Zabbix Summit 2024 is only a few days away, which means that it’s time for the last of our interviews with Summit speakers. Our final chat this year is with Tomáš Heřmánek, the CEO and Founder of initMAX s.r.o. We asked him about his beginnings in the tech industry, how he got started with Zabbix, and how AI will change the game for monitoring in general and Zabbix in particular.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and the journey that led you to initMAX.
My journey in the IT field started with small ISPs and later took a significant leap into the world of Linux and application management, where the need for effective monitoring became evident. I worked for a company that prioritized high-quality open-source solutions, and it was during this time that we adopted Zabbix version 1.8 as a replacement for Nagios, which we found to be inflexible. Shortly after our deployment, Zabbix 2.0 was released. It introduced JMX monitoring, which was crucial for us. Since then, Zabbix has been our go-to solution for monitoring.
I set a personal goal to master this outstanding monitoring system and participated in the first official Zabbix training in the Czech Republic, where I earned my initial certifications as a Zabbix Specialist and Professional on version 3.0. The training experience drew me deeper into the world of Zabbix, especially after meeting a burgeoning group of enthusiasts in the country. I felt compelled to give back to the community that had supported me.
How long have you been using Zabbix? What kind of Zabbix-related tasks does your team tackle on a daily basis?
When I started my own company, becoming a Zabbix partner was a natural choice. To further contribute to the community, I pursued the Expert and Trainer certifications. It was the most challenging 14 days of my life, but it was worth it. For anyone serious about Zabbix, I highly recommend participating in official training sessions and actively engaging with the community through forums, local groups, Telegram, WhatsApp, blogs, and forums. This commitment to support and strengthen the community further.is also why we created our own wiki, which is accessible to everyone without restrictions.
Can you give us a few clues about what we can expect to hear during your Zabbix Summit presentation?
This year, I have prepared a demonstration for the Zabbix Summit showcasing how we integrate AI into our operations, including various modifications to the web interface that allow us to automate and streamline routine tasks. Besides showcasing these innovations, we will also be making some parts of our work available to the public. The main focus of my presentation will be on problem identification, automating the creation of preprocessing steps, and using a chatbot for creating hosts, reading configurations, and making modifications. Essentially, it’s a smart assistant and guide all in one.
The final section, which we find the most challenging, deals with automated event correlation and the creation of a topology, from which correlations partially derive and evaluate. We are using the new Zabbix 7.0 feature – root cause and symptoms – for visualization in Zabbix. Our goal is to showcase not only the capabilities of Zabbix in combination with AI, but also to contribute back to the community by sharing some of these developments freely.
In your experience, does Zabbix lend itself easily to enhancement via AI?
AI is something that truly fascinates us and is currently shaping the world. From our experience, we believe that the possibilities are limited only by our imagination. In the future, I can envision AI autonomously discovering elements that need to be monitored, integrating them into Zabbix, and configuring everything necessary for effective monitoring.
What changes do you think AI will bring to the world of monitoring in general over the next decade or so?
I foresee a shift in our roles, moving away from traditional IT tasks towards a focus on idea generation, control, and the customization of artificial intelligence. As AI continues to evolve, it will not only enhance automation but also empower us to explore and implement innovative solutions more effectively.