The latest articles on DEV Community by Xavier Maugendre (@xavier_maugendre). https://dev.to/xavier_maugendre https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3847971%2F953291df-de87-46a5-92d2-ec8534b829ce.jpg https://dev.to/xavier_maugendre en Xavier Maugendre Sat, 28 Mar 2026 16:42:17 +0000 https://dev.to/xavier_maugendre/zabbixtune-a-pgtune-style-configurator-for-zabbixserverconf-3k82 https://dev.to/xavier_maugendre/zabbixtune-a-pgtune-style-configurator-for-zabbixserverconf-3k82 <h1> ZabbixTune — A pgtune-style configurator for zabbix_server.conf </h1> <p>If you've ever set up a Zabbix server in production, you know the problem: <br> the default zabbix_server.conf is not production-ready.</p> <p>StartPollers=5, CacheSize=32M, ValueCacheSize=8M — these defaults work <br> for a lab, but they will hurt your performance in production with hundreds <br> or thousands of hosts.</p> <h2> The problem with default Zabbix server configuration </h2> <p>Most Zabbix administrators tune their server configuration by trial and <br> error, or by copying values from blog posts that don't match their <br> infrastructure. There was no tool to calculate the right parameters based <br> on your actual setup — until now.</p> <h2> Introducing ZabbixTune </h2> <p>ZabbixTune is an open source, browser-based configurator that generates <br> an optimized zabbix_server.conf based on your infrastructure.</p> <p>Inspired by pgtune (the popular PostgreSQL configurator), ZabbixTune <br> asks you a few questions about your setup and generates the full <br> configuration file with only the modified parameters uncommented.</p> <h2> Features </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>MySQL, PostgreSQL and PostgreSQL + TimescaleDB</strong> support</li> <li> <strong>Active/passive proxy mode</strong> with correct NVPS calculation</li> <li> <strong>Full zabbix_server.conf</strong> generated from the official Zabbix template</li> <li> <strong>Only modified variables are uncommented</strong> — easy to review and apply</li> <li> <strong>Proxy-aware NVPS calculation</strong> — distinguishes collection vs ingestion</li> <li> <strong>100% client-side</strong> — single HTML file, no dependencies, no data sent</li> </ul> <h2> How it works </h2> <ol> <li>Select your database type</li> <li>Enter your infrastructure — number of hosts, items per host, collection interval, CPU cores, RAM</li> <li>Toggle the collection types you use — SNMP, ICMP, HTTP, IPMI, VMware</li> <li>Configure your proxies — active or passive mode, number of proxies</li> <li>Get your optimized zabbix_server.conf instantly</li> </ol> <p>The tool calculates StartPollers, StartPreprocessors, StartDBSyncers, <br> CacheSize, HistoryCacheSize, ValueCacheSize, TrendCacheSize and all <br> other key parameters based on your actual NVPS (New Values Per Second).</p> <h2> Why NVPS matters </h2> <p>NVPS is the key metric for Zabbix server performance. The tool correctly <br> separates:</p> <ul> <li> <strong>Collection NVPS</strong> — what your pollers actually collect</li> <li> <strong>Ingestion NVPS</strong> — what your backend must write to the database</li> </ul> <p>When using proxies, the backend doesn't collect — it only ingests data <br> sent by proxies. This changes the sizing of pollers, trappers, <br> preprocessors and caches significantly.</p> <h2> Try it </h2> <p>🔗 <strong>Live tool:</strong> <a href="https://xavier-maugendre.github.io/zabbix-server-tuner/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://xavier-maugendre.github.io/zabbix-server-tuner/</a></p> <p>📦 <strong>GitHub:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/xavier-maugendre/zabbix-server-tuner" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/xavier-maugendre/zabbix-server-tuner</a></p> <p>The tool is open source, single HTML file, no backend, no tracking. <br> Feedback and contributions welcome!</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fvza2cn8b48zj9c5qxonr.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fvza2cn8b48zj9c5qxonr.png" alt=" " width="800" height="707"></a></p> zabbix monitoring sysadmin opensource