In this article, we will look at how to Install Observium on Ubuntu 20.04|18.04 Linux. Observium is an auto-discovering network monitoring tool with low-maintenance and support for Cisco, Juniper, Linux, Windows, HP, Dell, FreeBSD, Brocade, NetApp, Netscaler and many more.
In our previous article, I wrote about how to How to Install and Configure LibreNMS on Ubuntu. For the record, LibreNMS is a fork of Observium. Observium focuses on providing a beautiful and powerful yet simple and intuitive interface to the health and status of your network.
Install Observium on Ubuntu 20.04|18.04 LTS with Nginx
Observium is powered by PHP, MariaDB and Nginx/Apache web server. Let’s kick off by ensuring all these dependencies are installed on our Ubuntu 20.04|18.04 system.
Step 1: Install PHP and required modules
Ubuntu 18.04+ has PHP 7.x in its repositories. Install it by running the commands below on your terminal:
sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install wget php php-{pear,cgi,common,curl,mbstring,gd,mysql,bcmath,imap,json,xml,snmp,fpm,zip}To confirm the php version installed, use the command php -v:
# Ubuntu 20.04
$ php -v
PHP 7.4.3 (cli) (built: Jun 13 2022 13:43:30) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.3, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
# Ubuntu 18.04
$ php -v
PHP 7.2.8 (cli) (built: Jul 17 2018 09:50:46) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
Configure and Start PHP-FPM
Ensure date.timezone is set in php.ini to your preferred time zone:
Edit both files:
sudo vim /etc/php/*/fpm/php.ini
sudo vim /etc/php/*/cli/php.iniChange date.timezone under [Date] section:
[Date]
; Defines the default timezone used by the date functions
; http://php.net/date.timezone
date.timezone = Africa/NairobiRestart php fpm:
sudo systemctl restart php*-fpm.service
Step 2: Install Nginx Web Server
For this setup, we will use Nginx as a web server for Observium, install it by running:
sudo apt remove apache2 -y
sudo apt -y install nginxEnsure it is enabled to start on boot:
sudo systemctl enable nginxStep 3: Install and configure MariaDB
Install MariaDB Server:
sudo apt install mariadb-serverOnce you’re done with the installation, create database and user for Observium.
Observium is not fully compatible with MySQL strict mode, for now, please disable this after mysql is installed.
sudo vim /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnfWithin the [mysqld] section please add:
innodb_file_per_table=1
sql-mode=""
lower_case_table_names=0Then restart mysql
sudo systemctl restart mariadbOnce database server has been installed and configured, you need to create a database for Observium.
$ sudo mysql -u root
create database observium;
grant all privileges on observium.* to observium@localhost IDENTIFIED by "StrongPassword";
flush privileges;
quit
Step 4: Download and install Observium
Install wget command line downloader:
sudo apt install wgetAdd observium system user:
sudo useradd -r -M -d /opt/observium observiumNow add this user to web user group www-data
sudo usermod -a -G observium www-dataWhen done. proceed to install packages required by Observium
sudo apt update
sudo apt install rrdtool whois fping imagemagick graphviz mtr-tiny nmap python3-mysqldb snmp snmpd python3-memcache mtr-tiny acl
Download the latest Observium Community edition and extract it.
wget http://www.observium.org/observium-community-latest.tar.gz
tar xvf observium-community-latest.tar.gzMove the resulting folder to the /opt directory:
sudo mv observium /optChange to the observium directory and create a config file.
sudo cp /opt/observium/config.php.default /opt/observium/config.phpEdit the file to set database connection:
sudo vim /opt/observium/config.phpSet like below:
// Database config --- This MUST be configured
$config['db_extension'] = 'mysqli';
$config['db_host'] = 'localhost';
$config['db_user'] = 'observium';
$config['db_pass'] = 'StrongPassword';
$config['db_name'] = 'observium';Create rrd and logs directory.
sudo mkdir /opt/observium/{rrd,logs}Change permission of the directory:
sudo chown -R observium:observium /opt/observium/
sudo chmod -R 775 /opt/observium/Configure snmpd
Copy snmpd sample file:
sudo cp /opt/observium/snmpd.conf.example /etc/snmp/snmpd.confConfigure String below in snmpd.conf file.
