Documentation Plugins Zabbix Configure

Configure the Zabbix data source

This document explains how to configure the Zabbix data source in Grafana, including authentication, trends, Direct DB Connection, and provisioning.

Before you begin

Before configuring the data source, ensure you have:

• Grafana permissions: Organization administrator role.
• Zabbix API URL: The full URL to your Zabbix API endpoint, including the api_jsonrpc.php path (for example, http://zabbix.example.com/api_jsonrpc.php).
• Zabbix credentials: A username and password for a Zabbix user, or an API token. Verify the user has permissions to access the host groups and hosts you want to query in Grafana.

Install and enable the Zabbix plugin

Zabbix is an app plugin, so you must install it and then enable it before the data source becomes available. Enabling the plugin is a separate step from installation.

1. Click Administration > Plugins and data > Plugins in the left-side menu.
2. Type Zabbix in the search bar and select the Zabbix plugin.
3. If the plugin isn’t already installed, click Install. For other installation methods, refer to Install Grafana plugins.
4. On the plugin page, click Enable. The data source isn’t available to add until you enable the plugin.

Add the data source

After you enable the plugin, add the data source:

1. Click Connections in the left-side menu.
2. Click Add new connection.
3. Type Zabbix in the search bar.
4. Select Zabbix.
5. Click Add new data source.

Configure connection settings

Configure authentication

The Zabbix data source supports two authentication methods. Select the method in the Auth type drop-down under the Zabbix Connection section.

User and password

Use a Zabbix user account to authenticate with the API.

API token

Use a Zabbix API token to authenticate. API tokens are available in Zabbix 5.4 and later.

Configure per-user authentication

Per-user authentication maps each Grafana user to a Zabbix user so that queries respect the role-based access control (RBAC) already configured in Zabbix. When enabled, the plugin authenticates to the Zabbix API as the matching Zabbix user instead of using the shared credentials configured in the Auth type section. Find these settings under Additional settings > Other.

Configure trends

Trends store aggregated historical data (average, minimum, and maximum per hour) and are recommended for displaying long time ranges. Enable trends to improve query performance when viewing data older than your history retention period. Find these settings under Additional settings > Trends.

Configure Zabbix API settings

These settings control caching and connection behavior for the Zabbix API. Find them under Additional settings > Zabbix API.

Query timeout

Under Additional settings > Query Options, you can set the maximum execution time for database queries initiated by the plugin.

Configure Direct DB Connection

Direct DB Connection lets the plugin query history and trend data directly from the Zabbix database through an existing Grafana SQL or InfluxDB data source. This bypasses the Zabbix API for historical data, which is faster on wide time ranges and reduces the amount of data transferred.

Find these settings under Additional settings > Direct DB Connection.

Set up a database data source

Before enabling Direct DB Connection, you need a MySQL, PostgreSQL, or InfluxDB data source in Grafana that connects to your Zabbix database. The plugin uses this data source to execute history and trend queries.

To add a database data source:

1. Click Connections in the left-side menu.
2. Click Add new connection.
3. Select MySQL, PostgreSQL, or InfluxDB.
4. Configure the connection to your Zabbix database. The database name is typically zabbix.
5. Click Save & test.

For detailed configuration, refer to the MySQL, PostgreSQL, or InfluxDB data source documentation.

Database security

The plugin needs only read access to the history, history_uint, trends, and trends_uint tables. To minimize data exposure, grant read access to only those tables. All queries run from the Grafana server, so you can also restrict connections to the Grafana host.

