Migrating Enterprise Monitoring: From IBM Netcool to Zabbix

In this session, we describe our successful migration journey from IBM Netcool to Zabbix for one of our customers in the telco sector. We begin with SNMP traps data collection, preprocessing them via an SNMP library before forwarding them to Apache NiFi. Within NiFi, data undergoes deduplication, enrichment, and complete cleansing.

Prepared data is then passed to Zabbix, utilizing the Zabbix API to dynamically configure the system for new data points. Data submission occurs via Zabbix Sender or optionally through the Zabbix API (history.push method). We then leverage native Zabbix widgets to create specialized visualizations based on the Zabbix monitoring problems section. These widgets provide Netcool-like customizable interfaces with enhanced functionality, including event control, advanced reporting, acknowledgment management, and ticket creation-all without unnecessary changes to the Zabbix source code.

As an additional highlight, we demonstrate leveraging Zabbix’s native Data Exporter and built-in stream connectors to push data into Kafka for advanced reporting and data historization. Throughout the project, our focus was on maximizing the use of native capabilities offered by Zabbix and other open-source solutions.