The integration of Grafana with the Zabbix system is one of the most effective solutions for monitoring and visualizing IT infrastructure data. Zabbix, as a powerful tool for collecting data, monitoring the status of systems and applications, combined with Grafana, which provides advanced visualizations, becomes the perfect duo for IT teams seeking a comprehensive view of their operational environment.

In this article, we will explore how to implement the integration of Grafana with Zabbix, its benefits, and how to configure visualizations.

Source: Grafana Labs 

Why integrate Grafana with Zabbix?

Zabbix collects and stores real-time data from various devices and applications in IT infrastructure. It offers extensive monitoring capabilities, including performance metrics, system availability, and health monitoring. Grafana, in turn, allows for advanced visualization of this data through interactive dashboards.

Integrating Grafana with Zabbix offers many benefits:

• Real-time visualization: Grafana enables dynamic presentation of data in real time, allowing for quick problem identification.
• Dashboard customization: The ability to create custom dashboards and charts tailored to specific team needs.
• Alerting and notifications: The integration allows configuring alerts and notifications in Grafana, making incident management easier.
• Data centralization: It enables the centralization of monitoring from various data sources, allowing a more holistic view of the infrastructure.

Prerequisites

To implement the integration of Grafana with Zabbix, several prerequisites must be met:

• Installed Zabbix: Ensure that Zabbix is properly installed and configured in your environment.
• Installed Grafana: You need to have Grafana installed, which will be used for data visualization.
• Zabbix API: Grafana uses Zabbix's API to fetch data, so make sure API access is configured and available.

Source: Grafana Labs

The process of integrating Grafana with Zabbix

Integrating Grafana with Zabbix involves several steps to enable efficient data collection and visualization.

Step 1: Installing the Zabbix plugin in Grafana

• Log in to Grafana using your administrator account.
• Navigate to the “Plugins” section: In the left-hand menu, find the “Plugins” tab.
• Install the Zabbix plugin: Search for the Zabbix plugin in the catalog and click “Install.” After installation, the plugin should appear in the installed plugins section.
   

Step 2: Adding Zabbix as a data source in Grafana

• Add a new data source: In the left-hand menu, go to “Data Sources,” then click the “Add data source” button.
• Select Zabbix: From the list of available data sources, select “Zabbix.”
   

Configure the data source:

• Zabbix API URL: Enter the URL for Zabbix's API, e.g., http://your-zabbix-server/zabbix/api_jsonrpc.php.
• Authentication: Provide the login credentials (username and password) for the Zabbix account that has access to the metrics you want to monitor.
• Test the connection: After configuring, click “Test & Save” to ensure Grafana can connect to Zabbix.
   

Step 3: Creating dashboards in Grafana

After adding Zabbix as a data source, you can proceed to create dashboards:

• Create a new dashboard: In the left-hand menu, select “Dashboards,” then click “New Dashboard.”
• Add new panels: Click “Add new panel.” In the “Query” section, choose Zabbix as the data source.

Select metrics for visualization:

Select the host and data items you want to monitor. You can use filters to narrow down the results.

• Configure the visualization—choose the appropriate chart type (e.g., line chart, bar chart) and customize the visualization options (colors, labels, titles). 
• Save the dashboard: After configuring all panels, save the dashboard and give it an appropriate name.

Step 4: Setting alerts in Grafana

• Add an alert to a panel: In the panel settings, select the “Alert” section.
• Configure conditions: Set the conditions that must be met for the alert to trigger. You can set thresholds for the metrics you want to monitor.
• Notifications: Choose notification channels (e.g., email, Slack) to receive real-time alert information.

Source: Grafana Labs

Benefits of integrating Grafana with Zabbix

Integrating Grafana with Zabbix opens up new possibilities for monitoring and data analysis. With advanced visualization, problems can be quickly identified, and corrective actions taken before they impact the entire infrastructure. Additionally, the ability to create custom dashboards allows for better visualization tailoring to specific team needs.

Best practices for integration

To fully leverage the potential of integrating Grafana with Zabbix, consider these best practices:

• Regular updates: Keep both Grafana and Zabbix updated to the latest versions to benefit from new features and fixes.
• Documentation: Create documentation of processes and dashboard configurations to help new team members understand and manage the system.
• Performance monitoring: Use Grafana to monitor Zabbix itself, ensuring the system operates optimally without performance issues.

Source: Grafana Labs

Conclusion

Integrating Grafana with Zabbix is a powerful tool that enables effective monitoring and visualization of IT infrastructure data. With Grafana’s visualization capabilities and Zabbix’s advanced monitoring, IT teams can quickly identify problems, take corrective actions, and enhance operational efficiency. Well-planned integration allows for the creation of a flexible and functional monitoring system that can be adapted to the evolving needs of the organization.

Want to learn more about integrating Zabbix with Grafana? Contact us!