ZABBIX migration from version 2.4.8 to 4.2-PostgreSQL/TimescaleDB

---

Preconditions

• old ZABBIX server 2.4(.8) + PostgreSQL DB (alternatively MySQL/MariaDB)
• RHEL/CentOS 7 VM(s) for new ZABBIX server+DB+frontend
• review TimescaleDB licensing

---

Installations on RHEL/CentOS 7

---

• PostgreSQL/TimescaleDB 1.4
• DB creation (just for new ZBX installation and its verification, but won't be used for migration):
• sudo -u postgres psql
• CREATE ROLE zabbix_server_db_login LOGIN PASSWORD '***********';
• CREATE DATABASE zabbix_server_db OWNER zabbix_server_db_login;
• \q
• PHP 7.3
• ZABBIX server+frontend 4.2 - leave the server shut down before next steps

---

Download & unpack ZABBIX 2.4.8 DB original schema to new DB server - deployment preparation

---

wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/zabbix/files/ZABBIX%20Latest%20Stable/2.4.8/zabbix-2.4.8.tar.gz

tar xvzf zabbix-2.4.8.tar.gz

cd zabbix-2.4.8/database/postgresql/

---

Export ZABBIX 2.4.8 instance DB data (without schema)

---

pg_dump -h old-ZBX-address -d old-ZBX-DB-name -U old-ZBX-DB-read-permitted-user-name --no-owner --no-privileges --data-only --exclude-schema repeatedly-custom-not-migrating-schemas -T repeatedly-custom-not-migrating-tables -T acknowledges -T alerts -T auditlog -T events -T service_alarms -T 'history*' -T 'trends*' > zabbix_server_db_DML.sql

In case of migration from non-PostgreSQL DB (e.g. MySQL/MariaDB), PostgreSQL-compatible dump needs to be created in this step (e.g. via mysqldump -c -e -t --compatible=postgresql --no-create-info --skip-quote-names --skip-add-locks zabbix > zabbix.dmp) - not tested when writing this article.

---

Deploy ZABBIX 2.4.8 instance DB data (with original schema) to new PostgreSQL server

---

Re-create DB for import:

sudo -u postgres psql -c "DROP DATABASE zabbix_server_db_imported;" -c "CREATE DATABASE zabbix_server_db_imported OWNER zabbix_server_db_login;"

Import original schema and instance data:

psql -d zabbix_server_db_imported -U zabbix_server_db_login -f schema.sql -f zabbix_server_db_DML.sql

---

Check & disable hosts

---

psql -d zabbix_server_db_imported -U zabbix_server_db_login

zabbix_server_db_imported=> SELECT status, COUNT(status) FROM hosts GROUP BY status ORDER BY status;

status	count
0	count of enabled ZBX hosts
1	count of disabled ZBX hosts
3	count of all ZBX templates
5	count of all ZBX proxies

The same count as displayed for status=0 has to be updated in following step:

zabbix_server_db_imported=> UPDATE hosts SET status=1 WHERE status=0;

zabbix_server_db_imported=> \q

---

Start ZBX server (upgrade) & check log

---

tail -f /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log

sudo service zabbix-server start

Check log for possible errors, warnings, exceptions and fix what needed. After a while, old ZBX DB should be upgraded according to new ZBX DB schema.

---

Install TimescaleDB into new ZBX DB

---

sudo -u postgres psql zabbix_server_db_imported

zabbix_server_db_imported=# CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS timescaledb CASCADE;

zabbix_server_db_imported=# \q

zcat /usr/share/doc/zabbix-server-pgsql*/timescaledb.sql.gz | psql zabbix_server_db_imported -U zabbix_server_db_login

For more details about TimescaleDB ZABBIX-supported deployment, read this.