[ZBX-25941] Install guide is lacking for a quickstart guide Created: 2025 Jan 27  Updated: 2025 Jan 31  Resolved: 2025 Jan 31

Status: Closed
Project: ZABBIX BUGS AND ISSUES
Component/s: Documentation (D)
Affects Version/s: 7.2.2
Fix Version/s: None

Type: Documentation task Priority: Trivial
Reporter: Antti Savolainen Assignee: Piotr Zakrzewski
Resolution: Fixed Votes: 0
Labels: None
Remaining Estimate: Not Specified
Time Spent: Not Specified
Original Estimate: Not Specified
Environment:

https://www.zabbix.com/download?zabbix=7.2&os_distribution=rocky_linux&os_version=9&components=server_frontend_agent&db=mysql&ws=apache


Attachments: PNG File Screenshot 2025-01-28 at 16.00.15.png    

 Description   

Description:

In the quickstart guide for Zabbix on Rocky Linux the instructions are lacking. Since the guide aims to be for those who are just starting with zabbix, there should be an additional code block instructing how to install and enable mysql under c. Create initial database like so:

 

dnf install mysql-server
systemctl enable --now mysqld

 

This should decrease the new user friction.

Also in the same guide you should use zabbix-agent2 instead of zabbix-agent. This will get rid of an annoying memory usage warning in LXC containers

Result:
No instructions on how to create and start up mysql
The instructions use zabbix-agent instead of zabbix-agent2
Expected:
Short codeblock for mysql
Use zabbix-agent2



 Comments   
Comment by Alex Kalimulin [ 2025 Jan 28 ]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Also in the same guide you should use zabbix-agent2 instead of zabbix-agent.

You can select whether to use Agent or Agent2 on the download page.

This will get rid of an annoying memory usage warning in LXC containers

Can you please explain what you mean? What are those warnings?

Comment by Antti Savolainen [ 2025 Jan 28 ]

You can select whether to use Agent or Agent2 on the download page.

My bad. I was going off a link that I was given and I didn't notice that was an option.

Can you please explain what you mean? What are those warnings?

https://www.zabbix.com/forum/zabbix-troubleshooting-and-problems/419835-lxc-container-bad-memory-value-with-agent
https://github.com/kvaps/zabbix-linux-container-template
zabbix-agent fetches its memory usage data from a wrong place, thus in LXC containers it will always report 99% memory usage. This is fixed in zabbix-agent2.
 

Comment by Piotr Zakrzewski [ 2025 Jan 28 ]

Hello Antti Savolainen,

We appreciate your insight into making the guide more beginner-friendly. While the Quickstart Guide does not currently include detailed instructions on installing a database engine, we believe this approach allows users the flexibility to choose the database type and version that best suits their specific requirements.

For detailed instructions and scripts for setting up a database with Zabbix, we encourage you to refer to the official Zabbix documentation:
Zabbix Database Setup Scripts

This resource includes detailed scripts and guidelines to configure your database for use with Zabbix. However, installing the database engine itself (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL) depends on the user’s preference, and we recommend following the official guides provided by the respective database providers to complete the installation.

Regarding your report about Agent2 - could you please elaborate on what, and how are you monitoring? The components of Agent2 which are responsible for memory are written in C, same as in the Agent, so that should work similarly in both agent versions; therefore we need more details about that issue for better understanding of the problem.

 

Thank you again for your valuable input, and let us know if we can assist you further.

Best regards,
Piotr Zakrzewski
Zabbix Support Team

Comment by Antti Savolainen [ 2025 Jan 29 ]

What a shame. I had this complaint from a person that doesn't like it when guides leave out key details just for the sake of user freedom. A person who knows what they want to will disregard the instruction and choose what they want while a newbie will be left scratching their head. I do not see the downside of adding a mysql install codeblock and then mentioning that "Any database engine that supports the mysql command will do"

I have a Proxmox hypervisor that I use to launch an LXC container of Rocky Linux. I am monitoring nothing more than zabbix itself right after install. If I use zabbix-agent, zabbix will throw a warning that memory usage is >90%. If I use zabbix-agent2, no such warning appears. This is a common issue and several discussions can be found on google. But this isn't related to my original report.

Comment by Piotr Zakrzewski [ 2025 Jan 31 ]

Hi again,

I see what You mean, indeed it seems there is a slight difference in how both Agents access memory data. Since Zabbix 5.0. Agent1 uses sysinfo() call which ignores Cgroups limits, and that's why You see the host's memory instead of a container.

In that scenario i would suggest that You'd keep using Agent2 for proper containers checks.
Somewhen in the future there will be a fix for that (ZBXNEXT-6228)

Just FYI, i'll be closing this issue. If You encounter any bugs, feel free to reach out and create an issue in our ZBX tracker. We also encourage You to check out our documentation for better Zabbix understanding and help in configuration (https://www.zabbix.com/documentation/current/en/manual). And also check out community https://zabbix.com/forum

Best regards,
Piotr

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