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Zabbix 8.0 Alpha1 Is Here: A First Look at the Future of Monitoring
By Dimitri Bellini20 November, 2025Blog

Zabbix 8.0 Alpha1 Is Here: A First Look at the Future of Monitoring

Good morning, everyone! Dimitri Bellini here, back with another episode on Quadrata, my channel dedicated to the world of open source and IT. This week, we’re diving into something I know many of you have been eagerly anticipating: the first alpha release of Zabbix 8.0!

This is a major Long-Term Support (LTS) release, and the roadmap is packed with exciting features that promise to reshape how we approach monitoring and observability. So, let’s explore what’s new, what’s coming, and what you can already get your hands on.

The Vision for Zabbix 8.0: A Focus on Observability

Before we get into the specifics of the alpha, it’s worth looking at the grand vision for Zabbix 8.0. The development is heavily focused on expanding into the realm of full-fledged observability. This means more than just collecting metrics; it’s about gaining deeper insights into our systems.

Key areas of development include:

  • OpenTelemetry and Log Ingestion: A huge step forward will be the native handling of OpenTelemetry data and enhanced log ingestion. This requires a robust backend, and Zabbix is exploring solutions like ClickHouse or OpenSearch to manage the massive amount of JSON-structured data that comes with it.

  • Event Correlation: A feature I’m personally very excited about is the advanced event correlation engine. This will be a game-changer for reducing message entropy and alert noise, allowing us to pinpoint root causes more effectively.

  • Enhanced Network Monitoring: We’re also seeing a big push in network monitoring, with support for data streaming via NetFlow and sFlow, tying directly into the broader observability goals.

What’s New in the First Alpha Release?

While the full vision will unfold over the coming months, the first alpha already delivers some fantastic quality-of-life improvements and new functionalities. Here are the highlights that stood out to me.

Finally! Inherited Tags in Latest Data

This is a big one. For a long time, the “Latest Data” page has been a source of frustration because it didn’t inherit tags from templates. If you’ve been in the Zabbix world for a while, you know that since the removal of “Applications,” filtering data for a specific component, like MySQL, became a bit of a chore. The community has been vocal about this, and I’m thrilled to say Zabbix has listened. Now, tags from your templates are visible directly in the Latest Data view, making it incredibly easy to filter and segregate items from the OS versus a specific application.

Streamlined SAML Authentication

For anyone working in an enterprise environment, managing SAML certificates could be a bit “rustic.” You had to manually place certificate files into the server’s file system. Zabbix 8.0 introduces a much more professional solution: you can now upload and manage SAML certificates directly through the web interface under Administration -> Authentication. This is a small but significant change that simplifies setup, reduces errors, and makes the whole process much cleaner.

New and Improved Templates

Zabbix continues to deliver excellent out-of-the-box templates. This release brings new additions for networking gear from Aruba, Cisco, StormShield, and Vyatta. Furthermore, the Proxmox template has received a much-needed overhaul. With the recent shifts in the virtualization landscape (looking at you, VMware), many are turning to Proxmox, and it’s great to see Zabbix providing a more modern, robust template for it. There are also improvements to the MySQL template, specifically around replication monitoring, and native monitoring support for Ceph storage, which is heavily used in Proxmox environments.

A Fresh Coat of Paint: New Font and UI Tweaks

Zabbix has moved on from the trusty Arial font to a new, more refined typeface. While the difference is subtle, it gives the interface a slightly more modern and elegant feel. You might not notice it at first glance, but it’s part of a continuous effort to improve the user experience.

New Visualization Power: The Scatterplot Widget

Version 8.0 introduces a brand-new dashboard widget: the scatterplot. This might not be for every use case, but it’s incredibly powerful for visualizing the relationship between two different metrics across multiple hosts. For example, you could plot the signal-to-noise ratio for dozens of access points, allowing you to instantly identify outliers and potential issues. It’s a fantastic tool for spotting correlations and anomalies that would be lost in a standard time-series graph.

Under the Hood Improvements

There are also some important changes that improve stability and performance, particularly in large-scale environments:

  • Improved Event Cleanup: When a trigger is deleted, the associated events are now cleaned up immediately, rather than waiting for the housekeeper process.

  • Smarter Proxy Throttling: The logic for how proxies send data to the server when the history cache is under pressure has been revised. This helps prevent data storms from proxies overwhelming the Zabbix server and avoids getting stuck in loops, which could happen in large installations with heavy log monitoring.

What’s Next? Alpha 2 and the Road to Release

The journey to Zabbix 8.0 LTS, expected around mid-2026, is just beginning. Work is already underway for Alpha 2, which is slated to introduce the JSON item type and the ClickHouse backend support—foundational pieces for the observability features we discussed. These additions will be critical for handling streaming data from OpenTelemetry and other sources, truly pushing Zabbix into the next era of monitoring.

I am incredibly excited to see these features develop and to test how they transform our ability to monitor complex, application-centric environments.

What Are You Most Excited About?

That’s a wrap for my first look at Zabbix 8.0 Alpha! From my perspective, the moves toward observability and better event correlation are the most exciting developments. But I want to hear from you!

What features are you most looking forward to? Is it the OpenTelemetry integration, the advanced event correlation, or perhaps the network topology improvements? Let me know in the comments below!

And if you’re not already part of our community, I invite you to join the conversation.

