Would you like to learn how to use Zabbix to monitor a Vmware ESXi server and all the virtual machines? In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to configure Zabbix to monitor a Vmware ESXi server.
• Zabbix 3.4.12
• Vmware ESXi 5.5
• Vmware ESXi 6.0
• Vmware ESXi 6.5
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Tutorial – Enable Zabbix Vmware Monitoring
First, we need to edit the Zabbix server configuration file and enable the Vmware monitor feature.
Locate the zabbix_server configuration file.
Edit the configuration file.
Here is the original file, before our configuration.
Add the following line at the end of the file.
Here is the new file with our configuration.
In our example, the Zabbix server was configured to start automatically 5 Vmware collector processes.
Now, you need to restart the Zabbix service.
If you used our installation guide, you can restart Zabbix using the following command:
If the Zabbix server was started successfully, you should see a message similar to this on the log file:
Congratulations! you have enabled the feature required to monitor Vmware on Zabbix.
You can now use the Zabbix server dashboard to add Vmware ESXi to the network monitoring service.
Tutorial Zabbix – Monitoring Vmware ESXi
Now, we need to access the Zabbix server dashboard and add the Linux computer as a Host.
Open your browser and enter the IP address of your web server plus /zabbix.
In our example, the following URL was entered in the Browser:
• http://35.162.85.57/zabbix
On the login screen, use the default username and default password.
• Default Username: Admin
• Default Password: zabbix
After a successful login, you will be sent to the Zabbix Dashboard.
On the dashboard screen, access the Configuration menu and select the Host option.
On the top right of the screen, click on the Create host button.
On the Host configuration screen, you will have to enter the following information:
• Host Name – Enter a Hostname to identify the Vmware ESXi server.
• Visible Hostname – Repeat the hostname.
• New group – Enter a name to identify a group of similar devices.
• Agent Interface – Enter the IP address of the Vmware ESXi.
Here is the original image, before our configuration.
Here is the new image with our configuration.
Next, we need to configure the Vmware login information and IP address using Macros.
Zabbix will use this information to connect to the Vmware server and collect data.
Access the Macros tab on the top of the screen and create the following macros:
Next, we need to associate the host with a specific network monitor template.
By default, Zabbix comes with a large variety of monitoring templates.
Access the Templates tab on the top of the screen.
Click on the Select button and locate the template named: TEMPLATE VM VMWARE.
Click on the Add button (1).
Click on the Add button (2).
After a few minutes, you will be able to see the initial result on the Zabbix Dashboard.
The final result will take at least two hours.
By default, Zabbix will wait 1 hour to discover the virtual machines available on the ESXi server.
By default, Zabbix will wait 1 extra hour to discover the virtual machines disk and network interfaces.
Congratulations! You have configured Zabbix to monitor a Vmware ESXi server.
Congratulations! You have configured Zabbix to monitor all virtual machines from a Vmware ESXi server.
