Zabbix is an open source network monitoring software that allows users to monitor networks, servers and other network hardware and services. It works by having Zabbix agents installed on devices that report data to a central Zabbix server. The server then stores and analyzes the data to trigger alerts if issues arise. Key features include autodiscovery of devices, low-level discovery, agent-less monitoring, flexible notifications and dashboard visualizations. It provides an architecture with a server, agents and proxies to distribute the monitoring load across a network.