Install Zabbix 8.0 LTS on Ubuntu 24.04

Zabbix is an open-source monitoring system: it collects metrics from servers, network equipment and applications, draws graphs and sends alerts about problems. Below is how to install the current 8.0 LTS release on Ubuntu 24.04 with a MySQL database and the Nginx web server.

Requirements

For a small installation (up to a hundred hosts) a VPS with 2 cores, 4 GB of RAM and 20–30 GB of disk is enough. Most of the space goes to metric history in the database.

All commands are run as root:

sudo -s

Step 1. Zabbix repository

wget https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/8.0/release/ubuntu/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_latest_8.0+ubuntu24.04_all.deb
dpkg -i zabbix-release_latest_8.0+ubuntu24.04_all.deb
apt update

For Ubuntu 22.04 or 26.04, replace 24.04 in the file name with your release number.

Step 2. Install the packages

apt install -y zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-frontend-php zabbix-nginx-conf zabbix-sql-scripts zabbix-agent2

zabbix-server-mysql — the monitoring server;
zabbix-frontend-php and zabbix-nginx-conf — the web interface and its Nginx configuration;
zabbix-sql-scripts — the database schema;
zabbix-agent2 — the agent that collects metrics from the server itself.

Step 3. Database

apt install -y mysql-server
mysql

CREATE DATABASE zabbix CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_bin;
CREATE USER 'zabbix'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'a_strong_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON zabbix.* TO 'zabbix'@'localhost';
SET GLOBAL log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1;
EXIT;

Import the schema and initial data. The command asks for the zabbix user’s password; the import takes a few minutes:

zcat "$(dpkg -L zabbix-sql-scripts | grep 'mysql/server.sql.gz')" | mysql --default-character-set=utf8mb4 -uzabbix -p zabbix

After the import, restore the setting:

mysql -e "SET GLOBAL log_bin_trust_function_creators = 0;"

Step 4. Configure the Zabbix server

Set the database password in /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf:

DBPassword=a_strong_password

Step 5. Configure Nginx

In /etc/zabbix/nginx.conf, uncomment and fill in two lines:

listen 80;
server_name zabbix.example.com;

If the server hosts no other sites, disable the default page so it does not intercept requests:

rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Step 6. Start the services

systemctl restart zabbix-server zabbix-agent2 nginx php8.3-fpm
systemctl enable zabbix-server zabbix-agent2 nginx php8.3-fpm

Make sure the server started without errors:

systemctl status zabbix-server
tail -n 20 /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log

Step 7. Setup wizard

Open http://zabbix.example.com in a browser.

The first step of the Zabbix setup wizard

Choose the interface language.
Check that all prerequisites are marked as met.
Enter the database details: name zabbix, user zabbix and the password.
Set the server name and time zone.

First login credentials: user Admin, password zabbix.

Step 8. HTTPS

A monitoring interface must not run over unencrypted HTTP:

apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
certbot --nginx -d zabbix.example.com

Adding other servers

On every server you want to monitor, add the Zabbix repository (step 1) and install the agent:

apt install -y zabbix-agent2

In /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf, set the Zabbix server address and the host name:

Server=203.0.113.10
ServerActive=203.0.113.10
Hostname=web-01

Restart the agent and open port 10050 for the Zabbix server’s address:

systemctl restart zabbix-agent2
ufw allow from 203.0.113.10 to any port 10050 proto tcp

In the web interface open Data collection → Hosts → Create host, enter the same host name, add the Linux by Zabbix agent template and an agent interface with the server’s IP address. Data starts arriving within a couple of minutes.

Next steps

Set up notifications under Alerts → Media types: Zabbix can send messages by email, to Telegram and other messengers.
For visual dashboards, connect Zabbix as a data source to Grafana.
For simple availability checks without agents, use Uptime Kuma.