matrixMAX

Description

matrixMAX is a PRO Zabbix widget that lays the problems of a chosen host group out as a single grid: rows are hosts, columns are trigger tags. The columns come from trigger tags in the key:value form – the default source is the matrix tag, but any tag name works as a column source. A cell is coloured by the highest open severity behind it, in Zabbix’s own severity palette; a blank cell means the host has no check behind that column. A red row is one host having a bad day, a red column is one check failing everywhere.

The product is two widgets in one package: the matrixMAX grid and the matrixMAX-detail companion. Put them side by side, point the detail at the grid, and a click on a cell opens exactly that host and trigger in it – the problem, operational data, event details, inventory and the Update, Execute now, History and Graph actions. On Zabbix 7.0 and newer the pair is wired together by Zabbix’s own widget-to-widget communication. Zabbix 6.0 and 6.2 have no such mechanism, so the package supplies it: there the pair is rendered as one combined widget – matrix on the left, detail on the right – placed and configured exactly as on 7.4. Upgrade the frontend to 7.0+ later and it splits into the two native widgets with nothing for the customer to do. Only on 6.4 – and anywhere the companion tile is simply not on the dashboard – the same detail opens as a dialog on top of the grid instead.

The small things matter in daily use too: macros in trigger names ({HOST.NAME} and the rest) resolve to their real values, expanded detail cards survive the dashboard auto-refresh, Execute now is enabled only when an item behind the trigger actually supports it, and a widget with no trigger tags configured yet explains what to add instead of rendering a blank tile. The widget has full dark theme support and is translated into all 25 Zabbix display languages. One package covers Zabbix 6.0 – 7.4. matrixMAX is sold as PRO only – there is no free edition.

Usage examples

1. A NOC board: hosts against service tags (PRO)

Pick the host groups, press Load “matrix” tags to fill the columns from the triggers your hosts actually carry, and you have a board whose state is readable from across the room. Green means the check passes, a coloured icon an open problem, a blank cell a missing check and a wrench a host in maintenance. A left click on a host or on a tag takes you to Monitoring → Problems with the matching filter; a right click opens Zabbix’s own context menu.

2. Rows folded into host groups (PRO)

The Rows by switch decides what one row is. In Host groups mode hosts fold into their groups and a group cell shows the worst problem found on any host of the group behind that column. Only the hosts the matrix would show are counted, and a host that belongs to two shown groups counts in both rows. A hundred hosts fit into a handful of rows.

3. The cell detail in the companion widget (PRO)

Click a cell and matrixMAX-detail shows what is behind it: the host, its uptime and your chosen inventory fields, a severity card with the time the problem started, the problem name, operational data, event details including tags and acknowledgement, the action log, and the Update, Execute now, History and Graph buttons. Cards you expanded stay expanded across the dashboard auto-refresh.

4. The pair on Zabbix 6.0 and 6.2 – one combined widget (PRO)

Zabbix 6.0 and 6.2 have no widget-to-widget communication, so a companion tile would have no way of learning which cell you clicked. The package solves that itself: on those versions it renders the pair as one combined widget – matrix on the left, detail on the right – and the grid feeds it directly. You place and configure it exactly as on 7.4 and the stored settings are the same. Upgrade the frontend to 7.0 or newer and the pair splits into the two native widgets by itself, the native wiring takes over, and the customer has nothing to do.

Installation

matrixMAX is distributed as a signed deb/rpm package from our repository repo.initmax.com. The package detects your frontend version and deploys the matching branch of the module into it. It supports Zabbix 6.0 – 7.4 and is HA ready – multi-frontend and HA deployments work out of the box, just install the package on every frontend node.

Connect to the server running the Zabbix frontend over SSH (do this on every frontend node) and pick your distribution. Prefer a plain archive? Every release also ships as a ZIP, downloadable from the customer portal once you sign in – handy for offline or manual installs.

RHEL / Rocky / Alma

SUSE

Debian / Ubuntu

Verifying and enabling the module

The module is enabled automatically during the package installation. You can verify it in the Zabbix frontend menu: Administration → General → Modules – both matrixMAX and the matrixMAX-detail companion are listed there.

If the widget was already running on the frontend (from an earlier package or a manual install), the package preserves its state – a module you disabled yourself stays disabled – and the old manual copy is cleaned up so the widget does not appear twice in the module list. Updates then arrive through your package manager (apt / dnf / zypper) like any other system package.

Configuration

matrixMAX

The columns of the matrix come from trigger tags. Every trigger you want to see in the grid has to carry a tag – the default key is matrix with a specific value (e.g. cpu, disk). The Load “matrix” tags button reads the triggers of the selected hosts and fills the values in for you; any tag name works as a column source, just type it into a row. Both loaders are non-destructive: they only append what is not in the list yet and leave the rows you typed or dragged exactly where they are.

Field	Description
Type	Widget type – choose matrixMAX
Name	Widget name
Refresh interval	How often the widget reloads its data
Host groups	Host groups whose hosts become the rows of the matrix. Empty means all hosts you have permission to see.
Exclude host groups	Host groups to leave out. A host that belongs to any of them is removed from the matrix even when another field would include it.
Hosts	Individual hosts added to the hosts of the selected groups.
Host tags	Filter hosts by their tags, in And/Or or Or mode. An empty list means no tag filtering.
Rows by	What one row is. Hosts = one row per host. Host groups = hosts folded into their groups; a group cell shows the worst problem on any host of the group behind that column.
Severities	Which problem severities the matrix takes into account. Nothing checked means all severities.
Trigger tags	The columns of the matrix, one per tag and value. Load “matrix” tags appends the values found and keeps existing rows. Any tag name can be typed in by hand.
Hosts order by	Row order: Host Id, Host name, Severity, or Custom (arranged by dragging). In host groups mode Host Id means group id and Custom is disabled.
Custom order of hosts	The custom row order. Load hosts appends the hosts of the current selection; rows already in the list keep their place and dragged order.
Show suppressed problems	On: suppressed problems (hosts in maintenance) are counted and coloured like any other. Off: they are hidden and a host in maintenance can look fine.

matrixMAX-detail

The companion widget needs to know which matrix it follows. Pick it in the MatrixMAX widget field and optionally add up to three inventory fields to show next to the host name. If the inventoryMAX module is present on the frontend, the form says so and you can use {INVENTORYMAX.*} macros in the values.

Field	Description
Type	Widget type – choose matrixMAX-detail
Name	Widget name
Refresh interval	How often the widget reloads its data
MatrixMAX widget	Required. Which matrixMAX widget this tile follows.
Inventory fields	A label and a value using inventory macros, shown next to the host name. Tick Show in header to move them into the tile header.

Where to get it?

If this widget caught your interest, you will find it in our e-shop, together with the price, the lifetime licence and how to get the product.