Step 1 – Verify Zabbix Works

Your server’s IP address and root password are shown in the Server Information section on the Overview tab of your server in the client portal. The application settings you entered when ordering, passwords included, are shown in the Zabbix Credentials card on the same tab. Zabbix is accessible by IP address: open https://your.server.ip/zabbix in a browser and log in:

• Username: Admin (capital A – case-sensitive)
• Password: the admin password you entered during the order

After logging in you will see the Zabbix dashboard – your server is already being monitored by the local Zabbix Agent. If the page loads and you can sign in, Zabbix is working correctly.

403 Forbidden right after the server is created. While the server finishes setup (usually a minute or two after it starts), the web interface is closed to visitors: until your password is applied, Zabbix still has the vendor’s default password, which is publicly known. Wait a minute and reload the page.

Password rules. Zabbix rejects passwords that contain the user name (Admin), the product name or common words (for example ZabbixServer2026). If your order password is rejected, the server is marked as “setup not completed”, and the vendor’s default password is replaced with a random one so that nobody else can sign in. Read it over SSH (Step 2) and change it after logging in.

HTTPS without a domain. Since January 2026 Let’s Encrypt issues certificates for IP addresses (official announcement), so your server gets a real, browser-trusted certificate on first boot – before you connect any domain. Certificates of this kind are short-lived (about six days) and renew automatically. If the certificate cannot be issued (for example, the server sits behind a router and port 80 is not reachable from the internet), the web interface works over http://your.server.ip/zabbix – the welcome message you see when you connect via SSH tells which address to use.

If you placed the server behind a VyOS router on a private network, the server has only a private address, so it does not get the IP certificate. Reach Zabbix on the private address through a VPN on the router (WireGuard or OpenVPN, on the router’s Configuration tab), or forward ports 22, 80 and 443 to the server on the router’s Configuration tab (Port forwarding). Remote agents in active mode connect to this server on port 10051, so forward it as well if you use them. For passive checks this server connects to port 10050 on each monitored host. For a trusted HTTPS certificate, point a domain to the router’s public address (Step 1).

Firewall. If you turn on the Firewall for this server in the client portal, allow incoming TCP port 80 in its rules, along with 443 (HTTPS) and 10051 if you use active agents. Certificates renew over port 80 – the IP certificate every few days – and without that rule the certificate expires and the browser starts showing a warning.

Step 2 – Connect via SSH

Connect to your server with the IP address and root password (or SSH key) from the Server Information section on the Overview tab of your server in the client portal:

ssh root@your.server.ip

# Zabbix login details (URL, user name, current password)
cat /root/.zabbix_credentials

# Setup log - shows why setup did not complete, if it did not
cat /opt/setup/setup.log

To change the Zabbix password, log in and open User settings → Profile → Change password.

Step 3 – Add Your First Host to Monitor

Your Zabbix server already monitors itself. To add a remote host:

1. Go to Data collection → Hosts → Create host
2. Enter a Host name (e.g., web-server-01)
3. Add a Host group (e.g., Linux servers)
4. Under Interfaces, click Add → Agent and enter the remote host IP address
5. Go to the Templates tab and link a template (e.g., Linux by Zabbix agent)
6. Click Add

The remote host needs Zabbix Agent installed. On an Ubuntu/Debian remote host:

# On the remote host you want to monitor
apt update && apt install -y zabbix-agent2

# Edit the config to point to your Zabbix server
sed -i "s/Server=127.0.0.1/Server=your.zabbix.server.ip/" /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf
sed -i "s/ServerActive=127.0.0.1/ServerActive=your.zabbix.server.ip/" /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.conf

systemctl restart zabbix-agent2
systemctl enable zabbix-agent2

Step 4 – Set Up Email Alerts

Configure email notifications so Zabbix alerts you when something goes wrong:

1. Go to Alerts → Media types → Email
2. Configure your SMTP server settings (server, port, sender email)
3. Go to Users → Admin → Media tab → Add
4. Select Email type and enter your email address
5. Go to Alerts → Actions → Trigger actions and enable the default notification action

Fail2Ban – Brute-Force Protection

Your server comes with Fail2Ban pre-configured to protect SSH from brute-force attacks.

Useful commands:

# Check banned IPs
fail2ban-client status sshd

# Unban an IP
fail2ban-client set sshd unbanip 1.2.3.4

If you accidentally lock yourself out, open the Console on your server’s Overview tab in the client portal and unban your IP.

Service Management

# Check Zabbix server status
systemctl status zabbix-server

# Check Zabbix agent status
systemctl status zabbix-agent2

# View Zabbix server logs
tail -f /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log

# View Zabbix agent logs
tail -f /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_agent2.log

# Restart all Zabbix services
systemctl restart zabbix-server zabbix-agent2 apache2

Monitoring Templates

Zabbix comes with hundreds of built-in monitoring templates. Common templates:

Updates

To update Zabbix and system packages:

# Update Zabbix and all system packages
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# Restart Zabbix services after update
systemctl restart zabbix-server zabbix-agent2 apache2

Note: Always check the Zabbix upgrade notes before major version upgrades.

Software Included

• Zabbix 7.0 Documentation: zabbix.com/documentation/7.0
• Configuring Hosts: zabbix.com/documentation/7.0/en/manual/config/hosts
• Templates: zabbix.com/documentation/7.0/en/manual/config/templates
• Notifications: zabbix.com/documentation/7.0/en/manual/config/notifications