docker-scripts/linux/advanced/zabbix/server

What is Zabbix?

Zabbix is an enterprise-class open source distributed monitoring solution.

Zabbix is software that monitors numerous parameters of a network and the health and integrity of servers. Zabbix uses a flexible notification mechanism that allows users to configure e-mail based alerts for virtually any event. This allows a fast reaction to server problems. Zabbix offers excellent reporting and data visualisation features based on the stored data. This makes Zabbix ideal for capacity planning.

For more information and related downloads for Zabbix components, please visit https://hub.docker.com/u/zabbix/ and https://zabbix.com

What is Zabbix server?

Zabbix server is the central process of Zabbix software.

The server performs the polling and trapping of data, it calculates triggers, sends notifications to users. It is the central component to which Zabbix agents and proxies report data on availability and integrity of systems. The server can itself remotely check networked services (such as web servers and mail servers) using simple service checks.

Zabbix server images

These are the only official Zabbix server Docker images. They are based on Alpine Linux v3.11, Ubuntu 18.04 (bionic) and CentOS 7 images. The available versions of Zabbix server are:

Zabbix server 3.0 (tags: alpine-3.0-latest, ubuntu-3.0-latest, centos-3.0-latest)
Zabbix server 3.0.* (tags: alpine-3.0.*, ubuntu-3.0.*, centos-3.0.*)
Zabbix server 3.2 (tags: alpine-3.2-latest, ubuntu-3.2-latest, centos-3.2.*) (unsupported)
Zabbix server 3.2.* (tags: alpine-3.2.*, ubuntu-3.2.*, centos-3.2.*) (unsupported)
Zabbix server 3.4 (tags: alpine-3.4-latest, ubuntu-3.4-latest, centos-3.4.*) (unsupported)
Zabbix server 3.4.* (tags: alpine-3.4.*, ubuntu-3.4.*, centos-3.4.*) (unsupported)
Zabbix server 4.0 (tags: alpine-4.0-latest, ubuntu-4.0-latest, centos-4.0-latest)
Zabbix server 4.0.* (tags: alpine-4.0.*, ubuntu-4.0.*, centos-4.0.*)
Zabbix server 4.2 (tags: alpine-4.2-latest, ubuntu-4.2-latest, centos-4.2.*) (unsupported)
Zabbix server 4.2.* (tags: alpine-4.2.*, ubuntu-4.2.*, centos-4.2.*) (unsupported)
Zabbix server 4.4 (tags: alpine-4.4-latest, ubuntu-4.4-latest, centos-4.4-latest) (unsupported)
Zabbix server 4.4.* (tags: alpine-4.4.*, ubuntu-4.4.*, centos-4.4.*) (unsupported)
Zabbix server 5.0 (tags: alpine-5.0-latest, ubuntu-5.0-latest, centos-5.0-latest, alpine-latest, ubuntu-latest, centos-latest, latest)
Zabbix server 5.0.* (tags: alpine-5.0.*, ubuntu-5.0.*, centos-5.0.*)
Zabbix server 5.2 (tags: alpine-trunk, ubuntu-trunk, centos-trunk)

Images are updated when new releases are published. The image with latest tag is based on Alpine Linux.

The image uses MySQL database. It uses the next procedure to start:

• Checking database availability
• If MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD or MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD are specified, the instance tries to create MYSQL_USER user with MYSQL_PASSWORD to use these credentials then for Zabbix server.
• Checking of having MYSQL_DATABASE database. Creating MYSQL_DATABASE database name if it does not exist
• Checking of having dbversion table. Creating Zabbix server database schema and upload initial data sample if no dbversion table

How to use this image

Start zabbix-server-mysql

Start a Zabbix server container as follows:

docker run --name some-zabbix-server-mysql -e DB_SERVER_HOST="some-mysql-server" -e MYSQL_USER="some-user" -e MYSQL_PASSWORD="some-password" -d zabbix/zabbix-server-mysql:tag

Where some-zabbix-server-mysql is the name you want to assign to your container, some-mysql-server is IP or DNS name of MySQL server, some-user is user to connect to Zabbix database on MySQL server, some-password is the password to connect to MySQL server and tag is the tag specifying the version you want. See the list above for relevant tags, or look at the full list of tags.

Container shell access and viewing Zabbix server logs

The docker exec command allows you to run commands inside a Docker container. The following command line will give you a bash shell inside your zabbix-server-mysql container:

$ docker exec -ti some-zabbix-server-mysql /bin/bash

The Zabbix server log is available through Docker's container log:

$ docker logs some-zabbix-server-mysql

Environment Variables

When you start the zabbix-server-mysql image, you can adjust the configuration of the Zabbix server by passing one or more environment variables on the docker run command line.

DB_SERVER_HOST

This variable is IP or DNS name of MySQL server. By default, value is 'mysql-server'

DB_SERVER_PORT

This variable is port of MySQL server. By default, value is '3306'.

