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Install & Configure Zabbix Agent 2

This doc only cover install Agent 2 component on Linux, Ubuntu in my case.

Always verify the official docs

Prerequisites​

Mine for this doc:

hostnamectl
#   Virtualization: kvm
# Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS              
#           Kernel: Linux 6.8.0-60-generic
#     Architecture: x86-64
#   Hardware Model: Compute Instance

smartmontools​

smartmontools is required for Zabbix agent 2.

dpkg -l | grep smartmontools
which smartctl

Install smartmontools​

sudo apt update
sudo apt install smartmontools

Install from Zabbix repository​

a. Install Zabbix repository​

sudo wget https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/7.2/release/ubuntu/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_latest_7.2+ubuntu24.04_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i zabbix-release_latest_7.2+ubuntu24.04_all.deb
sudo apt update

b. Install Zabbix agent 2​

sudo apt install zabbix-agent2

c. Optional: install agent plugins​

You may want to install Zabbix agent 2 plugins.

sudo apt install zabbix-agent2-plugin-mongodb zabbix-agent2-plugin-mssql zabbix-agent2-plugin-postgresql

d. Start agent process​

Start Zabbix agent 2 process and make it start at system boot.

sudo systemctl restart zabbix-agent2
sudo systemctl enable zabbix-agent2

Open firewall port 10050​

For better security, restrict access to just your Zabbix server.

Allow only from Zabbix server’s IP​

sudo ufw allow from ZABBIX_SERVER_IP to any port 10050 proto tcp

Check firewall rules​

sudo ufw status numbered

Reload or enable UFW​

sudo ufw enable

Configure Agent​

Check /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf:

Server= should contain your Zabbix server’s IP address.

Restart agent:

sudo systemctl restart zabbix-agent2

Encrypt connection​

Here using TLS with Pre-Shared Key (PSK), for other method, consult official docs.

For supported tools and key size limit, check the official docs.

a. Generate a PSK on the agent machine​

Example to generate a 256-bit (32 bytes) PSK with OpenSSL:

sudo openssl rand -hex 32 | sudo tee /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.psk > /dev/null

b. Configure the agent for PSK​

/etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf
TLSConnect=psk
TLSAccept=psk
TLSPSKIdentity=MyZabbixPSK
TLSPSKFile=/etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.psk
warning

Do not put sensitive information in PSK identity string - it is transmitted over the network unencrypted.

Restart the agent

sudo systemctl restart zabbix-agent2

Add monitoring to Zabbix Server​

Template: Linux by Zabbix agent

Extra: server container connect to agent on the host​

This for my setup with my config of docker-compose.yml and host running Agent 2

a. Check the zabbix-server container IP address​

docker exec -it zabbix-server ip a
# 1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
#    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
#    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
#       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
#    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
#       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
#2: eth0@if11: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP,M-DOWN> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP 
#    link/ether b6:9f:96:2d:4a:7a brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
#    inet 172.18.0.4/16 brd 172.18.255.255 scope global eth0
#       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

172.18.0.4 is the IP address of the zabbix-server container.

b. Add Zabbix server IP to UFW​

sudo ufw allow from 172.18.0.4 to any port 10050 proto tcp
sudo ufw enable

c. Configure Agent for Zabbix server​

Make Sure Zabbix Agent 2 Listens on All Interfaces

/etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf
ListenIP=0.0.0.0

Add the Zabbix server IP address to Agent configuration

/etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf
ListenIP=172.18.0.4

restart agent

sudo systemctl restart zabbix-agent2

d. Test from the Zabbix server container​

docker exec -it zabbix-server nc -vz HOST_SERVER_IP 10050

For debugging, check zabbix agent log:

sudo tail -f /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.log