How to Install LibreNMS on OpenBSD

LibreNMS is a free and open-source network monitoring system that uses PHP and MySQL/MariaDB to provide a comprehensive view of the health and performance of your network infrastructure. In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the process of installing LibreNMS on OpenBSD.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, you'll need:

• OpenBSD installed on your server with root access.
• A PHP web server, such as Apache or Nginx, installed and configured.
• A MySQL or MariaDB database server installed and configured.

Step 1: Install Dependencies

To start, we'll need to install some dependencies that LibreNMS requires. Open a terminal and run the following command:

$ sudo pkg_add php php-curl php-gd php-mysqli php-mbstring php-zlib mariadb-server

This command will install PHP and several of its extensions, as well as the MariaDB database server.

Step 2: Create a Database and User

Next, we'll create a new database and user for LibreNMS to use. In the terminal, log into the MariaDB server with the following command:

$ mysql -u root -p

Enter your root password when prompted. Then, create a new database and user:

CREATE DATABASE librenms;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON librenms.* TO 'librenms'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password_here';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
QUIT;

Replace your_password_here with a password of your choice. Take note of the credentials as we'll need them later.

Step 3: Download and Install LibreNMS

Now, let's download and install LibreNMS. In the terminal, navigate to the directory where you want to install LibreNMS and run the following commands:

$ sudo mkdir /opt/librenms
$ sudo chown -R _www:_www /opt/librenms
$ cd /opt/librenms
$ sudo git clone https://github.com/librenms/librenms.git .

This will clone the LibreNMS repository into the /opt/librenms directory.

Next, we need to set the correct permissions on some directories:

$ sudo chmod -R 775 /opt/librenms
$ sudo setfacl -d -m g:_www:rwx storage logs bootstrap/cache

These commands will set the correct file permissions and access control lists for LibreNMS.

Step 4: Configure LibreNMS

We now need to configure LibreNMS to use the database we created earlier. In the terminal, navigate to the LibreNMS directory and run the following command:

$ sudo cp .env.example .env

Then, edit the .env file with your preferred text editor:

$ sudo vi .env

Inside the file, find the following line:

DB_DATABASE=default

And replace it with:

DB_DATABASE=librenms

Then, find the following lines:

DB_USERNAME=default
DB_PASSWORD=

And replace them with:

DB_USERNAME=librenms
DB_PASSWORD=your_password_here

Save and exit the file.

Step 5: Set Up the Web Server

We now need to set up the web server to serve the LibreNMS web interface. Depending on which web server you're using, you'll need to follow slightly different instructions.

Apache

If you're using Apache, you'll first need to enable PHP support by running the following command:

$ sudo a2enmod php7.3

Then, create a new Apache configuration file:

$ sudo vi /etc/apache2/conf.d/librenms.conf

Inside the file, add the following:

Alias /librenms "/opt/librenms/html"

<Directory "/opt/librenms/html">
  Options FollowSymLinks
  AllowOverride All

  <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
      Require all granted
  </IfModule>

  <IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
      Order allow,deny
      Allow from all
  </IfModule>

  <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
      Options -MultiViews
      RewriteEngine On
      RewriteRule ^api/v0(.*)$ api/v0.php/$1 [L]
  </IfModule>
</Directory>

Save and exit the file, then restart Apache:

$ sudo apachectl restart

Nginx

If you're using Nginx, create a new Nginx server block:

$ sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/librenms.conf

Inside the file, add the following:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your_server_name_here;

    root /opt/librenms/html;
    index index.php;

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

    location ~ .php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }

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

Replace your_server_name_here with your server's hostname or IP address.

Then, create a symlink to enable the site:

$ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/librenms.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Finally, restart Nginx:

$ sudo service nginx restart

Step 6: Complete the Installation

We're now ready to complete the installation of LibreNMS. In the terminal, run the following command:

$ sudo ./scripts/composer_wrapper.php install --no-dev

This command will download and install all of LibreNMS's dependencies.

Once that's done, run the following command to generate a new application key:

$ sudo php artisan key:generate

Then, run the database migration:

$ sudo php artisan migrate --no-interaction --force

And finally, create a new user account:

$ sudo php artisan make:user

Follow the prompts to create a new user with administrator privileges.

Step 7: Log in to LibreNMS

We're done! You can now log in to LibreNMS by visiting http://your_server_name/librenms in your web browser, where your_server_name is your server's hostname or IP address. Use the credentials you created in step 6 to log in.

Congratulations! You've successfully installed LibreNMS on OpenBSD!

If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!