$ sudo vim /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf
com2sec readonly default 0bs3rv1umRestart snmpd
sudo systemctl restart snmpdVerify service status is running:
$ systemctl status snmpd
● snmpd.service - Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Daemon.
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/snmpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-04-28 18:38:01 UTC; 5s ago
Process: 39459 ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /var/run/agentx (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 39460 (snmpd)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 4683)
Memory: 5.5M
CGroup: /system.slice/snmpd.service
└─39460 /usr/sbin/snmpd -LOw -u Debian-snmp -g Debian-snmp -I -smux mteTrigger mteTriggerConf -f -p /run/snmpd.pid
Apr 28 18:38:01 ubuntu systemd[1]: Starting Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Daemon....
Apr 28 18:38:01 ubuntu systemd[1]: Started Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Daemon..Step 5: Configure Nginx
Let’s create the VirtualHost definition for Nginx to load Observium web interface.
Create new file
sudo vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/observium.confPaste below contents and modify to fit your use.
server {
listen 80;
server_name observium.example.com;
root /opt/observium/html;
index index.php;
charset utf-8;
gzip on;
gzip_types text/css application/javascript text/javascript application/x-javascript image/svg+xml text/plain text/xsd text/xsl text/xml image/x-icon;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
}
location /api/v0 {
try_files $uri $uri/ /api_v0.php?$query_string;
}
location ~ \.php {
include fastcgi.conf;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php-fpm.sock;
}
location ~ /\.ht {
deny all;
}
}Check syntax:
$ sudo nginx -t
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successfulif all is okay, restart nginx:
sudo systemctl restart nginxStep 6: Configure Observium on Web UI
Import MySQL scheme :
cd /opt/observium
sudo ./discovery.php -uSample output:
$ sudo ./discovery.php -u
___ _ _
/ _ \ | |__ ___ ___ _ __ __ __(_) _ _ _ __ ___
| | | || '_ \ / __| / _ \| '__|\ \ / /| || | | || '_ ` _ \
| |_| || |_) |\__ \| __/| | \ V / | || |_| || | | | | |
\___/ |_.__/ |___/ \___||_| \_/ |_| \__,_||_| |_| |_|
Observium Community Edition 20.9.10731
https://www.observium.org
Install initial database schema ... done.
-- Updating database/file schema
416 -> 417 # (db) .. Done (0s).
417 -> 418 # (db) . Done (0s).
418 -> 419 # (db) .... Done (0s).
419 -> 420 # (db) .. Done (0s).
420 -> 421 # (db) ... Done (0s).
421 -> 422 # (db) .. Done (0s).
422 -> 423 # (db) ...... Done (0s).
423 -> 424 # (php) Done (0s).
424 -> 425 # (db) . Done (0s).
425 -> 426 # (db) ............... Done (0s).
426 -> 427 # (db) ... Done (0s).
427 -> 428 # (db) ... Done (1s).
428 -> 429 # (db) ... Done (0s).
429 -> 430 # (db) (WARNING! Required MySQL version 5.6+ or MariaDB 10.0+).... Done (0s).
430 -> 431 # (db) ..... Done (0s).
431 -> 432 # (php) Done (0s).
432 -> 433 # (db) ......... Done (0s).
433 -> 434 # (db) ... Done (0s).
434 -> 435 # (db) . Done (0s).
-- Done.Add admin user:
Add a user for accessing the Observium portal. You can add more than one user.
Command syntax:
adduser.php <username> <password> <level 1-10> [email]User access Levels:
0 - Disabled (This user disabled)
1 - Normal User (This user has read access to individual entities)
5 - Global Read (This user has global read access)
7 - Global Secure Read (This user has global read access with secured info)
8 - Global Secure Read / Limited Write (This user has secure global read access with scheduled maintenence read/write.)
10 - Administrator (This user has full administrative access)Examples:
$ cd /opt/observium
$ sudo ./adduser.php admin StrOnPassw0rd 10
Observium CE 20.9.10731
Add User
User admin added successfully.
$ sudo ./adduser.php jkmutai StrOnPassw0rd 10
Observium CE 20.9.10731
Add User
User jmutai added successfully.10 is the highest level of access
Access Observium Web Interface
Now open your web browser and start the installer:
http://observium.example.comUse the username and password of the admin user to login.
