1 Database creation

Overview

A Zabbix database must be created during the installation of Zabbix server or proxy.

This section provides instructions for creating a Zabbix database. A separate set of instructions is available for each supported database.

UTF-8 is the only encoding supported by Zabbix. It is known to work without any security flaws. Users should be aware that there are known security issues if using some of the other encodings.

MySQL

Character set utf8 and utf8_bin collation is required for Zabbix server to work properly with MySQL database.

shell> mysql -uroot -p<password>
       mysql> create database zabbix character set utf8 collate utf8_bin;
       mysql> grant all privileges on zabbix.* to zabbix@localhost identified by '<password>';
       mysql> quit;

If you use Zabbix packages continue with instructions for Debian/Ubuntu or RHEL/CentOS to import the data into the database.

shell> cd database/mysql
       shell> mysql -uzabbix -p<password> zabbix < schema.sql
       # stop here if you are creating database for Zabbix proxy
       shell> mysql -uzabbix -p<password> zabbix < images.sql
       shell> mysql -uzabbix -p<password> zabbix < data.sql

PostgreSQL

You need to have database user with permissions to create database objects. The following shell command will create user zabbix. Specify password when prompted and repeat password (note, you may first be asked for sudo password):

shell> sudo -u postgres createuser --pwprompt zabbix

Now we will set up the database zabbix (last parameter) with the previously created user as the owner (-O zabbix) and import initial schema and data (assuming you are in the root directory of Zabbix sources):

shell> sudo -u postgres createdb -O zabbix -E Unicode -T template0 zabbix

If you use Zabbix packages continue with instructions for Debian/Ubuntu or RHEL/CentOS to import the data into the database.

shell> cd database/postgresql
       shell> cat schema.sql | sudo -u zabbix psql zabbix
       # stop here if you are creating database for Zabbix proxy
       shell> cat images.sql | sudo -u zabbix psql zabbix
       shell> cat data.sql | sudo -u zabbix psql zabbix

TimescaleDB

Support of TimescaleDB has been added on experimental basis in Zabbix 4.2.0.

We assume that TimescaleDB extension has been already installed on the database server (see installation instructions).

TimescaleDB extension must also be enabled for the specific DB by executing:

echo "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS timescaledb CASCADE;" | sudo -u postgres psql zabbix

Running this command requires database administrator privileges.

The timescaledb.sql script is located in database/postgresql. The script must be run after the regular PostgreSQL database has been created with initial schema/data (see section above):

cat timescaledb.sql | sudo -u zabbix psql zabbix

Note that the timescaledb.sql script sets the following housekeeping parameters (from Administration → General → Housekeeping):

• Override item history period
• Override item trend period

In order to use partitioned housekeeping for history and trends both these options must be enabled. It's possible to use TimescaleDB partitioning only for trends (by setting Override item trend period) or only for history (Override item history period).

Oracle

We assume that a zabbix database user with password password exists and has permissions to create database objects in ORCL service located on the host Oracle database server with a user shell user having write access to /tmp directory. Zabbix requires a Unicode database character set and a UTF8 national character set. Check current settings:

sqlplus> select parameter,value from v$nls_parameters where parameter='NLS_CHARACTERSET' or parameter='NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET';

If you are creating a database for Zabbix server you need to have images from Zabbix sources on the host where Oracle is running. Copy them to a directory /tmp/zabbix_images on the Oracle host:

shell> cd /path/to/zabbix-sources
       shell> ssh user@oracle_host "mkdir /tmp/zabbix_images"
       shell> scp -r misc/images/png_modern user@oracle_host:/tmp/zabbix_images/

Now prepare the database:

shell> cd /path/to/zabbix-sources/database/oracle
       shell> sqlplus zabbix/password@oracle_host/ORCL
       sqlplus> @schema.sql
       # stop here if you are creating database for Zabbix proxy
       sqlplus> @images.sql
       sqlplus> @data.sql

Now the temporary directory can be removed:

shell> ssh user@oracle_host "rm -rf /tmp/zabbix_images"

IBM DB2

shell> db2 "create database zabbix using codeset utf-8 territory us pagesize 32768"
       shell> cd database/ibm_db2
       shell> db2batch -d zabbix -f schema.sql
       # stop here if you are creating database for Zabbix proxy
       shell> db2batch -d zabbix -f images.sql
       shell> db2batch -d zabbix -f data.sql 

Zabbix frontend uses OFFSET and LIMIT clauses in SQL queries. For this to work, IBM DB2 server must have DB2_COMPATIBILITY_VECTOR variable be set to 3. Run the following command before starting the database server:

shell> db2set DB2_COMPATIBILITY_VECTOR=3

SQLite

Using SQLite is supported for Zabbix proxy only!

shell> cd database/sqlite3
       shell> sqlite3 /var/lib/sqlite/zabbix.db < schema.sql

Return to the installation section.