Install LibreNMS with Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04

Install Nginx HTTP server on Ubuntu

To run LibreNMS, you’ll need a web server, and we’ll use Nginx for this tutorial on Ubuntu 24.04. Installing Nginx is straightforward; just open your Ubuntu terminal and run a couple of simple commands to get it set up and running.

To do that, open the Ubuntu terminal and run the commands below to install the Nginx web server.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

Once Nginx is installed, the commands below can start, stop, and enable the Nginx web server to start automatically when your server boots up.

sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

You can test the Nginx web server by opening your web browser and browsing to the server’s localhost or IP address.

http://localhost

When you see the Welcome to nginx!, it means the Nginx HTTP server is successfully installed.

Additional help on installing Nginx on Ubuntu is in the link below.

How to install Nginx on Ubuntu

Install the MariaDB database server on Ubuntu

LibreNMS needs a database to store its information, and we’ll install MariaDB for this on Ubuntu. You can install the MariaDB database server by opening your Ubuntu terminal and running the update and install commands.

To install and use the MariaDB database server, use the instructions below.

Open the Ubuntu terminal and run the commands below to install the MariaDB database server.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install mariadb-server

Once the MariaDB database server is installed, use the commands below to stop, start, and enable the MariaDB server to start automatically when the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop mariadb
sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Run the following commands to validate and test if the MariaDB database server is installed successfully.

sudo mariadb

Once you run the commands above, it will log you onto the MariaDB console and display a message similar to the one below.

Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 32
Server version: 10.11.2-MariaDB-1 Ubuntu 23.04

Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.

Type 'help;' or 'h' for help. Type 'c' to clear the current input statement.

MariaDB [(none)]> 

The message tells you that the server is installed successfully.

Additional help on installing MariaDB.

• How to install MariaDB on Ubuntu Linux
• MariaDB without password prompt

Create a LibreNMS database

After setting up MariaDB, you need to create a specific database for LibreNMS to use. We’ll create a database named ‘librenmsdb’ and a user called ‘librenmsdbuser’, then give that user full permission to manage the database.

As part of the setup, we will create a librenmsdb database and a user account called librenmsdbuser.

Finally, we’ll grant the librenmsdbuser full access to the librenmsdb database.

All the database steps above can be done using the commands below:

But first, log on to the MariaDB database server:

sudo mariadb

Then run the commands below to complete the steps:

CREATE DATABASE librenmsdb CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER librenmsdbuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'type_your_password_here';
GRANT ALL ON librenmsdb.* TO librenmsdbuser@localhost WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit

Ensure to replace ‘type_your_password_here ‘with your password.

Install PHP and Python modules

LibreNMS is built with PHP, so you’ll need to install some essential PHP modules to make it work correctly on Ubuntu. Running the provided command in your terminal will install the latest PHP version along with all the necessary modules for LibreNMS.

Then, run the commands below to install the latest PHP version.

sudo apt install php-fpm php-intl php-mysql php-curl php-cli php-zip php-xml php-gd php-common php-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-bcmath php-json php-sqlite3 php-soap php-zip php-ldap php-imap php-redis acl curl fping git graphviz imagemagick mtr-tiny nmap php-gmp php-snmp rrdtool snmp snmpd unzip python3-command-runner python3-pymysql python3-dotenv python3-redis python3-setuptools python3-psutil python3-systemd python3-pip whois traceroute

Additional help on installing PHP

How to install PHP on Ubuntu Linux

Download and install LibreNMS files

Now it’s time to get the LibreNMS application files onto your Ubuntu server. First, we’ll create a dedicated user account for LibreNMS to run under, and then we’ll use the git command to download the latest version of LibreNMS into the /opt directory.

First, create a new account called ‘librenms‘ for LibreNMS to run its services.

sudo useradd librenms -d /opt/librenms -M -r -s "$(which bash)"

Next, navigate to the /opt directory and use the git command to download the content for LibreNMS.

cd /opt
sudo git clone https://github.com/librenms/librenms.git

After creating the LibreNMS account and downloading its content, execute the commands below to set the correct permissions for files and directories.

sudo chown -R librenms:librenms /opt/librenms
sudo chmod 771 /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/

Next, switch to the librenms account and run the command below to download the required dependencies for LibreNMS.

sudo su - librenms
./scripts/composer_wrapper.php install --no-dev
exit

Next, open the PHP configuration file and update the system’s timezone. Ensure that PHP has the same timezone as the server.

sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/fpm/php.ini
sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/cli/php.ini

Update the data.timezone line in the file.

[Date]
; Defines the default timezone used by the date functions
; https://php.net/date.timezone
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Remember to set the system timezone as well.

sudo timedatectl set-timezone "America/Chicago"

Once you have completed all the above steps, continue configuring the Nginx web server below to serve the LibreNMS content.

Run the commands below to create an nginx virtual host file for LibreNMS.

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

Then, copy and paste the content block below into the Nginx server block.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /opt/librenms/html;
    index  index.php;
    server_name  librenms.example.com;

    access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;   
    
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ .php$ {
         include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
         include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Save the file.

After that, add the www-data account to the librenms group by running the command below.

sudo usermod -a -G librenms www-data

Then, run the commands below to enable the virtual host and restart the Nginx server.

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/librenms.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Setup Let’s Encrypt SSL/TLS for LibreNMS

To keep your LibreNMS installation secure, it’s a good idea to set up an SSL/TLS certificate using Let’s Encrypt with Nginx on Ubuntu. This process encrypts the connection between users and your LibreNMS site, making it safer to use.

Please read the post below for additional resources on installing and creating Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates for Nginx.

How to set up Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate for Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

Once you have restarted the Nginx web server, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address defined in the Nginx server block.

http://librenms.example.com/install

The LibreNMS installation wizard should appear.

Click on the database icon to continue. Then, type in the database name and password.

Build the database when prompted.

Create an admin account and continue.

Finish the installation.

LibreNMS should be ready to use.

Fix all warnings in the portal.

That should do it!

Conclusion

• Comprehensive Network Monitoring: LibreNMS provides a robust solution for effectively monitoring network devices, servers, and services.
• Seamless Integration: When paired with Nginx, LibreNMS showcases enhanced performance and efficient resource usage.
• Security Enhancements: Implementing SSL/TLS via Let’s Encrypt secures your LibreNMS installation, protecting data transmitted over the network.
• User-Friendly Installation: The step-by-step setup guide allows users to configure LibreNMS on Ubuntu easily, ensuring a hassle-free deployment process.
• Active Community Support: Being an open-source project, LibreNMS benefits from a vibrant community, offering support and continuous improvements.

With these features and enhancements, LibreNMS is an excellent choice for anyone seeking to implement an effective network monitoring solution.