Zabbix client installation on Ubuntu

Through this article, I wanted to write down how to set up the Zabbix client from its source code on Ubuntu distributions. Some time ago I posted a similar article but utilizing a CentOS host. For this case, I am going to accomplish the same task but choosing an Ubuntu Server 11.04 and Zabbix 1.8.7.

First of all, we need to download the source code from the Zabbix web site and decompress it inside the server. We must have installed too the build-essential package, so as to be able to compile the Zabbix client.

root@ubuntu-server:~# aptitude install build-essential

root@ubuntu-server:~/zabbix-1.8.7# ./configure --enable-agent

root@ubuntu-server:~/zabbix-1.8.7# make ; make install

Once we have correctly compiled and installed the Zabbix agent, next step is to create the appropiate directories, copy the configuration files and add a new user to the system called zabbix.

root@ubuntu-server:~/zabbix-1.8.7# mkdir -p /etc/zabbix/alert.d /var/log/zabbix /var/run/zabbix

root@ubuntu-server:~/zabbix-1.8.7# cp -a misc/conf/zabbix_agentd.conf /etc/zabbix/

root@ubuntu-server:~/zabbix-1.8.7# cp misc/init.d/ubuntu/zabbix-agent.conf /etc/init/

root@ubuntu-server:~/zabbix-1.8.7# useradd -r -d /var/run/zabbix -s /sbin/nologin zabbix

root@ubuntu-server:~/zabbix-1.8.7# chown zabbix:zabbix /var/run/zabbix /var/log/zabbix

Afterwards, we must edit the minimum information required for the Zabbix agent configuration file and in addition, it is also neccesary to establish an Upstart file for starting up and stopping the Zabbix agent service.

root@ubuntu-server:~# cat /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
...
# Zabbix client PID file
PidFile=/var/run/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.pid

# Zabbix client log file
LogFile=/var/log/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.log

# Allow remote commands from zabbix server
EnableRemoteCommands=1

# Maximum time for processing
Timeout=10

# System hostname
Hostname=ubuntu

# Zabbix server IP
Server=192.168.1.100


root@ubuntu-server:~# cat /etc/init/zabbix-agent.conf
# Start zabbix agent

pre-start script
   if [ ! -d /var/run/zabbix ]; then
           mkdir -p /var/run/zabbix
           chown zabbix:zabbix /var/run/zabbix
   fi
end script

start on filesystem
stop on starting shutdown
respawn
expect daemon
exec /usr/local/sbin/zabbix_agentd

The last point is to register the ports used by Zabbix into the services file and run the agent.

root@ubuntu-server:~# echo "zabbix-agent    10050/tcp  Zabbix Agent"   >> /etc/services
root@ubuntu-server:~# echo "zabbix-agent    10050/udp  Zabbix Agent"   >> /etc/services
root@ubuntu-server:~# echo "zabbix-trapper  10051/tcp  Zabbix Trapper" >> /etc/services
root@ubuntu-server:~# echo "zabbix-trapper  10051/udp  Zabbix Trapper" >> /etc/services


root@ubuntu-server:~# start zabbix-agent