as interface IP address. The proxy name should be the same as the name given in the configuration file.

Add Zabbix client

Add it in frontend Zabbix interface as Host with it’s private IP as interface IP address. Choose it from the dropdown list from where you have created.

Check the availability status of the client server we have added to verify the connection. 

If you have any questions or require assistance with “How to Setup Zabbix Proxy”, please don’t hesitate to contact Skynats. Feel free to reach out to us with any queries you may have.