Monitoring your Mikrotik with Zabbix

Summary
Practical guide to using Zabbix to monitor MikroTik devices: architecture, SNMP configuration, Ubuntu server install, dashboards, alerts, and scaling tips.

Monitoring MikroTik Remotely with Zabbix

Zabbix is the swiss-army knife of monitoring.

Open-source, battle-tested, and scalable.

It turns raw device metrics into actionable alerts and dashboards.

This guide shows why Zabbix fits providers and admins — and how to connect MikroTik routers using SNMP.

What is Zabbix?

Zabbix is a free, enterprise-grade monitoring platform created in 2001.

It collects metrics from hosts, applications and network gear.

Data sources include SNMP, the Zabbix agent, ICMP (ping), HTTP(S), SSH, IPMI, JMX and custom APIs.

All inputs feed a single dashboard with graphs, triggers and notifications.

Note: Zabbix is flexible — use agents where you need deep metrics and SNMP for network devices.

Core architecture (quick)

• Zabbix Server: the brain — gathers, stores and analyses data.
• Zabbix Agent: lightweight service for host metrics.
• Zabbix Proxy: optional collector for remote sites or scale.
• Frontend: web UI for dashboards, templates and alerts.

Basic flow:

[Device / SNMP / Agent] → [Zabbix Proxy] → [Zabbix Server] → [DB + Frontend]

What you can monitor

Zabbix can watch almost anything with an IP:

• Routers and switches (MikroTik, Cisco, Ubiquiti…)
• Linux/Windows servers and VMs
• Web services and APIs
• Interface throughput and bandwidth
• CPU, memory, disk usage
• Environmental sensors and cameras

Use triggers to fire alerts when metrics cross thresholds — e.g., a router offline or an interface saturated.

Installing a basic Zabbix Server on Ubuntu

The steps below get a functional Zabbix server for testing or small deployments.

1) Update the host

apt update && apt upgrade -y

2) Install dependencies

apt install -y apache2 mysql-server php php-mysql snmp

3) Add Zabbix repository and install

wget https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/7.0/ubuntu/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_7.0-1+ubuntu22.04_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i zabbix-release_7.0-1+ubuntu22.04_all.deb
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-frontend-php zabbix-agent

4) Create the database

mysql -uroot -p
CREATE DATABASE zabbix CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_bin;
CREATE USER 'zabbix'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON zabbix.* TO 'zabbix'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;

5) Enable and start services

systemctl enable --now zabbix-server apache2 zabbix-agent

The web frontend will be available at http://<ZABBIX_IP>/zabbix.

Tip: Use a dedicated DB user and strong passwords. Back up the DB regularly.

Monitoring MikroTik via SNMP

MikroTik doesn’t run a native Zabbix agent, but SNMP works reliably.

1) Enable SNMP on the MikroTik

/snmp set enabled=yes
/snmp community add name=public addresses=0.0.0.0/0

Warning: Replace the default community and restrict allowed sources. Prefer SNMPv3 for authenticated and encrypted monitoring.

2) Add the MikroTik host in Zabbix

In the Zabbix frontend: Configuration → Hosts → Create host.

Set:

• Hostname: e.g., MikroTik-RB750
• IP address: the router’s management IP
• Link a MikroTik SNMP template (or create custom items)

Zabbix will pull uptime, interface stats, CPU/temperature, memory, and throughput.

Dashboards, triggers and notifications

Build dashboards with tiles for bandwidth, health and problem lists.

Use triggers to auto-alert on conditions:

{MikroTik-RB750:icmpping.max(3m)}=0

This trigger fires if the device stops responding to ping for 3 minutes.

Notifications can go to e-mail, Telegram, Slack or webhooks.

Tip: Start with a few important triggers to avoid alert fatigue. Then iterate.

Scaling: proxies and discovery

Use Zabbix Proxy for remote regions to reduce latency and database load.

Automatic discovery via SNMP saves time for large networks.

Proxies also let you collect data inside remote networks without exposing each device to the public internet.

Security best practices

• Use SNMPv3 for encrypted and authenticated SNMP where possible.
• Restrict Zabbix UI and agent access via firewall rules.
• Rotate credentials and API keys.
• Use dedicated monitoring VLANs or read-only SNMP communities.
• Backup database and configuration frequently.

Warning: Exposing SNMP communities or the Zabbix frontend to the internet without protection is risky.

Short comparison with other monitoring tools

Why Zabbix for providers and admins

• Centralized visibility for thousands of hosts.
• Highly customizable triggers and escalations.
• Proxies for distributed collection.
• No licensing cost for core features.

These strengths make Zabbix great for ISPs and operators who need full observability.

Where MKController helps: If you prefer a lighter operational model for monitoring and remote access, MKController’s NatCloud simplifies device access and reduces the need to run a full on-prem monitoring stack.

Conclusion

Zabbix is a powerful, flexible monitoring system.

Paired with SNMP, it gives precise insight into MikroTik devices and network health.

Start small: monitor uptime and interface throughput, then expand dashboards and triggers as you learn what matters.

About MKController

Hope the insights above helped you navigate your MikroTik and Internet universe a little better! 🚀
Whether you’re fine-tuning configs or just trying to bring some order to the network madness, MKController is here to make your life simpler.

With centralized cloud management, automated security updates, and a dashboard that anyone can master, we’ve got what it takes to upgrade your operation.

👉 Start your free 7-day trial now at mkcontroller.com — and see what effortless network control really looks like.