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Zabbix SMS alerts using the Email media type

Zabbix SMS alerts put the host and the problem name on the on-call admin's phone when a High or Disaster problem opens. Zabbix already mails problems through its Email media type, so the only change is one media entry holding your Welco address. You skip the GSM modem, the serial port and any alert scripts.

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  • One Email media entry on a user
  • No GSM modem or serial port
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Zabbix

Published:

A network map watched by Zabbix: five hosts answer pings until branch-rtr-3 goes down (ICMP unavailable) and the monitor raises the alert. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [branch-rtr-3] Unavailable by ICMP ping, High, since 1:36 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: a long Zabbix alert email is trimmed into one short text: "Welco: [branch-rtr-3] Unavailable by ICMP ping, High, since 1:36 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What Zabbix texts change for the admin on call

  • High and Disaster only

    Use if severity on the media entry keeps Warning and Average problems in email.

  • Night problems find the night phone

    A router down at 1 AM reaches the admin on call. Daytime problems reach the whole team.

  • Your action still decides

    Operations and recovery operations in the trigger action keep choosing who hears what.

  • Host and problem in one line

    A trimmed message template fits a lock screen. No frontend login just to see what broke.

What you need before you start

Plan on 15 to 20 minutes with Super admin rights in the Zabbix frontend. Users who get Zabbix email now keep getting it. The same email step covers other tools, listed under SMS alerts for server monitoring.

  • An Email media type that already works. If Zabbix emails your team today, it does.
  • A Zabbix user to hold the Welco address. A user named oncall-text makes the purpose clear.
  • A Welco account with a verified business and your Welco address. Start free if you're new.
  • On-call staff who accepted a Welco invite. Each one joins with their own phone and answers YES to a confirmation text. No app required.

How to send Zabbix SMS alerts in 5 steps

Menu names below are from Zabbix 7.0. In 6.0 and earlier, media types and users sit under Administration, and actions under Configuration.

  1. Approve the Zabbix sender in Welco

    Open Alerts, Media types, Email and note the Email field in the SMTP settings. That is the From address. Add it to the trusted sender addresses in Welco.

  2. Shorten the message templates

    On the same media type, open Message templates. The stock problem message has seven lines. For texts, a subject like {HOST.NAME}: {EVENT.NAME} and a body with severity and time is plenty.

    • Set Message format to plain text, not HTML.
    • Keep the event ID only if your team uses it to find the problem later.

  3. Add your Welco address to a user's media

    Go to Users, Users, open oncall-text and choose the Media tab. Add a media entry with type Email and your Welco address in Send to.

    • Under Use if severity, tick only High and Disaster.
    • Leave When active at all hours if Welco will handle the time of day.

  4. Point a trigger action at that user

    Open Alerts, Actions, Trigger actions. Edit your main action or make a new one, and add an operation that sends to oncall-text through Email.

  5. Test the media type, then a real trigger

    Use the Test link next to the Email media type and send to your Welco address. Then block ping to a test host and wait for its trigger to fire.

Your Zabbix High and Disaster problems, as texts

No modem and no serial port. Just one more media entry on a Zabbix user.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

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The Zabbix recovery message as a text

Zabbix sends a matching message when a problem resolves. Some teams want the all-clear on the phone, others keep it in email. Here is how it reads if you text it.

Alert email from zabbix@noc.example.org, subject “Resolved in 7m 40s: Unavailable by ICMP ping”. Welco trims it to one text of 90 characters: “Welco: [branch-rtr-3] RESOLVED ICMP ping after 7m 40s at 1:43 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [branch-rtr-3] RESOLVED ICMP ping after 7m 40s at 1:43 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters296901 credit

Animation: the alert email "Resolved in 7m 40s: Unavailable by ICMP ping" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [branch-rtr-3] RESOLVED ICMP ping after 7m 40s at 1:43 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Whether this message goes out at all depends on the action's Recovery operations tab. The tips below show both choices.

Make Zabbix texts quiet and clear

Zabbix gives you fine control before the email leaves. Use it first, then let Welco rules handle the phones.

  • Severity in two places

    The media entry's Use if severity is the quick filter. Action conditions go further, such as only hosts in Core network. Welco can then filter which alerts become texts by host name.

  • Recoveries in email or on the phone

    Leave the text user out of Recovery operations to keep all-clears in email. Or add a Welco rule that drops anything starting with Resolved.

  • Flapping triggers settle down

    Give a noisy trigger a recovery expression, so it resolves only once the value is clearly back. One item then stops opening and closing problems all night.

  • Maintenance periods send nothing

    Problems on hosts in a maintenance period are suppressed. Tick Pause operations for suppressed problems in the action so patch nights stay silent.

  • Repeats come from Zabbix's own steps

    Each operation has steps and a step duration. Steps 1-1 send one message, while 1-0 repeats until the problem resolves. This escalation is Zabbix's feature, not Welco's.

  • Dependencies stop the storm

    Trigger dependencies keep branch hosts quiet while their branch router is down. Welco outage storm limits are the backstop when an outage still fans out.

  • Nights by Zabbix or by Welco

    When active can hold texts to set hours. Or leave it open and let after-hours routing in Welco choose the phone, with several phones per alert if needed.

If Zabbix texts stop arriving

Start at Reports, Action log. It lists every message Zabbix tried to send and why one failed.

Failed in the action log

Where to look
A Zabbix mail problem, often the SMTP server or port on the Email media type.

Sent in the log, but no text

Where to look
Welco got it. The feed shows whether the sender was approved and which phones it went to.

No log entry at all

Where to look
The action's conditions, the user's severity filter or a maintenance period kept it back.

One admin never gets texts

Where to look
A desk phone or landline can't receive them. Check the per-phone delivery status for the reason.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need the Zabbix SMS media type and a GSM modem?

No. Zabbix's SMS media type talks to a serial GSM modem on the server, which many data centers no longer allow. Welco uses the Email media type you already run. Zabbix emails your Welco address and Welco sends the text.

Can Zabbix text only High and Disaster problems?

Yes. In the user's media entry, tick only High and Disaster under Use if severity. Lower severities still reach email through your other users. A severity condition on the trigger action works too if several users share it.

Can one admin get Zabbix texts at night and the team by day?

Yes. Set When active on each user's media, or send everything to one Welco address with a time rule. Welco picks the phone by hour and weekday, and each phone gets an alert once.

Will recovery messages, flapping and maintenance send texts?

Recoveries go out only if the text user is in Recovery operations. Problems in a maintenance period are suppressed, and the action can pause for them. A recovery expression calms a flapping trigger.

Can the on-call admin acknowledge a Zabbix problem by replying to the text?

No. A text reply is emailed back to the alert's last sender, not into Zabbix. Acknowledge the problem in the frontend's Update problem window so your team sees it is handled.

What does a Zabbix text cost, and why did one use two credits?

Welco has no per-user fees and no hardware or setup costs. The stock problem message often runs past one text, so it uses two message credits; shorten the template to keep it at one. Check that during the 7-day free trial with 15 credits. A card verifies the account, and nothing is charged until you approve one of the plans.

Get the next Zabbix Disaster on your phone

Add one media entry with your Welco address. Zabbix keeps doing the watching.

Text me my Zabbix alertsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing