Before we can start we have to check which version on Linux we are currently running by executing the following command.

lsb_release -a

This command will output which distrubition and release you are currently using. The 2 values that we need are: Distributor ID and Codename. This is the output that i got when i ran the command:

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS
Release:        16.04
Codename:       xenial

1. Now that we know which release of linux we are using we can start downloading the deb package from Zabbix. Because i am still running on version 3.4 i will use that during the tutorial, the later version need to be installed the same way but with a different version number.

   wget https://repo.zabbix.com/zabbix/3.4/ubuntu/pool/main/z/zabbix-release/zabbix-release_3.4-1+xenial_all.deb
   dpkg -i zabbix-release_3.4-1+xenial_all.deb
   apt update

   If you are running a different release of Ubuntu, subsitute xenial for the version that you have.

2. With the Zabbix repository added we can install zabbix-agent using the apt-get install command and verify that we have installed the correct version.

   sudo apt-get install zabbix-agent
   sudo zabbix-agentd -V
   zabbix_agentd (daemon) (Zabbix) 3.4.15

3. The last thing that we have to do now is configure the zabbix agent by editing its conf file and starting the service.

   nano(or vi) /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
   service zabbix-agent start

Zabbix agent is now installed and configured on your Linux host and you now only have to set-up the host in the zabbix server, or if you are using active checks it will automatically create the host in zabbix.