MYSQL_USER, MYSQL_PASSWORD, MYSQL_USER_FILE, MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE

These variables are used by Zabbix server to connect to Zabbix database. With the _FILE variables you can instead provide the path to a file which contains the user / the password instead. Without Docker Swarm or Kubernetes you also have to map the files. Those are exclusive so you can just provide one type - either MYSQL_USER or MYSQL_USER_FILE!

docker run --name some-zabbix-server-mysql -e DB_SERVER_HOST="some-mysql-server" -v ./.MYSQL_USER:/run/secrets/MYSQL_USER -e MYSQL_USER_FILE=/run/secrets/MYSQL_USER -v ./.MYSQL_PASSWORD:/run/secrets/MYSQL_PASSWORD -e MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE=/var/run/secrets/MYSQL_PASSWORD -d zabbix/zabbix-server-mysql:tag

With Docker Swarm or Kubernetes this works with secrets. That way it is replicated in your cluster!

printf "zabbix" | docker secret create MYSQL_USER -
printf "zabbix" | docker secret create MYSQL_PASSWORD -
docker run --name some-zabbix-server-mysql -e DB_SERVER_HOST="some-mysql-server" -e MYSQL_USER_FILE=/run/secrets/MYSQL_USER -e MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/MYSQL_PASSWORD -d zabbix/zabbix-server-mysql:tag

This method is also applicable for MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD with MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE.

By default, values for MYSQL_USER and MYSQL_PASSWORD are zabbix, zabbix.

MYSQL_DATABASE

The variable is Zabbix database name. By default, value is zabbix.

ZBX_LOADMODULE

The variable is list of comma separated loadable Zabbix modules. It works with volume /var/lib/zabbix/modules. The syntax of the variable is dummy1.so,dummy2.so.

ZBX_DEBUGLEVEL

The variable is used to specify debug level. By default, value is 3. It is DebugLevel parameter in zabbix_server.conf. Allowed values are listed below:

• 0 - basic information about starting and stopping of Zabbix processes;
• 1 - critical information
• 2 - error information
• 3 - warnings
• 4 - for debugging (produces lots of information)
• 5 - extended debugging (produces even more information)

ZBX_TIMEOUT

The variable is used to specify timeout for processing checks. By default, value is 4.

ZBX_JAVAGATEWAY_ENABLE

The variable enable communication with Zabbix Java Gateway to collect Java related checks. By default, value is false.

Other variables

Additionally the image allows to specify many other environment variables listed below:

ZBX_DBTLSCONNECT= # Available since 5.0.0
ZBX_DBTLSCAFILE= # Available since 5.0.0
ZBX_DBTLSCERTFILE= # Available since 5.0.0
ZBX_DBTLSKEYFILE= # Available since 5.0.0
ZBX_DBTLSCIPHER= # Available since 5.0.0
ZBX_DBTLSCIPHER13= # Available since 5.0.0
ZBX_LISTENIP=
ZBX_HISTORYSTORAGEURL= # Available since 3.4.0
ZBX_HISTORYSTORAGETYPES=uint,dbl,str,log,text # Available since 3.4.0
ZBX_STARTPOLLERS=5
ZBX_IPMIPOLLERS=0
ZBX_STARTPREPROCESSORS=3 # Available since 3.4.0
ZBX_STARTPOLLERSUNREACHABLE=1
ZBX_STARTTRAPPERS=5
ZBX_STARTPINGERS=1
ZBX_STARTDISCOVERERS=1
ZBX_STARTHTTPPOLLERS=1
ZBX_STARTTIMERS=1
ZBX_STARTESCALATORS=1
ZBX_STARTALERTERS=3 # Available since 3.4.0
ZBX_JAVAGATEWAY=zabbix-java-gateway
ZBX_JAVAGATEWAYPORT=10052
ZBX_STARTJAVAPOLLERS=5
ZBX_STARTLLDPROCESSORS=2 # Available since 4.2.0
ZBX_STATSALLOWEDIP= # Available since 4.0.5
ZBX_STARTVMWARECOLLECTORS=0
ZBX_VMWAREFREQUENCY=60
ZBX_VMWAREPERFFREQUENCY=60
ZBX_VMWARECACHESIZE=8M
ZBX_VMWARETIMEOUT=10
ZBX_ENABLE_SNMP_TRAPS=false
ZBX_SOURCEIP=
ZBX_HOUSEKEEPINGFREQUENCY=1
ZBX_MAXHOUSEKEEPERDELETE=5000
ZBX_SENDERFREQUENCY=30
ZBX_CACHESIZE=8M
ZBX_CACHEUPDATEFREQUENCY=60
ZBX_STARTDBSYNCERS=4
ZBX_EXPORTFILESIZE=1G # Available since 4.0.0
ZBX_HISTORYCACHESIZE=16M
ZBX_HISTORYINDEXCACHESIZE=4M
ZBX_HISTORYSTORAGEDATEINDEX=0 # Available since 4.0.0
ZBX_TRENDCACHESIZE=4M
ZBX_VALUECACHESIZE=8M
ZBX_TRAPPERIMEOUT=300
ZBX_UNREACHABLEPERIOD=45
ZBX_UNAVAILABLEDELAY=60
ZBX_UNREACHABLEDELAY=15
ZBX_LOGSLOWQUERIES=3000
ZBX_STARTPROXYPOLLERS=1
ZBX_PROXYCONFIGFREQUENCY=3600
ZBX_PROXYDATAFREQUENCY=1
ZBX_TLSCAFILE=
ZBX_TLSCRLFILE=
ZBX_TLSCERTFILE=
ZBX_TLSKEYFILE=
ZBX_TLSCIPHERALL= # Available since 4.4.7
ZBX_TLSCIPHERALL13= # Available since 4.4.7
ZBX_TLSCIPHERCERT= # Available since 4.4.7
ZBX_TLSCIPHERCERT13= # Available since 4.4.7
ZBX_TLSCIPHERPSK= # Available since 4.4.7
ZBX_TLSCIPHERPSK13= # Available since 4.4.7

