Table of Contents

1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux

1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Overview

This section provides instructions on upgrading from Zabbix 6.4.x to the latest version of Zabbix 7.0.x using official Zabbix packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux or its derivatives - AlmaLinux, CentOS Stream, Oracle Linux, and Rocky Linux.

Prior to Zabbix 7.0, single installation packages were provided for RHEL and RHEL-based distributions. Starting from 7.0, separate packages are used for RHEL and each of its above-mentioned derivatives to avoid potential problems with binary incompatibility.

Before upgrading, please review the relevant upgrade notes and ensure that your system meets the requirements for Zabbix 7.0.

Consider running two parallel SSH sessions during the upgrade: one for executing the upgrade steps and another for monitoring server/proxy logs. For example, run tail -f zabbix_server.log or tail -f zabbix_proxy.log in the second session to view the latest log entries and possible errors in real time. This can be critical for production instances.

For instructions on upgrading between Zabbix 7.0.x minor versions (for example, from 7.0.1 to 7.0.3), see Upgrade between minor versions.

Upgrade procedure

1 Stop Zabbix processes

Stop Zabbix server to make sure that no new data is inserted into database:

systemctl stop zabbix-server

If upgrading Zabbix proxy, agent, or agent 2, stop these components too:

systemctl stop zabbix-proxy
       systemctl stop zabbix-agent
       systemctl stop zabbix-agent2

2 Back up Zabbix database

Back up your existing Zabbix database to safeguard against upgrade failures (for example, disk space issues, power loss, or unexpected problems).

3 Back up Zabbix configuration files, PHP files, and Zabbix binaries

Back up existing Zabbix configuration files, PHP files, and Zabbix binaries.

For configuration files, run:

mkdir /opt/zabbix-backup/
       cp /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf /opt/zabbix-backup/
       cp /etc/httpd/conf.d/zabbix.conf  /opt/zabbix-backup/

For PHP files and Zabbix binaries, run:

cp -R /usr/share/zabbix/ /opt/zabbix-backup/
       cp -R /usr/share/zabbix-* /opt/zabbix-backup/

4 Update repository configuration package

Before proceeding with the upgrade, update your current repository package to the latest version to ensure compatibility with the newest packages and to include any recent security patches or bug fixes.

On RHEL 9, run:

rpm -Uvh https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/7.0/rhel/9/x86_64/zabbix-release-latest.el9.noarch.rpm

On RHEL 8, run:

rpm -Uvh https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/7.0/rhel/8/x86_64/zabbix-release-latest.el8.noarch.rpm

For older RHEL versions or its derivatives, replace the link above with the correct one from Zabbix repository. Note, however, that packages for those versions may not include all Zabbix components. For a list of components included, see Zabbix packages.

Then, clean up the dnf package manager's cache (including headers, metadata, and package files downloaded during previous installations or updates):

dnf clean all

On the next dnf operation, dnf will download fresh metadata from the repositories since the old metadata is cleared.

See also: Known issues for updating the repository configuration package on RHEL.

5 Upgrade Zabbix components

To upgrade Zabbix components, run:

dnf install zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-web-mysql zabbix-agent

If using PostgreSQL, replace mysql with pgsql in the command.
If upgrading the proxy, replace server with proxy in the command.
If upgrading the agent 2, replace zabbix-agent with zabbix-agent2 zabbix-agent2-plugin-* in the command.

Upgrading Zabbix agent 2 with the dnf install zabbix-agent2 command could lead to an error. For more information, see Known issues.

Then, to upgrade Zabbix frontend with Apache, run:

dnf install zabbix-apache-conf

6 Review component configuration parameters

Review the relevant upgrade notes to check if any changes in the configuration parameters are necessary.

For new optional parameters, see the What's new page.

7 Start Zabbix processes

Start the upgraded Zabbix components:

systemctl start zabbix-server
       systemctl start zabbix-proxy
       systemctl start zabbix-agent
       systemctl start zabbix-agent2

8 Clear web browser cookies and cache

After the upgrade, you may need to clear web browser cookies and web browser cache for the Zabbix web interface to work properly.

Upgrade between minor versions

It is possible to upgrade between Zabbix 7.0.x minor versions (for example, from 7.0.1 to 7.0.3).

To upgrade all Zabbix components, run:

dnf upgrade 'zabbix-*'

To upgrade Zabbix server only, replace 'zabbix-*' with 'zabbix-server-*' in the command.
To upgrade Zabbix proxy only, replace 'zabbix-*' with 'zabbix-proxy-*' in the command.
To upgrade Zabbix agent only, replace 'zabbix-*' with 'zabbix-agent-*' in the command.
To upgrade Zabbix agent 2 only, replace 'zabbix-*' with 'zabbix-agent2-*' in the command.

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