How to Setup LibreNMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

The steps below should be a great place to start for those who want to run LibreNMS network monitoring software on Ubuntu with Nginx and PHP 7.2-FPM support.

LibreNMS is a popular LAMP/LEMP-based network monitoring software that helps you gain insights and simplifies log data from your networking devices so you can make sense of them.

It helps you monitor, search, and analyze the vast amount of data (especially in larger environments) into a simple format you can easily read and digest.

LibreNMS automatically discovers your entire network using CDP, FDP, LLDP, OSPF, BGP, SNMP, and ARP and provides email, slack, and more alerts.

LibreNMS supports the majority of the network devices in use today. From many major manufacturers. Including the vast majority of the networking devices deployed.

For more about LibreNMS, please check its homepage.

When you’re ready to install LibreNMS, follow the steps below:

Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Nginx HTTP Server is probably the second most popular web server, so install it since LibreNMS needs it. To install Nginx HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

To test the Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address, and you should see the Nginx default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Nginx is working as expected.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with LibreNMS. To install MariaDB run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start and enable the MariaDB service to start up when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

Run these on Ubuntu 18.04 and 18.10 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
• Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
• New password: Enter password
• Re-enter new password: Repeat password
• Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
• Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
• Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
• Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB server to test if MariaDB is installed.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then type the password you created above to sign on. If successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message.

Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third-party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-snmp php7.2-json php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open Nginx’s PHP default config file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini

Then save the changes on the following lines below in the file. The value below is an excellent setting to apply in your environment.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, please save the file and close it. Next, restart Nginx by running the commands below:

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Create LibreNMS Database

Once you’ve installed all the packages required for LibreNMS to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank LibreNMS.

To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called librenms

CREATE DATABASE librenms;

Create a database user called librenms with a new password

CREATE USER 'librenmsuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON librenms.* TO 'librenmsuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Next, run the commands below to open the MariaDB default config file.

sudo nano /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf

Then add the lines below and save.

innodb_file_per_table=1
lower_case_table_names=0

Restart MariaDB after that.

Install these additional dependencies to satisfy LibreNMS installation.

sudo apt install curl git composer fping graphviz imagemagick nmap python-memcache python-mysqldb rrdtool snmp snmpd whois
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Install LibreNMS

Now that you’ve installed and configured the servers run the commands below to add a new user for LibreNMS, then add the user to the www-data (Nginx ) default group.

sudo useradd librenms -d /opt/librenms -M -r
sudo usermod -a -G librenms www-data

Next, change into the /opt directory and download the LibreNMS package from its project.

cd /opt
sudo composer create-project --no-dev --keep-vcs librenms/librenms librenms dev-master

After that, follow the guide below to configure the SNMP server.

sudo cp /opt/librenms/snmpd.conf.example /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf
sudo nano /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf

Edit the text which says RANDOMSTRINGGOESHERE and set your community string. You can change it to anything you’d like. Save the file when you’re done.

sudo curl -o /usr/bin/distro https://raw.githubusercontent.com/librenms/librenms-agent/master/snmp/distro
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/distro
sudo systemctl restart snmpd

After that, run the commands below to create a cron task for LibreNMS.

sudo cp /opt/librenms/librenms.nonroot.cron /etc/cron.d/librenms

LibreNMS keeps logs in /opt/librenms/logs. Over time these can become large and be rotated out. To rotate out the old logs, you can use the provided logrotate config file:

sudo cp /opt/librenms/misc/librenms.logrotate /etc/logrotate.d/librenms

When you’re done, run the commands below to configure appropriate permissions for the LibreNMS user account.

sudo chown -R librenms:librenms /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/

Configure Nginx

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for LibreNMS by running the commands below. This file will control how users access LibreNMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called librenms

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

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it.

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

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location / {
          try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
          }
 
    location /api/v0 {
          try_files $uri $uri/ /api_v0.php?$query_string;
          }

    location ~ \.php$ {
         include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
         include fastcgi_params;
     }
}

Save the file and exit.

Enable the LibreNMS

After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/librenms /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Restart Nginx by running the commands below to load all the settings above.

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Finally, run the commands below to complete the setup.

cd /opt/librenms
sudo ./scripts/composer_wrapper.php install --no-dev

Next, open your browser and browse the URL below to begin the setup.

http://example.com/install.php/

You should see the LibreNMS setup page. Continue with the setup wizard until you’re done.

Verify that all the PHP requirements are met. Then continue with the database configuration. Type the database connection info you created above and continue.

Then create an account for the LibreNMS web portal and continue.

Finally, complete the installation.

When you’re done, log in with the following:

That’s it!

Conclusion:

You’ve successfully installed LibreNMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and 18.10 servers. I hope you continue to read our tutorials on Linux and Ubuntu.

Enjoy!