1 Network Management & Monitoring - Smokeping - Part I

1.1 Exercises

In this exercise you will install Smokeping and get it to monitor various devices in the class network.

Since most of the tasks in this exercise require you to be "root", the first thing you should do is to connect to your PC and start a root shell.

$ sudo -s
#

1.2 1. Install Smokeping

# apt-get install smokeping

For Ubuntu 14.04: you need to install a symlink to the apache2 config

# ln -s /etc/smokeping/apache2.conf /etc/apache2/conf-available/smokeping.conf
# a2enconf smokeping

Also, the CGI module needs to be enabled in Apache:

# a2enmod cgi

Finally, reload the Apache configuration:

# service apache2 reload

Then point your web browser at

http://pcN.ws.nsrc.org/smokeping/smokeping.cgi

(replace "pcN" with your own PC) to check that it is running.

1.3 2. Initial Configuration

# cd /etc/smokeping/config.d
# ls -l

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  578 2010-02-26 01:55 Alerts
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  237 2010-02-26 01:55 Database
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  413 2010-02-26 05:40 General
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  271 2010-02-26 01:55 pathnames
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  859 2010-02-26 01:55 Presentation
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  116 2010-02-26 01:55 Probes
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  155 2010-02-26 01:55 Slaves
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8990 2010-02-26 06:30 Targets

The files that you'll need to change, at a minimum, are:

Alerts
General
Probes
Targets

Now open the General file (note the first capital letter)

# editor General

Change the following lines:

owner    = NOC
contact  = sysadm@localhost
mailhost = localhost
cgiurl   = http://localhost/smokeping/smokeping.cgi
# specify this to get syslog logging
syslogfacility = local5

Save the file and exit. Now let's restart the Smokeping service to verify that no mistakes have been made before going any further:

# service smokeping stop
# service smokeping start

A quicker way to do this is:

# service smokeping restart

We'll use this for the rest of the exercises, or we'll just use the "reload" directive as this is all you need for Smokeping to see configuration file changes.

Now open the Alerts file (note the first capital letter)

# editor Alerts

Change the following lines:

to = root@localhost
from = smokeping-alert@localhost

Save the file and exit. Restart Smokeping:

# service smokeping reload

1.4 3. Configure monitoring of devices

The majority of your time and work configuring Smokeping will be done in the file /etc/smokeping/config.d/Targets.

For this class please do the following:

Use the default FPing probe to check:

your wireless link
classroom NOC (noc.ws.nsrc.org)
classroom Wi-Fi (ap1.ws.nsrc.org)

Create some hierarchy to the Smokeping menu for your checks. For example, the Targets file is already partially preconfigured. To start we are going to add some entries to this file. Start with:

# cd /etc/smokeping/config.d
# editor Targets

You can take the section from *** Targets *** to the end of the LocalMachine and make it look something like this. Feel free to use your own "remark", "menu" text and titles. Note that we remove the commented lines #parents = owner:/Test/James location:/, and the "Alerts" line.

NOTE: We strongly recommend that you COPY and PASTE text from these exercises directly in to the Targets file. Typing all this by hand will take too long.

*** Targets ***

probe = FPing

menu = Top
title = Network Latency Grapher
remark = Smokeping Latency Grapher for Network Monitoring \
         and Management Workshop.

+Local

menu = Local Network Monitoring and Management
title = Local Network

++LocalMachine

menu = Local Machine
title = This host
host = localhost

Now, below the "localhost" we start with the configuration of items for our class. We can start simple and add just the first 4 PCs that are in Group 1 as well as an entry for our classroom NOC.

#
# ********* Classroom Servers **********
#

+Servers

menu = Servers
title = Network Management Servers

++noc

menu = noc
title = Workshop NOC
host = noc.ws.nsrc.org

#
# ******** Wireless Radios ***********
#

+Radios

menu = Wireless Radios
title = Wireless Linking Equipment

++rtr1

menu = rtr1
title = Radio 1
host = 10.10.0.xx


++rtr2

menu = rtr2
title = Radio 2
host = 10.10.0.xx


++ap1

menu = ap1
title = WiFi ap1
host = 10.10.0.xx

OK. Let's see if we can get Smokeping to stop and start with the changes we have made, so far. Save and exit from the Targets file. Now try doing:

# service smokeping reload

If you see error messages, then read them closely and try to correct the problem in the Targets file. In addition, Smokeping is now sending log message to the file /var/log/syslog. You can view what Smokeping is saying by typing:

# tail /var/log/syslog

If you want to see all smokeping related messages in the file /var/log/syslog you can do this:

# grep smokeping /var/log/syslog

If there are no errors you can view the results of your changes by going to:

http://pcN.ws.nsrc.org/cgi-bin/smokeping.cgi

2 3 Classrom Wireless Access Point

4

++ap1

menu = ap1 title = Wireless Access Point 1 host = ap1.ws.nsrc.org ```

Save and Exit from the file and reload the Smokeping service:

# service smokeping reload