How to Install Rudder on Ubuntu Linux

The post is a comprehensive tutorial on how to install the Rudder Continuous Auditing & Configuration tool on Ubuntu 18.04 or 16.04. Rudder is an open-source solution for auditing, managing, and automating system configurations. The instructions cover steps from installing necessary Java, importing Rudder’s key, creating a Rudder repository, to installing Rudder itself, along with…

This brief tutorial shows you how to install the Rudder Continuous Auditing & Configuration tool on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04.

For the uninitiated, Rudder is an open-source, multi-platform solution for auditing and managing configuration systems’ configurations.

It also allows you to automate and maintain compliance with your production infrastructure via its auditing feature.

Rudder has built-in rules to perform low-level configuration patterns and synchronize systems across IT infrastructure.

For more about Rudder, please check its homepage.

Follow the steps below to install Rudder on Ubuntu.

Install Java

Rudder requires Java, so you’ll need Java installed to run it. The open-source Java works great with Rudder. To install the open-source version of Java, run the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install default-jre

After installing Java, the commands below can be used to verify whether Java is installed.

java -version

You should see a similar output as below:

Output:
openjdk version "11.0.5" 2019-10-15
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.5+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu1.118.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.5+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu1.118.04, mixed mode, sharing)

Install Rudder

Now that Java is installed, continue below to get Rudder and all dependencies installed.

To ensure the packages you will install are official builds and have not been altered, import our key into apt using the following command:

wget --quiet -O- "https://repository.rudder.io/apt/rudder_apt_key.pub" | sudo apt-key add -

Rudder key fingerprint is shown below:

pub  4096R/474A19E8 2011-12-15 Rudder Project (release key) <[email protected]>
      Key fingerprint = 7C16 9817 7904 212D D58C  B4D1 9322 C330 474A 19E8

After importing the key above, run the commands below to create the Rudder repository on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://repository.rudder.io/apt/6.0/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rudder.list'

Next, run the commands below to update your local package database to retrieve the list of packages available on our repository:

sudo apt update

Finally, run the commands below to install Rudder.

sudo apt install rudder-server-root

The commands above will fetch and download all Rudder’s packages and dependencies and install them on Ubuntu.

During the installation, you will get a prompt on whether to have a database installed and configured. Choose No

                ───┤ Configuring rsyslog-pgsql ├──
                                                                            │ 
  The rsyslog-pgsql package must have a database installed and configured   │ 
  before it can be used. This can be optionally handled with                │ 
  dbconfig-common.                                                          │ 
                    
│ If you are an advanced database administrator and know that you want to   │ 
│ perform this configuration manually, or if your database has already      │ 
│ been installed and configured, you should refuse this option. Details on  │ 
│ what needs to be done should most likely be provided in                   │ 
│ /usr/share/doc/rsyslog-pgsql.                                             │ 
│                                                                           │ 
│ Otherwise, you should probably choose this option.                        │ 
│                                                                           │ 
│ Configure database for rsyslog-pgsql with dbconfig-common?                │ 
│                                                                           │ 
│                    <Yes>                   <No>                           │ 
│                                                                           │ 

Choose No

Access the Rudder Web Portal

Once all these steps have been completed, use your web browser to go to the server’s hostname or IP address.

http://rudder.example.com

You should see a loading screen and a login prompt. The default login is:

  • User: admin
  • Password: admin

You are strongly advised to change this password as soon as possible.

Now you should go to Settings → General → Allowed Networks and check that the networks listed there properly include all your node’s network addresses.

By default, this will contain your server’s attached networks.

The setup of the Rudder server is now complete. You can begin installing client software and configuring them to connect to the server node.

For more about installing Rudder client software on Ubuntu, check this page.

Conclusion:

This post shows you how to install Rudder on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04. If you find any errors, please report them in the comment form below.

Thanks!

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