Zabbix: how to monitor servers and applications in real time

Zabbix is one of the most powerful open-source platforms for real-time monitoring of IT infrastructure. Whether you're tracking server performance, network devices, or application health, Zabbix provides comprehensive visibility and alerting capabilities in a single, scalable solution.

In this article, we’ll walk through how to monitor servers and applications in real time with Zabbix, covering configuration, triggers, dashboards, and alerting.

Why use Zabbix for real-time monitoring?

Zabbix offers:

• Agent-based and agentless monitoring

• Second-level data collection intervals

• Real-time dashboards and SLA widgets

• Trigger-based alerts with severity levels

• Scalable architecture with proxy support

These features make Zabbix ideal for enterprises and MSPs requiring centralised visibility and automation.

Monitoring servers with Zabbix

Step 1: Install Zabbix agent

Install Zabbix agent on Linux or Windows servers:

dnf install -y zabbix-agent
systemctl enable --now zabbix-agent

Step 2: Configure agent

Edit /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf:

Server=<zabbix_server_ip>
ServerActive=<zabbix_server_ip>
Hostname=server01.example.com

Step 3: Add host in Zabbix frontend

Navigate to Configuration > Hosts > Create Host and:

• Set the hostname and IP

• Link the Template OS Linux/Windows

Zabbix will start collecting:

• CPU usage

• Memory consumption

• Disk I/O

• Network bandwidth

Related article: Use cases for Zabbix in the public sector: 5 real-world examples

Monitoring applications with Zabbix

Zabbix supports both built-in and custom checks:

Application metrics:

• Web services availability (HTTP checks)

• Database responsiveness

• Application logs (via external scripts)

Setup examples:

• Use Template App Apache by HTTP for web servers

• Use Template DB MySQL or Template DB PostgreSQL for databases

• Create UserParameter for custom metrics (e.g. error count)

Visualization:

• Build dashboards using graphs, SLA reports, and value maps

• Add application status widgets to NOC views

Related article: Why Syone Is the Go-To partner for Zabbix

Real-time alerts and actions

Zabbix allows precise alerting:

• Triggers with expressions like: last(/host/system.cpu.load[percpu,avg1])>5

• Severity levels: Info, Warning, High, Disaster

• Actions with escalations (e.g., email on-call team, restart service)

Multi-channel notifications:

• Email, SMS, Slack, MS Teams, webhook

Dashboard setup for live visibility

Zabbix dashboards support:

• Real-time graphs updated every few seconds

• SLA compliance widgets

• Multi-host views by groups (e.g., dev, prod)

• Map-based monitoring for geodistributed systems

Tips:

• Use screen widgets for compact overviews

• Clone dashboards for each team or tenant

Security and performance best practices

Secure your setup:

• Use PSK or certificate-based encryption between agents and server

• Assign roles with fine-grained permissions

Related article: How to optimize IT operations with open source monitoring

Performance tuning:

• Adjust CacheSize, HistoryCacheSize, TrendCacheSize

• Use proxies for remote networks

• Optimize housekeeper settings for DB load

How Syone helps you implement real-time monitoring with Zabbix

As a certified Zabbix partner and Open Source Competence Center, Syone provides:

• Architecture planning for high-availability Zabbix deployments

• Agent automation and template customization

• Dashboard design for NOCs and IT operations

• Integration with ITSM and alerting tools

• Managed services with SLA-backed support

Whether you're starting from scratch or expanding an existing environment, Syone delivers tailored Zabbix expertise to help you achieve real-time visibility and operational excellence.

Learn more about our Zabbix solutions or contact our team for a customized implementation plan.