Skip to main content
Cloud server with Zabbix

Cloud server with Zabbix

Zabbix is an open source software solution for distributed monitoring of network parameters, as well as the status and health of servers.

You can create a cloud server with an off-the-shelf Zabbix application.

Create a cloud server with Zabbix⁠

For Zabbix to work, the cloud server must be accessible from the Internet. To do this, you need to create a private subnet and connect a public IP address — you can do this when creating the server. To configure Zabbix when creating the server, you need to specify user data — user configuration parameters of the operating system.

After you create a server, you can automatically issue a free TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt® for the domain you specify. To issue a certificate, you must add an A record for the domain and specify the public IP address of the server in the record value.

  1. In the Control panel, on the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.

  2. Click Create Server.

  3. In the Name and Location block:

    3.1 In the Name field, enter the name of the server. This will be set as the host name in the operating system.

    3.2 In the Region and Pool fields, select the region and pool segment in which the server will be created. The list of available server configurations and resource costs depends on the pool segment. Once the server is created, the pool segment cannot be changed.

  4. In the Source block, click the default source name → Applications tab, select Cloud Zabbix_<Zabbix_version> 64-bit and click Select.

  5. In the Configuration block, select the server configuration. You can select:

    • fixed configuration — rulers in which the ratio of resources is fixed;
    • or an arbitrary configuration in which any resource ratio can be specified.

    Server configuration depends on the number of monitoring metrics you want to use, as well as the time of their storage. Learn more about how to calculate the server configuration in the official Zabbix documentation.

    The configurations use different processors depending on the line and pool segment.

    5.1 To select a fixed configuration, click Fixed, open the tab with the desired ruler and select the configuration.

    5.2 To select an arbitrary configuration, click Arbitrary, specify the number of vCPUs and the RAM size.

    5.3 Select the server boot disk:

    • If you want to select a local disk as the server boot disk, check the Local SSD NVMe disk checkbox;
    • If you want to select a network disk as the server boot disk, uncheck the Local SSD NVMe disk checkbox . In the Disk Type field, select the type of network boot disk. And specify the disk size in GB or TB. Take into account the maximum size limits of network disks.

    5.4 Optional: to add additional network disks to the server. In the Disk Type field, select the network disk type and specify the network disk size in GB or TB. Observe the maximum size limits of network disks.

    Once the server is created, you can disconnect additional disks from it or connect new ones.

  6. In the Network block, connect an existing private subnet with the cloud router or create a new one:

    6.1 Click Private Subnet.

    6.2 In the Public IP Address for Internet Access field, select New Public IP Address.

    6.3. Expand the block with private subnet settings.

    6.4. In the Subnet field, select an existing subnet.

    6.5. In the Private IP field, specify the private IP address of the server. The public IP address will be automatically connected to the private address.

  7. Select security groups to filter traffic on server ports. Without security groups, traffic will not be allowed. If there is no block, port security is disabled on the server network . With traffic filtering disabled, all traffic will be allowed.

  8. In the Access block:

    8.1 Place an SSH key on the server for secure connection:

    • If an SSH key is added to the cloud platform, in the SSH key field, select an existing key;
    • If the SSH key is not added to the cloud platform, click Add SSH Key, enter the key name, paste the public SSH key in OpenSSH format, and click Add.

    8.2 Optionally: in the Password for "root" field, copy the password of the root user (a user with unlimited rights for all actions on the system). Save the password in a safe place and do not pass it on in public.

  9. In the Advanced Settings block:

    9.1 Optional: If you plan to create multiple cloud servers and want to increase the resiliency of your infrastructure, add a server to a placement group. To create a new group, click Create Group, enter a group name, and select a placement policy on different hosts:

    • preferably — the system will try to place servers on different hosts (soft-anti-affinity). If there is no suitable host when creating a server, it will be created on the same host;
    • mandatory — servers in the group must be located on different hosts (anti-affinity). If there is no suitable host when creating a server, the server will not be created.

    If a group has been created, select a placement group in the Placement Group field.

    9.2 Optional: to add additional information or filter servers in the list, add server tags. Operating system and configuration tags are automatically added. To add a new tag, enter a tag in the Tags field.

  10. In the Automation block, in the User data field, insert a script that will be executed at system startup. You can add additional parameters to the script:

#cloud-config

write_files:
- path: "/opt/gomplate/values/user-values.yaml"
  permissions: "0644"
  content: |
    pg_password: "<postgres_user_password>"
    zabbixDomain: <example.com>
    leEmail: <name@example.com>
    httpsMethod: redirect

Specify:

  • <postgres_user_password> — database user password. The password must contain:
    • more than eight characters;
    • at least one capital letter;
    • at least one lowercase letter;
    • at least one digit;
  • <example.com> — domain to access Zabbix. For the domain, you need to add an A record and specify the public IP address you specified in step 6 in the record value. After the server is created, a TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt® will be automatically issued for the domain;
  • <name@example.com> — email to create an account and receive Let's Encrypt® notifications.
  1. Check the price of the cloud server.
  2. Click Create.

Parameters⁠

To configure a cloud server with Zabbix, you can specify parameters from the table in the User data field.

NameTypeDefault valueDescription
pg_passwordstring✗Database user password. Must be more than eight characters, contain at least one uppercase and one lowercase letter and at least one digit. If the field is left blank, the generated password will be used
zabbixDomainstring✗The domain to access Zabbix, for which a TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt® will be automatically issued.
leEmailstring✗Email to create an account and receive Let's Encrypt® notifications
httpsMethodstringnoredirectParameter for automatic issuance of TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt®: redirect — certificate will be issued; noredirect — certificate will not be issued