Thanks for tuning in. A big greeting from me, Dimitri, and I’ll see you next week. Bye everyone!

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Back from Zabbix Summit: An Exclusive Look at the Future with Zabbix 8.0 LTS
By Dimitri Bellini22 October, 2025Blog

Back from Zabbix Summit: An Exclusive Look at the Future with Zabbix 8.0 LTS

Good morning everyone, Dimitri Bellini here! It’s great to be back with you on Quadrata, my channel dedicated to the world of open source and IT. It’s been a little while since my last video, as I’ve been quite busy traveling between the Zabbix Summit in Riga and Gitex in Dubai. The energy at the Summit was incredible, and I returned not just with great memories but with a clear vision of the future of monitoring. And today, I want to share that vision with you.

So, grab a coffee, and let’s dive into a recap of the fantastic Zabbix Summit and, more importantly, the groundbreaking features coming in the next major release: Zabbix 8.0 LTS.

The Zabbix Summit Experience: A Global Community United

This year’s Zabbix Summit in Riga, Latvia, was special. Not only did it mark the 20th anniversary of Zabbix, but it brought together a massive, passionate community from all corners of the globe—from Japan to South America to the Middle East. It’s always amazing to connect with so many people, share use cases, and discuss what we all love about Zabbix.

We had the chance to tour the new Zabbix headquarters—a beautiful, modern space with floors dedicated to development, support, and commercial teams. I even had the pleasure of presenting a use case with my colleague Francesco, which was a fantastic experience. But the main event, the moment we were all waiting for, was Alexey Vladyshev’s keynote on what’s next for Zabbix.

The Main Event: What’s Coming in Zabbix 8.0 LTS

Zabbix 8.0 is the next Long-Term Support (LTS) release, which means it’s designed for enterprise environments that need stability and support for up to five years. This release isn’t just an incremental update; it’s a monumental leap forward, addressing many of the current limitations and pushing Zabbix firmly into the realm of a full-fledged observability platform.

Let’s break down the most exciting pillars of this upcoming release.

Revolutionizing Event Management with Complex Event Processing (CEP)

One of the biggest game-changers is the introduction of a native Complex Event Processing (CEP) engine. This is designed to drastically reduce monitoring noise and help us focus on the root cause of issues, not just the symptoms. The CEP will operate on two levels:

  • Single Event Processing: This allows for fine-grained control over individual events as they come in. We’ll be able to perform operations like filtering irrelevant events, normalizing data to a standard format, manipulating tags and severity on the fly, and even anonymizing sensitive information.

  • Multiple Event Processing: This is where the real magic happens. By analyzing events over specific time windows, Zabbix will be able to perform advanced correlation, deduplicate redundant alerts, and distinguish between a root cause and its resulting symptoms.

Best of all, we’ll be able to implement custom logic using JavaScript. Imagine enriching an incoming event with data from your CMDB before it even becomes a problem in Zabbix. The possibilities are endless!

Embracing Observability: APM and OpenTelemetry Integration

Zabbix is officially stepping into the world of Application Performance Monitoring (APM). To do this, it’s fundamentally changing how it handles data. Instead of simple time-series data, Zabbix 8.0 will be built to handle complex, structured JSON data natively.

This architectural shift opens the door for seamless integration with modern observability standards like OpenTelemetry. We will finally be able to ingest traces, logs, and metrics from applications directly into Zabbix and visualize them. During the presentation, we saw a mockup of a request trace, broken down step-by-step, allowing for deep root cause analysis right within the Zabbix UI. This is a massive step forward.

A New Engine for Unprecedented Scale

With all this new data, how will Zabbix scale? While standard databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL will still be supported for smaller setups, the focus for large-scale deployments is shifting to high-performance backends. The star of the show here is ClickHouse.

The new architecture will offload the ingestion process to Zabbix Proxies, which will write data directly to ClickHouse. The Zabbix Server will then query this data for visualization and processing. This design allows Zabbix to handle millions of values per second, making it suitable for even the most demanding environments.

A Fresh Face and Enhanced Usability

Let’s be honest, the Zabbix UI, while functional, could use a modern touch. The Zabbix team knows this, and a complete UI overhaul is planned for 8.0! We saw mockups of a cleaner, fresher, and more intuitive interface.

But perhaps one of the most requested features of all time is finally coming: customizable table views. In the “Problems” view and other tables, you will be able to show, hide, reorder, and sort columns as you see fit. It might seem like a small change, but it’s a huge quality-of-life improvement that we’ve been waiting for.

Monitoring on the Go: The Official Zabbix Mobile App

Finally, Zabbix is developing an official mobile application! This will bring essential monitoring capabilities right to your phone, including:

  • Push notifications for alerts.

  • Problem management and collaboration tools.

  • Aggregated views from multiple Zabbix servers.

  • Integration with both on-premise and Zabbix Cloud instances.

A Glimpse into the Future

Zabbix 8.0 LTS is shaping up to be the most significant release in the product’s 20-year history. It’s evolving from a best-in-class monitoring tool into a comprehensive observability platform ready to meet the challenges of modern IT infrastructures. The expected release date is around mid-2026, and I, for one, cannot wait.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on the public roadmap and will keep you updated as these features move through development. But now, I want to hear from you!

What feature are you most excited about? Is there something else you’d love to see in Zabbix? Let me know in the comments below!

That’s all for today. Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you in the next video. Bye everyone!

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