Zabbix history table gets really big, and if you are in a situation where you want to clean it up. Then we can do so, using the below steps.

  1. Stop zabbix server.
  2. Take table backup - just in case.
  3. Create a temporary table.
  4. Update the temporary table with data required, upto a specific date using epoch.
  5. Move old table to a different table name.
  6. Move updated (new temporary) table to original table which needs to be cleaned-up.
  7. Drop the old table. (Optional)
  8. Restart Zabbix

Since this is not offical procedure, but it has worked for me so use it at your own risk. Here is another post which will help is reducing the size of history tables - http://zabbixzone.com/zabbix/history-and-trends/

Zabbix Version : Zabbix v2.4 Make sure MySql 5.1 is set with InnoDB as innodb_file_per_table=ON

Step 1 Stop the Zabbix server

sudo service zabbix-server stop

Script.

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	1. Stopping Zabbix Server			"
echo "------------------------------------------"
sudo service zabbix-server stop; 

Step 2 Table Table Backup.

mysqldump -uzabbix -pzabbix zabbix history_uint > /tmp/history_uint.dql

Script.

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	2. Backing up ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} Table.	"
echo "	Location : ${BACKUP_FILE_PATH}		"
echo "------------------------------------------"
mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR_PATH}
mysqldump -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} > ${BACKUP_FILE_PATH}

Step 3 Open your favourite MySQL client and create a new table

CREATE TABLE history_uint_new_20161007 LIKE history_uint;

Script.

echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "	3. Create Temp (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}) Table"
echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "CREATE TABLE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW} LIKE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}; " | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;

Step 4 Insert the latest records from the history_uint table to the history_uint_new table

Getting epoch time in bash is simple.

Current Date.

date --date "20160707" +%s

Date 3 Months Ago.

date --date "20161007" +%s

Here is the output.

[ahmed@localhost ~]$ date --date "20160707" +%s
1467829800
[ahmed@localhost ~]$ date --date "20161007" +%s
1475778600

Now insert data for 3 months.

INSERT INTO history_uint_new SELECT * FROM history_uint WHERE clock > '1413763200';

Script.

echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "	4. Inserting from ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} Table to Temp (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}) Table"
echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "INSERT INTO ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW} SELECT * FROM ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} WHERE clock > '${EPOCH_3MONTHS_BACK}'; " | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;

Step 5 – Move history_uint to history_uint_old table

ALTER TABLE history_uint RENAME history_uint_old;

Script.

echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "	5. Rename Table ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} to ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}_old"
echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "ALTER TABLE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} RENAME ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}_old;" | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;

Step 6. Move newly created history_uint_new to history_uint

ALTER TABLE history_uint_new_20161007 RENAME history_uint;

Script.

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	6. Rename Temp Table (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}) to Original Table (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME})"
echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "ALTER TABLE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW} RENAME ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}; " | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;

Step 7. [OPTIONAL] Remove Old Table.

As we have backed-up the table we no long need it. So we can drop the old table.

DROP TABLE hostory_uint_old;

Script.

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	7. Dropping Old Table (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}_old), As we have already Backed it up. "
echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "DROP TABLE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}_old; " | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;

Step 8 – Start the Zabbix server

sudo service zabbix-server start

Script.

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	8. Starting Zabbix Server		"
echo "------------------------------------------"
sudo service zabbix-server start;

Step 9. Optional to reduce the history table.

Additionally you can update the items table and set the item history table record to a fewer days.

UPDATE items SET history = '15' WHERE history > '30';

Complete Script.

Location in Github


#!/bin/bash

THREE_MONTH_BACK_DATE=`date -d "now -3months" +%Y-%m-%d`
CURRENT_DATE=`date -d "now" +%Y-%m-%d`

EPOCH_3MONTHS_BACK=`date -d "$THREE_MONTH_BACK_DATE" +%s`
EPOCH_NOW=`date -d "$CURRENT_DATE" +%s`

ZABBIX_DATABASE="zabbix"
ZABBIX_USER="zabbix"
ZABBIX_PASSWD="zabbix"

ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME="history_uint"

BACKUP_DIR_PATH=/tmp/zabbix/zabbix_table_backup_${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}
BACKUP_FILE_PATH=${BACKUP_DIR_PATH}/${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${CURRENT_DATE}_${EPOCH_NOW}.sql

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "Date to Keep Backup : $THREE_MONTH_BACK_DATE"
echo "Epoch to keep Backup : $EPOCH_3MONTHS_BACK"
echo "Today's Date : $CURRENT_DATE"
echo "Epoch For Today's Date : $EPOCH_NOW"
echo "------------------------------------------"

echo "##########################################"

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	1. Stopping Zabbix Server			"
echo "------------------------------------------"
sudo service zabbix-server stop; 
sleep 1

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	Display Tables				"
echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "show tables;" | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;
sleep 1

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	2. Backing up ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} Table.	"
echo "	Location : ${BACKUP_FILE_PATH}		"
echo "------------------------------------------"
mkdir -p ${BACKUP_DIR_PATH}
mysqldump -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} > ${BACKUP_FILE_PATH}
sleep 1

echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "	3. Create Temp (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}) Table"
echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "CREATE TABLE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW} LIKE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}; " | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;
sleep 1

echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "	4. Inserting from ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} Table to Temp (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}) Table"
echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "INSERT INTO ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW} SELECT * FROM ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} WHERE clock > '${EPOCH_3MONTHS_BACK}'; " | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;
sleep 1

echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "	5. Rename Table ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} to ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}_old"
echo "------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "ALTER TABLE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME} RENAME ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}_old;" | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;
sleep 1

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	6. Rename Temp Table (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}) to Original Table (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME})"
echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "ALTER TABLE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW} RENAME ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}; " | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;
sleep 1

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	7. Dropping Old Table (${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}_old), As we have already Backed it up. "
echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "DROP TABLE ${ZABBIX_TABLE_NAME}_${EPOCH_NOW}_old; " | mysql -u$ZABBIX_USER -p$ZABBIX_PASSWD $ZABBIX_DATABASE;
sleep 1

echo "------------------------------------------"
echo "	8. Starting Zabbix Server		"
echo "------------------------------------------"
sudo service zabbix-server start;

echo "##########################################"