How to Auto-Sync Your CMDB with Zabbix Using Bash and MariaDB

Integrate your asset inventory with Zabbix seamlessly using a custom CMDB and automation. This guide walks you through creating a dynamic, real-time host inventory system using MariaDB, shell scripting, and the Zabbix API.

By the end of this post, you'll have a fully functioning setup that synchronizes your infrastructure database with Zabbix monitoring, ensuring complete visibility and consistency.

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🧰 Prerequisites

• Linux server (RHEL/CentOS/Amazon Linux/Rocky recommended)

• Zabbix 7.0 LTS or newer

• MariaDB

• Root or sudo access

• Basic knowledge of Bash scripting, Zabbix API, SQL

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🔧 Step 1: Zabbix Setup

🧱 Install Zabbix 7.0

# Add the Zabbix repo
wget https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/7.0/rhel/9/x86_64/zabbix-release-7.0-1.el9.noarch.rpm
rpm -ivh zabbix-release-7.0-1.el9.noarch.rpm
dnf clean all

# Install packages
sudo dnf install -y zabbix-server-mysql zabbix-web-mysql zabbix-nginx-conf \
  zabbix-sql-scripts zabbix-agent mariadb-server

🔐 Configure MariaDB for Zabbix

yum install mariadb-server
systemctl enable --now mariadb
mysql_secure_installation

Create the Zabbix DB:

CREATE DATABASE zabbix CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_bin;
CREATE USER zabbix@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'zabbix_pass';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON zabbix.* TO zabbix@localhost;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

📥 Import Zabbix Schema

zcat /usr/share/zabbix-sql-scripts/mysql/server.sql.gz | mysql -uzabbix -p zabbix

⚙️ Start Zabbix Components

# Set DB password in /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf
vim /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf  # Set DBPassword=zabbix_pass

# Start services
systemctl enable --now zabbix-server zabbix-agent nginx php-fpm

Visit Zabbix UI: http://<your-server-ip>/zabbix

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🗃️ Step 2: Setup CMDB in MariaDB

🛠️ Create the Database and Table

CREATE DATABASE service_now;
USE service_now;

CREATE TABLE cmdb_ci (
  sys_id VARCHAR(64) PRIMARY KEY,
  name VARCHAR(128),
  visible_name VARCHAR(128),
  ip_address VARCHAR(45),
  host_group VARCHAR(128),
  interface_type VARCHAR(16),
  proxy VARCHAR(64),
  env VARCHAR(64),
  its VARCHAR(64),
  os VARCHAR(128),
  sys_created_on DATETIME,
  sys_updated_on DATETIME
);

🧪 Insert Sample Data

INSERT INTO cmdb_ci (sys_id, name, visible_name, ip_address, host_group, interface_type, proxy, env, dept, os, sys_created_on, sys_updated_on)
VALUES
('a001', 'APP-SRV-001', 'App Server 1', '10.10.1.101', 'Application Servers', 'agent', 'proxy-eu', 'prod', 'Dept001', 'Windows Server 2019', NOW(), NOW()),
('a002', 'DB-SRV-001', 'DB Server 1', '10.10.3.101', 'Database Servers', 'snmp', 'proxy-us', 'uat', 'Dept002', 'RHEL 9', NOW(), NOW());

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🧾 Step 3: Create the Zabbix Sync Script

🔗 Required Packages

sudo dnf install -y jq curl mariadb

🧩Template ID Mapping

In the shell script, templates are assigned based on OS values. Make sure these template IDs exist in your Zabbix system:

• Windows hosts: Template ID 10081 (e.g., "Windows by Zabbix agent")

• Linux/Unix hosts: Template ID 10001 (e.g., "Linux by Zabbix agent")

You can retrieve template IDs via API or from the Zabbix UI under Configuration → Templates.

📄 Script File sync_db_zabbix.sh

Create a shell script to do the following:

• Fetch all rows from cmdb_ci

• For each entry:

  • Determine group, proxy, templates

  • Add or update the host in Zabbix

  • Add macros, tags, and interfaces

• Optional: delete stale Zabbix hosts not in CMDB

#!/bin/bash

ZABBIX_URL="http://<zabbix_host>/api_jsonrpc.php"
ZABBIX_TOKEN="<your_zabbix_token>"
DB_NAME="service_now"
DB_USER="root"
DB_PASS="<your_db_password>"
DB_HOST="localhost"

# All logic to: get_host_id, get_or_create_group_id, get_proxy_id
# Loop through SQL results, parse, push to Zabbix

You can find the complete working script here

🤖 Step 4: Automate with Cron

Run the sync script daily:

chmod +x /root/zabbix-sync/sync_db_zabbix.sh
crontab -e
0 2 * * * /root/zabbix-sync/sync_db_zabbix.sh >> /var/log/zabbix_sync.log 2>&1

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✅ Summary

In this guide, we:

• Installed and configured Zabbix and MariaDB

• Created a service_now database with a CMDB-like table

• Built a Bash script that reads from the DB and syncs with Zabbix

• Created dynamic host groups, proxies, templates, and tags

This solution helps eliminate manual host onboarding, ensuring your monitoring is always in sync with your asset inventory.

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🧩 Future Enhancements

• Integrate directly with ServiceNow API

• Sync inventory fields like serial number, location, etc.

• Add robust logging with retry mechanisms

• Build CI/CD jobs using GitLab or Jenkins

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💬 Have feedback or enhancements? Share your comments or fork the repo and contribute!

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🪪 About the Author

Written by Ganesh Shinde*, a DevOps engineer passionate about Zabbix, automation, and systems monitoring. Follow for more infrastructure automation tips.*

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🔖 Tags

zabbix cmdb devops bash mariadb monitoring automation