MySQL example:

SQL Copy

GRANT SELECT ON zabbix.history TO 'grafana'@'<GRAFANA_HOST>' IDENTIFIED BY '<PASSWORD>';
GRANT SELECT ON zabbix.history_uint TO 'grafana'@'<GRAFANA_HOST>' IDENTIFIED BY '<PASSWORD>';
GRANT SELECT ON zabbix.trends TO 'grafana'@'<GRAFANA_HOST>' IDENTIFIED BY '<PASSWORD>';
GRANT SELECT ON zabbix.trends_uint TO 'grafana'@'<GRAFANA_HOST>' IDENTIFIED BY '<PASSWORD>';

If you also want to use this data source for other queries, you can grant SELECT privileges to the entire Zabbix database:

SQL Copy

GRANT SELECT ON zabbix.* TO 'grafana'@'<GRAFANA_HOST>' IDENTIFIED BY '<PASSWORD>';

Configure other settings

These settings are under Additional settings > Other.

Verify the connection

Click Save & test to verify the connection. A successful test displays the message “Zabbix API version” followed by the detected version number. If Direct DB Connection is enabled, the message also includes the database connector type.

If the test fails, refer to the troubleshooting guide for common connection issues and solutions.

Connect through Private Data Source Connect

If your Zabbix server isn’t directly reachable from Grafana, for example a Grafana Cloud stack connecting to a Zabbix server on a private network, you can use Private Data Source Connect (PDC). The Zabbix data source supports PDC through the Grafana secure SOCKS proxy.

To use PDC:

1. Set up a PDC connection for your Grafana Cloud stack. Refer to Private data source connect (PDC).
2. Edit the Zabbix data source and select your PDC connection in the Private data source connect settings.
3. Click Save & test.

PDC requires Grafana 10.0 or later. In self-managed Grafana, an administrator must enable the secure SOCKS proxy before the setting appears.

Provision the data source

You can define and configure the Zabbix data source in YAML files as part of Grafana’s provisioning system. For more information about provisioning, refer to Provision Grafana.

The following example provisions a Zabbix data source with Direct DB Connection using a MySQL database:

YAML Copy

apiVersion: 1

datasources:
  - name: Zabbix
    type: alexanderzobnin-zabbix-datasource
    url: http://<ZABBIX_HOST>/zabbix/api_jsonrpc.php
    jsonData:
      authType: userLogin
      username: <ZABBIX_USERNAME>
      trends: true
      trendsFrom: '7d'
      trendsRange: '4d'
      cacheTTL: '1h'
      dbConnectionEnable: true
      dbConnectionDatasourceName: <DB_DATASOURCE_NAME>
      dbConnectionRetentionPolicy: ''
      disableReadOnlyUsersAck: false
      disableDataAlignment: false
    secureJsonData:
      password: <ZABBIX_PASSWORD>
    version: 1
    editable: false

  - name: MySQL Zabbix
    type: mysql
    url: <MYSQL_HOST>:3306
    user: <MYSQL_USER>
    jsonData:
      database: zabbix
    secureJsonData:
      password: <MYSQL_PASSWORD>

Provisioning configuration options

The following table lists all available jsonData and secureJsonData fields for the Zabbix data source:

For detailed MySQL and PostgreSQL provisioning options, refer to the MySQL provisioning and PostgreSQL provisioning documentation.

Provision with Terraform

You can provision the Zabbix data source using the Grafana Terraform provider. The following example creates a Zabbix data source with user and password authentication:

hcl Copy

resource "grafana_data_source" "zabbix" {
  type = "alexanderzobnin-zabbix-datasource"
  name = "Zabbix"
  url  = "http://<ZABBIX_HOST>/zabbix/api_jsonrpc.php"

  json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
    username             = "<ZABBIX_USERNAME>"
    trends               = true
    trendsFrom           = "7d"
    trendsRange          = "4d"
    cacheTTL             = "1h"
    dbConnectionEnable   = false
    disableDataAlignment = false
  })

  secure_json_data_encoded = jsonencode({
    password = "<ZABBIX_PASSWORD>"
  })
}

For more information about the Grafana Terraform provider, refer to the Grafana provider documentation.

Next steps

• Build queries with the Zabbix query editor
• Use template variables for dynamic dashboards
• Set up alerting rules
• Troubleshoot the Zabbix data source