Item: Zabbix
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Zabbix to monitor pretty much everything plugged into our corporate network. This includes the basics like firewalls and switches and server hosts to the weird stuff like phone system PBXs and time clocks. Zabbix does have a steep learning curve and I had to watch a bunch of YT videos to understand how it wants to be setup. Since its open source, it likes to assume that everybody using Zabbix is going to have the same kind of skills as the developers, which is what holds back Zabbix from a bigger user base. It is very powerful software and can display enormous amounts of USEFUL information but its all hidden behind a user interface that is not as user friendly as it could be. I spent a good 40 hours doing the setup and configuration of Zabbix when I started at my current employer. The dashboards showing live firewall and switch activity blew away my boss and he said this was a game changer. The next question was could he tinker with it and add in more stuff to be watched. I said yes sure but have you got 10 hours for me to show the basics? My review of Zabbix is that it is fantastic software, if you have the time to dedicate to the setup.

Pros and Cons

Graphs of live network activity from switches and firewalls
Shows SNMP data from hardware server out of band SOCs
Complex alerting from hardware and lots of different kinds of OSs

User interface
Very steep learning curve
Documentation is extensive but it doesn't provide good examples of how to complete basic tasks

Most Important Features

Alerting
Showing usage trends

Return on Investment

Good ROI when trying to get ahead of network related problems instead of waiting for users to complain
Good ROI when doing upgrades or exploratory work on a neglected network
Good ROI when showing usage trends to management showing higher actual usage versus what was thought to be happening

Alternatives Considered

PRTG Network Monitor

Zabbix has no financial cost, PRTG is very expensive but just as impressive capability wise.

Key Insights

Do you think Zabbix delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Zabbix's feature set?

Did Zabbix live up to sales and marketing promises?

Did implementation of Zabbix go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Zabbix again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Darktrace, vSphere, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365

Likelihood to Recommend

Very well suited for large complex networks where using something like PRTG may be too expensive. Not all worth the effort for small networks or small organizations with a lot of cloud activity.

Users and Roles

1 - Alerting and monitoring of network activity in a non-security context mostly done by SNMP but it can talk to Windows and Linux hosts as well.

Support Headcount Required

1 - A general system administrator can use Zabbix as long as they can dedicate the time for the initial setup. A junior help desk would be challenged with the setup of Zabbix. It would be a lot better if the developers made it more accessible to folks who don't necessarily have a coding back ground as there are features that require understanding of coding vocab - which is kinda normal for open source stuff.