We are using the Zabbix software to monitor the availability and functionality of our IT infrastructure and specifically the smooth operation of the PokerStrategy.com web site. Last week we hosted a Zabbix training session with Rihards Olups from Zabbix SIA – the company that develops the software and provides support and training. We provided the conference room with brand-new Lenovo T420 laptops and the usual delicious catering goodies from Marie. Both external participants and ICANS colleagues took part in the workshop that consisted of the sessions “Zabbix Certified Specialist” and “Zabbix for Large Environments”. It was a tough week with lots of information, hands-on wizardry and nasty exercises. But we were all happy to be there and we have learned a great deal. Even after two years of Zabbix usage there are still ways to improve our configuration.
I used the opportunity for a little interview with Rihards.
Rihards, please introduce yourself and Zabbix in a few sentences.
Zabbix is a very flexible and fully open-source monitoring solution. Or rather, a peace of mind tool. Zabbix SIA is a company that is working on Zabbix, adding features and improving it in many ways. SIA is not part of the name – it’s more or less the same as GmbH in Germany. I personally joined two years ago because I like the open-source approach – and I like to work on things I like. Although my usage of Zabbix goes back to 2001, the year when it was released, thus there is more user-side experience than insider one.
How is Zabbix different from other monitoring software?
Compared to commercial solutions, Zabbix is not horribly expensive (including no payment for each monitored device). It is also much more flexible, largely owing to the easy and unrestricted access to all source code. That results in an adaptable solution, which many enterprise environments desperately need. With all source available, there is no vendor lockin, and not being tied to one vendor offers a great deal of versatility and ability to monitor multiple different environments.
In general, Zabbix provides a fairly unique package of full open-source solution – there are no “professional” or “enterprise” versions or proprietary modules that you have to buy to actually use it efficiently. There are a lot technical advantages, including native small footprint agents, flexible escalation module, remote data collector (Zabbix proxy)… but for that it would be best to discover these things in a more extended format.
What are the major advantages and disadvantages of Zabbix in your opinion?
For me personally when looking for a monitoring solution major advantages are:
- Bundled frontend and visualisation
- True opensource solution
- Great feature set that does not have to be put together from million pieces.
I might be slightly biased when talking about major disadvantages, although currently I’d probably point at two:
- Initial setup can be non-trivial, and learning the concepts may take some time (although as one Zabbix community member put it, “it’s a steep learning curve, but great view from the top”)
- User interface in some parts could benefit from improvements.
How come Zabbix is less known to sysadmins than software like Nagios or Cacti? Sysadmins who tried Zabbix hardly ever seem to go back to anything else.
Zabbix was never really advertised much – it was quietly developed and improved technically. But indeed, lately users who have chosen Zabbix stick to it. They are also suggesting it to others, and that makes it more popular. One such example is LinuxJournal survey, where Zabbix is actually leading currently.
Another area where Zabbix has been growing with less exposure is enterprise. There are quite a lot of Zabbix installations running quietly.
You are publishing Zabbix entirely under an open-source license and are selling support and training. Is Zabbix yet another success story proving that it is possible to earn money with open-source software?
When Alexei first published Zabbix back in April 7th in 2001, it was a true opensource solution but without any commercial services available. Now there’s a healthy and growing company, so that probably does qualify as a success story :)
You are the author of the Zabbix book from Packt Publishing. Why did you decide to write a book on Zabbix?
To be fair, it was a bit of an accident. I got an offer from Packt, which said something along the lines of “would you like to be part of our collective”. That sounded like there would be many authors and I would only write a chapter or two, which seemed sensible – so I accepted. Next I got a request to provide outline and schedule for all the chapters. That was a bit shocking, but at that point refusing seemed impolite…
What else are you spending your time on except Zabbix?
Lately Zabbix does take most of my time, sometimes all of it. Still, I try to devote some moments OpenStreetMap, a free and open map that anyone can edit. It is a very addictive and helpful project at the same time, which also gets me more outdoors to gather data. If anybody sees something wrong or missing on www.osm.org, I’d like to invite them to improve it :)
Do you enjoy your stay in Hamburg?
Surely. It’s a nice city with long history. My hotel is also situated next to the Reeperbahn. Both Hamburg and Riga were in Hanseatic League, so there’s also some common history.
I would like to invite all Zabbix users to join us in the Zabbix conference and 10 year celebration (remember, it was initially released in 2001?) in Riga, Latvia. That’s pretty close to Germany, and in addition to Zabbix centric topics there is a chance to visit Riga and nearby region. Of course, those who are not using Zabbix yet are welcome to discover why is it gaining popularity and find out how Zabbix could help them to manage their environment. More details are available at the Zabbix conference pages.
Thanks for interview and a great, entertaining and interesting week.
