Feat/semax zabbix

src/content/customers/en/semax.md

@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+---
+title: Deploying Zabbix Monitoring on OpenShift
+company: Semax
+logo: ../../assets/customers/semax.svg
+pubDate: 2025-11-21
+results:
+  - Deployed Zabbix on existing OpenShift cluster
+  - Configured monitoring for Kubernetes workloads and external databases
+  - Optimized operational costs by reusing existing Prometheus infrastructure
+  - Enabled operations team for independent Zabbix management
+quote: ""
+authorName: ""
+authorTitle: ""
+authorImage: ""
+---
+
+## Customer
+
+[Semax AG](https://semax.ch/) was founded in 2011 and is based in Cham,
+Switzerland. The company operates as a specialized system integrator for
+intelligent metering systems in the Swiss energy sector. As a system integrator,
+Semax provides comprehensive services spanning the entire smart metering
+ecosystem, from meter parameterization and communication infrastructure to
+head-end system integration and digitalization of metering processes. The
+company offers Software-as-a-Service or on-site installations, emphasizing
+compliance with Swiss legal requirements and data security standards.
+
+## Background
+
+Semax operates an OpenShift cluster managed by VSHN, which included Prometheus
+for metrics collection as part of the standard cloud-native monitoring stack.
+While this setup worked well for cloud-native workloads, the company needed to
+deploy Zabbix as an additional monitoring solution for specific requirements:
+monitoring external databases and providing a traditional monitoring interface
+familiar to their operations team.
+
+The company faced several key challenges:
+
+**Limited In-House Expertise**: Semax lacked the internal knowledge to
+effectively implement Zabbix in a cloud-native environment and integrate it with
+their existing OpenShift infrastructure.
+
+**Infrastructure Efficiency**: A standard Zabbix deployment using the Kubernetes
+API integration would create a parallel monitoring system, collecting the same
+metrics twice and significantly increasing operational complexity and resource
+consumption.
+
+**Sustainable Operations**: The solution needed to be maintainable by Semax's
+operations team without requiring deep Zabbix expertise for day-to-day
+management.
+
+## Project Goal
+
+The goal of the project was to deploy Zabbix monitoring on Semax's existing
+OpenShift cluster while integrating it intelligently with the already
+established Prometheus-based monitoring infrastructure. Specific objectives
+included configuring Zabbix server on the OpenShift cluster, enabling the team
+to monitor their OpenShift workloads and external databases, and ensuring the
+operations team could independently manage and operate the Zabbix deployment. A
+key requirement was to avoid unnecessary infrastructure duplication and keep
+operational costs optimized by reusing existing monitoring components where
+possible.
+
+## bespinian's Role
+
+bespinian played a key role in the following areas:
+
+### Planning and Architecture
+
+We began by thoroughly assessing Semax's existing infrastructure and
+understanding the business drivers behind the Zabbix initiative. This broader
+perspective allowed us to align with the customer's actual needs rather than
+simply installing another piece of software. We evaluated the already installed
+tools and determined that OpenShift's built-in Helm release management
+capabilities would work well for this use case, providing a simple solution with
+room for future improvements such as migration to a full GitOps setup.
+
+### Intelligent Infrastructure Reuse
+
+Rather than using Zabbix's Kubernetes API integration—which would have created a
+second, parallel metrics collection system—we configured Zabbix to leverage the
+existing Prometheus infrastructure. We set up Zabbix to query Prometheus
+directly using PromQL, allowing us to select only the specific metrics needed in
+Zabbix. This architectural decision balanced monitoring capability with
+infrastructure simplicity, avoiding unnecessary resource consumption and
+configuration drift.
+
+### Implementation and Configuration
+
+We deployed Zabbix server on the OpenShift cluster using Helm, integrating it
+seamlessly with OpenShift's native platform features. The configuration
+addressed Semax's specific operational requirements, including monitoring for
+Kubernetes workloads and external databases. Throughout the implementation, we
+designed the setup to be maintainable by the customer's team while following
+monitoring best practices.
+
+### Knowledge Transfer Workshop
+
+To ensure the Semax operations team could effectively manage the PromQL-based
+metrics collection, we conducted a comprehensive workshop. The hands-on training
+covered practical Zabbix usage, including creating and customizing widgets,
+configuring discovery rules for automated monitoring of dynamic infrastructure,
+and applying fundamental monitoring practices. This training empowered the team
+to extend the monitoring configuration as their needs evolved.
+
+## Technologies Used
+
+- **Infrastructure**: Red Hat OpenShift
+- **Deployment**: Helm / OpenShift Platform
+- **Monitoring**: Zabbix / Prometheus / Node Exporter

src/pages/rss.xml.ts

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export async function GET(context: { site: string }) {
       title: story.data.title,
       link: `/en/customers/${story.id}`,
       pubDate: story.data.pubDate,
-      description: story.data.description,
+      description: story.data.quote,
     })),
   );