Zabbix Conference Benelux 2025 is right around the corner, which means that it’s time for another interview with a Conference presenter. This week, we’re talking to Rick van der Ploeg, a Zabbix consultant and expert at Opensource ICT Solutions. We asked him about the road that led him to Zabbix and how frontend scripts can open the door to enhanced Zabbix functionality.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and the journey that led you to Zabbix.
I’m a Zabbix consultant at OICTS. During my time as a DevOps engineer for an MSP, my team was tasked with implementing a monitoring solution for our customers’ network equipment. We successfully integrated Zabbix and never looked back. Since then, I have gained extensive experience with Zabbix, and I recently even became a certified Zabbix Expert.
How long have you been using Zabbix? What kind of Zabbix-related tasks do you take care of on a daily basis?
I’ve been working with Zabbix for over five years now. The first version I used was 4.4, and a lot has changed since then! As a Zabbix consultant, my main role is advising on and implementing Zabbix solutions for our customers. This means anything from building custom templates to installing and managing complete monitoring environments.
Can you drop a couple of hints about what we can expect from your conference presentation?
I’ll be talking about different ways to utilize frontend scripts in Zabbix, and I’ll also showcase some relevant examples of how scripts can enhance Zabbix’s functionality.
How did you decide on the topic of Zabbix and frontend scripts? Was there a specific catalyst or event that led you to this topic?
What I love about frontend scripts is their ability to extend Zabbix’s functionality to almost anything you can think of. Over the years, I’ve developed several solutions that have significantly increased the value and efficiency of the Zabbix installations I’ve worked on.
I’ve noticed that many people are still unaware of the power and possibilities that frontend scripts offer, so I figured this would be a great topic to talk about.
What makes Zabbix especially well-suited for frontend scripts?
For me, the best thing about frontend scripts in Zabbix is that you can use data from Zabbix as input for your scripts. This flexibility allows you to create simple yet powerful scripts that can be easily used by any type of Zabbix user.