Summary

In this chapter, we saw how to expand a simple, standalone Zabbix installation into a vast and complex distributed monitoring solution. By now, you should be able to understand how Zabbix proxies work, how they pass monitoring information around, what their respective strong points and possible drawbacks are, and what their impact in terms of hardware requirements and maintenance is.

You also learned about when and how to choose between an active proxy and a passive one, when there is the case to use a more robust database, such as MySQL, and more importantly, how to mix and match the two features into a tailor-made solution for your own environment.

Finally, you now have a clear understanding of how to evaluate possible security concerns regarding monitored data and what possible measures you can take to mitigate security risks related to a Zabbix installation.

In the next chapter, we will conclude with an overview on how to deploy Zabbix in a large environment by talking about high availability at the three levels: database, monitoring server, and web frontend.