Default values of these variables are specified after equal sign.

The allowed variables are identical of parameters in official zabbix_server.conf. For example, ZBX_LOGSLOWQUERIES = LogSlowQueries.

Please use official documentation for zabbix_server.conf to get more information about the variables.

Allowed volumes for the Zabbix server container

/usr/lib/zabbix/alertscripts

The volume is used for custom alert scripts. It is AlertScriptsPath parameter in zabbix_server.conf.

/usr/lib/zabbix/externalscripts

The volume is used by External checks (type of items). It is ExternalScripts parameter in zabbix_server.conf.

/var/lib/zabbix/modules

The volume allows load additional modules and extend Zabbix server using LoadModule feature.

/var/lib/zabbix/enc

The volume is used to store TLS related files. These file names are specified using ZBX_TLSCAFILE, ZBX_TLSCRLFILE, ZBX_TLSKEY_FILE and ZBX_TLSPSKFILE variables.

/var/lib/zabbix/ssh_keys

The volume is used as location of public and private keys for SSH checks and actions. It is SSHKeyLocation parameter in zabbix_server.conf.

/var/lib/zabbix/ssl/certs

The volume is used as location of of SSL client certificate files for client authentication. It is SSLCertLocation parameter in zabbix_server.conf.

/var/lib/zabbix/ssl/keys

The volume is used as location of SSL private key files for client authentication. It is SSLKeyLocation parameter in zabbix_server.conf.

/var/lib/zabbix/ssl/ssl_ca

The volume is used as location of certificate authority (CA) files for SSL server certificate verification. It is SSLCALocation parameter in zabbix_server.conf.

/var/lib/zabbix/snmptraps

The volume is used as location of snmptraps.log file. It could be shared by zabbix-snmptraps container and inherited using volumes_from Docker option while creating new instance of Zabbix server. SNMP traps processing feature could be enabled using shared volume and switched ZBX_ENABLE_SNMP_TRAPS environment variable to true.

/var/lib/zabbix/mibs

The volume allows to add new MIB files. It does not support subdirectories, all MIBs must be placed to /var/lib/zabbix/mibs.

/var/lib/zabbix/export

Directory for real-time export of events, history and trends in newline-delimited JSON format. Could be enabled using ZBX_EXPORTFILESIZE environment variable.

The image variants

The zabbix-server-mysql images come in many flavors, each designed for a specific use case.

zabbix-server-mysql:ubuntu-<version>

This is the defacto image. If you are unsure about what your needs are, you probably want to use this one. It is designed to be used both as a throw away container (mount your source code and start the container to start your app), as well as the base to build other images off of.

zabbix-server-mysql:alpine-<version>

This image is based on the popular Alpine Linux project, available in the alpine official image. Alpine Linux is much smaller than most distribution base images (~5MB), and thus leads to much slimmer images in general.

This variant is highly recommended when final image size being as small as possible is desired. The main caveat to note is that it does use musl libc instead of glibc and friends, so certain software might run into issues depending on the depth of their libc requirements. However, most software doesn't have an issue with this, so this variant is usually a very safe choice. See this Hacker News comment thread for more discussion of the issues that might arise and some pro/con comparisons of using Alpine-based images.

To minimize image size, it's uncommon for additional related tools (such as git or bash) to be included in Alpine-based images. Using this image as a base, add the things you need in your own Dockerfile (see the alpine image description for examples of how to install packages if you are unfamiliar).

Supported Docker versions

This image is officially supported on Docker version 1.12.0.

Support for older versions (down to 1.6) is provided on a best-effort basis.

Please see the Docker installation documentation for details on how to upgrade your Docker daemon.

User Feedback

Documentation

Documentation for this image is stored in the server-mysql/ directory of the zabbix/zabbix-docker GitHub repo. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the repository's README.md file before attempting a pull request.

Issues

If you have any problems with or questions about this image, please contact us through a GitHub issue.

Known issues

Contributing

You are invited to contribute new features, fixes, or updates, large or small; we are always thrilled to receive pull requests, and do our best to process them as fast as we can.

Before you start to code, we recommend discussing your plans through a GitHub issue, especially for more ambitious contributions. This gives other contributors a chance to point you in the right direction, give you feedback on your design, and help you find out if someone else is working on the same thing.