Install LibreNMS Network Monitoring Software on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 | 18.10 with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP 7.2

LibreNMS is a popular LAMP/ LEMP based network monitoring software that helps you gain insights and simplifies logs data from your networking devices so you can make sense of them. It helps you monitor, search and analyse the vast amount of data, (especially in a larger environments) into a simple format that you can easily read and digest.

LibreNMS automatically discover your entire network using CDP, FDP, LLDP, OSPF, BGP, SNMP and ARP and provide you alerts via email, slack and more.

LibreNMS supports majority of the network devices in use today. from many major manufacturers. including vast majority of the networking devices deployed.

This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install LibreNMS software on Ubuntu 16.04 / 17.10  and 18.04 LTS servers.

For more about LibreNMS, please check its homepage.

When you’re ready to install LibreNMS, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install Apache2 HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. so install it since LibreNMS needs it.  To install Apache2 HTTP on Ubuntu server, run the commands below.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop apache2.service
sudo systemctl start apache2.service
sudo systemctl enable apache2.service

To test Apache2 setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see Apache2 default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.

Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with LibreNMS. To install MariaDB run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

Run these on Ubuntu 18.04 and 18.10 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
• Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
• New password: Enter password
• Re-enter new password: Repeat password
• Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
• Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
• Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
• Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon to MariaDB server

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

Step 3: Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. in order to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third-party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-snmp php7.2-json php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default config file for Apache2.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini

Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is great settings to apply in your environments.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, save the file and close out. Next, restart Apache2 by running the commands below:

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in Apache2 root directory by running the commands below

sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Then type the content below and save the file.

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php

/phpinfo.php

You should see PHP default test page.

Step 4: Create LibreNMS Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for LibreNMS to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create a blank LibreNMS.

To logon to MariaDB database server, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called librenms

CREATE DATABASE librenms;

Create a database user called librenms with new password

CREATE USER 'librenmsuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON librenms.* TO 'librenmsuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Next, run the commands below to open MariaDB default config file.

sudo nano /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf

Then add the lines below and save.

innodb_file_per_table=1
lower_case_table_names=0

Restart MariaDB after that.

Install these additional dependencies to satisfy LibreNMS installation.

sudo apt install curl git composer fping graphviz imagemagick nmap python-memcache python-mysqldb rrdtool snmp snmpd whois
curl -sS  | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Step 5: Install LibreNMS

Now that you’ve installed and configured the servers, run the commands below to add a new users for LibreNMS, then add the user to the www-data (Apache2) default group.

sudo useradd librenms -d /opt/librenms -M -r
sudo usermod -a -G librenms www-data

Next, change into the /opt directory and download LibreNMS package from its project.

cd /opt
sudo composer create-project --no-dev --keep-vcs librenms/librenms librenms dev-master

After that, follow the guide below to configure snmp server.

sudo cp /opt/librenms/snmpd.conf.example /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf
sudo nano /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf

Edit the text which says RANDOMSTRINGGOESHERE and set your own community string. you can change it to anything you’d like. Save the file when you’re done.

sudo curl -o /usr/bin/distro 
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/distro
sudo systemctl restart snmpd

After that run the commands below to create a cron task for LibreNMS.

sudo cp /opt/librenms/librenms.nonroot.cron /etc/cron.d/librenms

LibreNMS keeps logs in /opt/librenms/logs. Over time these can become large and be rotated out. To rotate out the old logs you can use the provided logrotate config file:

sudo cp /opt/librenms/misc/librenms.logrotate /etc/logrotate.d/librenms

When you’re done. run the commands below to configure an appropriate permissions for LibreNMS user account.

sudo chown -R librenms:librenms /opt/librenms
sudo setfacl -d -m g::rwx /opt/librenms/rrd /opt/librenms/logs /opt/librenms/bootstrap/cache/ /opt/librenms/storage/
sudo setfacl -R -m g::rwx /opt/librenms/rrd /opt/librenms/logs /opt/librenms/bootstrap/cache/ /opt/librenms/storage/

Step 6: Configure Apache2

Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for LibreNMS by running the commands below. This file will control how users access LibreNMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called librenms.conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/librenms.conf

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save.

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin [email protected]
     DocumentRoot /opt/librenms/html
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /opt/librenms/html/>
          Options FollowSymlinks
          AllowOverride All
          Require all granted
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
    
     <Directory /opt/librenms/html/>
            RewriteEngine on
            RewriteBase /
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
            RewriteRule ^(.*) index.php [PT,L]
    </Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Enable the LibreNMS and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo a2ensite librenms.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite

Step 8 : Restart Apache2

To load all the settings above, restart Apache2 by running the commands below.

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Finally, run the commands below to complete the setup.

cd /opt/librenms
sudo ./scripts/composer_wrapper.php install --no-dev

Next, open your browser and browse to the URL below to begin the setup.

You should see LibreNMS setup page. Continue with the setup wizard until you’re done.

Verify that all the PHP requirements are met. then continue with the database configuration. Type the database connection info you created above and continue.

Then create an account for LibreNMS web portal and continue.

Finally, complete the installation.

When you’re done, logon with:

That’s it!

Conclusion:

You’ve successfully installed LibreNMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and 18.10 servers. Hope you continue to read our tutorials on Linux and Ubuntu.

Enjoy!

You may also like the post below: