Server Monitoring with Shinken on Ubuntu 16.04

Shinkenis an open source computer and network monitoring framework written in python and compatible with Nagios. Shinken can be used on all operating systems that can run python applications like linux, Unix, and windows. Shinken was written by Jean Gabes as proof of concept for a new Nagios architecture, but it was turned down by the Nagios author and became an independent network and system monitoring tool that stays compatible with Nagios.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to install Shinken from source and add aLinux host to the monitoring system. I will use Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus as the operating system for the Shinken server and monitored host.

Step 1 - Install Shinken Server

Shinken is a python framework, we can install it with pip or install it from source. In this step, we will install Shinken from source. here is some of the tasks must be completed before installing

There are some tasks that have to be completed before we start installing Shinken.

Install some new python packages and create Linux user with the name "shinken":

sudo apt-get install python-setuptools python-pip python-pycurl

useradd -m -s /bin/bash shinken

Download the Shinken source from GitHub repository:

git clone https://github.com/naparuba/shinken.git

cd shinken/

Then install Shinken with the command below:

git checkout 2.4.3

python setup.py install

Next, for better results, we need to install 'python-cherrypy3' from the ubuntu repository:

sudo apt-get install python-cherrypy3

Now Shinken is installed, next we add Shinken to start at boot time and start it:

update-rc.d shinken defaults

systemctl start shinken

Step 2 - Install Shinken Webui2

Webui2 is the Shinken web interface available fromshinken.io. The easiest way to install Sshinken webui2 is by using the shinken CLI command (which has to be executed as shinken user).

Login to the shinken user:

su - shinken

Initialize the shinken configuration file - The command will create a new configuration .shinken.ini:

shinken --init

And install webui2 with thisshinken CLI command:

shinken install webui2

Webui2 is installed, but we need to install MongoDB and another python package with pip. Run command below as root:

sudo apt-get install mongodb

pip install pymongo>=3.0.3 requests arrow bottle==0.12.8

Next, go to the shinken directory and add the new webui2 module by editing the 'broker-master.cfg' file:

cd /etc/shinken/brokers/

vim broker-master.cfg

Add a new option inside module on line 40:

modules webui2

Save the file and exit the editor.

Now go to the contacts directory and edit the file 'admin.cfg' for the admin configuration.

cd /etc/shinken/contacts/

vim admin.cfg

Change the values shown below:

contact_name admin # Username 'admin'

password yourpass # Pass 'mypass'

Save and exit.

Step 3 - Install Nagios-plugins and Shinken Packages

In this step, we will install Nagios-plugins and some Perl module. Then install additional shinken packages from shinken.io to perform the monitoring.

Install Nagios-plugins and cpanminus which is required for building and installing the Perl modules:

sudo apt-get install nagios-plugins* cpanminus

Install these Perl modules with thecpanm command:

cpanm Net::SNMP

cpanm Time::HiRes

cpanm DBI

Now create new link for utils.pm file to shinken the directory and create a new directory for Log_File_Health:

chmod u+s /usr/lib/nagios/plugins/check_icmp

ln -s /usr/lib/nagios/plugins/utils.pm /var/lib/shinken/libexec/

mkdir -p /var/log/rhosts/

touch /var/log/rhosts/remote-hosts.log

Next, install the shinken packages ssh and linux-snmp for monitoring SSH and SNMP sources from shinken.io:

su - shinken

shinken install ssh

shinken install linux-snmp

Step 4 - Add a New Linux Host/host-one

We will add a new Linux host that shall be monitored by using an Ubuntu 16.04 server with IP address 192.168.1.121 and hostname 'host-one'.

Connect to the Linux host-one:

ssh[emailprotected]

Install the snmp and snmpd packages from the Ubuntu repository:

sudo apt-get install snmp snmpd

Next, edit the configuration file 'snmpd.conf' with vim:

vim /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf

Comment line 15 and uncomment line 17:

#agentAddress udp:127.0.0.1:161

agentAddress udp:161,udp6:[::1]:161

Comment line 51 and 53, then add new line configuration below:

#rocommunity mypass default -V systemonly

#rocommunity6 mypass default -V systemonly

rocommunity mypass

Save and exit.

Now start the snmpd service with the systemctl command:

systemctl start snmpd

Go to the shinken server and define the new host by creating a new file in the 'hosts' directory.

cd /etc/shinken/hosts/

vim host-one.cfg

Paste configuration below:

define host{
use generic-host,linux-snmp,ssh
contact_groups admins
host_name host-one
address 192.168.1.121
_SNMPCOMMUNITY mypass # SNMP Pass Config on snmpd.conf
}

Save and exit.

Edit the SNMP configuration on the Shinken server:

vim /etc/shinken/resource.d/snmp.cfg

Change 'public' to 'mypass' - must be the same password that you used in the snmpd configuration file on the client host-one.

$SNMPCOMMUNITYREAD$=mypass

Save and exit.

Now reboot both servers - Shinken server and the monitored Linux host:

reboot

The new Linux host has been added successfully to the Shinken server.

Step 5 - Access Shinken Webui2

Visit the Shinken webui2 on port 7677 (replace the IP in the URL with your IP):

http://192.168.1.120:7767

Log in with user admin and your password (the one that you have set in the admin.cfg configuration file).

Shinken Dashboard in Webui2.

Our 2 servers are monitored with Shinken.

List all services that are monitored with linux-snmp.

Status of all hosts and services.

Step 6 - Common Problems with Shinken - Problems with the NTP server

When you get this error with NTP.

TimeSync - CRITICAL ( NTP CRITICAL: No response from the NTP server)

TimeSync - CRITICAL ( NTP CRITICAL: Offset unknown )

To solve this problem, install ntp on all Linux hosts.

sudo apt-get install ntp ntpdate

Edit the ntp configuration:

vim /etc/ntp.conf

Comment all the pools and replace it with:

#pool 0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org iburst

#pool 1.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org iburst

#pool 2.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org iburst

#pool 3.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org iburst

pool 0.id.pool.ntp.org

pool 1.asia.pool.ntp.org

pool 0.asia.pool.ntp.org

Next, add a new line inside restrict: