Command Center

All commands are run as root.

Text editor (mostly for my use):

yum install nano

EPEL and Remi repositories

• Install the repositories

  rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/x86_64/epel-release-5-2.noarch.rpm
  rpm -Uvh http://rpms.famillecollet.com/el5.x86_64/remi-release-5-4.el5.remi.noarch.rpm
  

• Edit /etc/yum.repos.d/remi.repo.
  • Under [TECH:remi], set enabled=1.

PHP and MySQL(i) client

• Configure base packages

  yum install php-pear php-mysql php-mbstring
  /etc/init.d/httpd restart
  

• Test
  • Configure phpinfo() page

    echo " /var/www/html/index.php
    chmod 644 /var/www/html/index.php
    

  • Load page in browser

APC

yum install php-pecl-apc
/etc/init.d/httpd restart

• Test: Load page in browser and look for "apc.stat"

Memcached

yum install zlib-devel memcached php-pecl-memcache
/etc/init.d/memcached start
Test:  telnet localhost 11211
/etc/init.d/httpd restart

• Test: Load page in browser and look for "memcache.default_port"

Apache

• Change "AllowOverride None" to "AllowOverride All" for :
  /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (excerpt)

  "/var/www/html">
  
  [...]
  
  AllowOverride All
  
  [...]
  
  
  

MySQL server

• Install MySQL

  yum install mysql-server
  

• Set better defaults in /etc/my.cnf under [TECH:mysqld]:

  default_storage_engine = InnoDB
  default_character_set = utf8
  collation_server = utf8_general_ci
  character_set_server = utf8
  

• Start MySQL and set the root password:

  /etc/init.d/mysqld start
  /usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
  /usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h localhost.localdomain password 'new-password'
  

Synchronize system clock

yum install ntp
chkconfig ntpd on
ntpdate pool.ntp.org
/etc/init.d/ntpd start

phpMyAdmin

• Install phpMyAdmin

  yum install phpmyadmin
  

• Edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf to allow access from non-localhost clients.
• Edit /etc/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php to add additional servers and use the "mysqli" driver for connections.
• Restart Apache:

  /etc/init.d/httpd restart
  

• Visit http://server.example.com/phpmyadmin
• Log in using "root" and the root password set from the MySQL server installation.

Nagios (only for monitoring server)

• Install Nagios

  yum install nagios nagios-plugins-disk nagios-plugins-dns nagios-plugins-http nagios-plugins-load \
  nagios-plugins-mysql nagios-plugins-ping nagios-plugins-ssh nagios-plugins-users nagios-plugins-procs \
  nagios-plugins-nrpe nagios-plugins-swap
  htpasswd -c /etc/nagios/passwd nagios
  chgrp apache /etc/nagios/passwd
  chmod 640 /etc/nagios/passwd
  

• Edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/nagios.conf.
  • Change allow from 127.0.0.1 to allow from all.
• Edit /etc/nagios/nagios.cfg.
  • Uncomment cfg_dir=/etc/nagios/servers.
• mkdir /etc/nagios/servers && chgrp nagios /etc/nagios/servers && chmod g+s /etc/nagios/servers.
• Edit /etc/nagios/localhost.cfg to change nagios-admin to nagios.
• Add the following text to /etc/nagios/commands.cfg to support querying NRPE on remote hosts:

  define command{
  command_name    check_nrpe
  command_line    $USER1$/check_nrpe -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -c $ARG1$
  }
  

• Verify configurations:

  nagios -v /etc/nagios/nagios.cfg
  

• Add server configurations to /etc/nagios/servers.
• Restart Apache and Nagios:

  /etc/init.d/httpd restart
  /etc/init.d/nagios restart
  

Nagios clients

• Install NRPE plugin:

  yum install nrpe nagios-plugins-disk nagios-plugins-load nagios-plugins-ping \
  nagios-plugins-ssh nagios-plugins-users nagios-plugins-procs nagios-plugins-swap
  

• Edit /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg.
  • Add the Nagios server to allowed_hosts.
  • Add necessary commands to the command definitions section.
• Start the service:

  /etc/init.d/nrpe start
  

• Make the service start by default:

  chkconfig nrpe on
  

• Verify access to NRPE from the Nagios server:

  /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_nrpe -H [nrpe-remote-host]
  

• Verify access to commands from the Nagios server:

  /usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_nrpe -H [nrpe-remote-host] -c [command]
  

Nagios Apache clients

• Install relevant plugin(s):

  yum install nagios-plugins-http
  

• Add a check_http command to /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg:

  command[check_http]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_http -w 5 -c 20 -I 127.0.0.1
  

Nagios MySQL clients

• Install relevant plugin(s):

  yum install nagios-plugins-mysql
  

• Log into MySQL and add an unprivileged nrpe user:

  CREATE USER 'nrpe'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'nrpe';
  GRANT REPLICATION CLIENT ON *.* TO 'nrpe'@'localhost';
  

• Add a check_mysql command to /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg for a non-slave server:

  command[check_mysql]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_mysql -u nrpe -p nrpe
  

• Add a check_mysql command to /etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg for a slave server:

  command[check_mysql]=/usr/lib64/nagios/plugins/check_mysql -u nrpe -p nrpe -S -w 2 -c 10
  

Cacti (only for monitoring server)

• Install the main package

  yum install php-snmp net-snmp net-snmp-utils cacti
  

• Edit /etc/cacti/db.php:

  $database_type = 'mysql';
  $database_default = 'cacti';
  $database_hostname = 'localhost';
  $database_username = 'cacti';
  $database_password = 'password-here';
  $database_port = '3306';
  

• Install the database:

  mysql -p cacti < /usr/share/doc/cacti-0.8.7b/cacti.sql mysql_convert_table_format --password="mysql-root-password" --type="InnoDB" cacti 

• Edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/cacti.conf to allow access from non-localhost.
• Restart Apache:

  /etc/init.d/httpd restart
  

• Enable cron operation by adding the line */5 * * * * /usr/bin/php /usr/share/cacti/poller.php > /dev/null 2>&1 to cacti's crontab:

  export EDITOR=nano
  crontab -u cacti -e
  

• Grant Apache access to the RRD files:

  chgrp -R apache /var/lib/cacti/rra
  chmode -R g+s /var/lib/cacti/rra
  

• Go to http://server.example.com/cacti and log in as admin/admin.

Cacti clients

• Install the SNMP daemon:

  yum install net-snmp net-snmp-libs net-snmp-utils
  

• If the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf is the default, move it:

  mv /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf.original
  # snmpconf -i -g basic_setup
  

• Configure the SNMP daemon by putting the following in /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf:

  rocommunity public cacti-server-ip
  rocommunity public 127.0.0.1
  dontPrintUnits true
  includeAllDisks
  

• Enable the SNMP daemon:

  /etc/init.d/snmpd start
  chkconfig snmpd on
  

• Add the device to the Cacti server
  • Console > Management > Devices > Add
    • Description: enter-name
    • Hostname: ip-address
    • Host Template: Generic SNMP-enabled Host
    • SNMP Version: Version 1
  • Console > Management > Graph Trees > Default Tree > Add
    • Tree Item Type: Host
    • Host: select-host

Cacti Apache clients

• Add the following to /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf:

  proc httpd
  

Cacti MySQL clients

To be written.

Load testing with curl-loader

• Download, build, and install:

  yum install gcc openssl-devel
  wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/curl-loader/curl-loader-0.46.tar.gz
  tar xzf curl-loader-0.46.tar.gz
  rm curl-loader-0.46.tar.gz
  cd curl-loader-0.46
  make
  make install
  

• Run:

  curl-loader -f configfile
  

PHP PECL xdebug

• Install xdebug and restart Apache

  pear install pecl/xdebug
  /etc/init.d/httpd restart
  

• To profile code
  • Add the following to /etc/php.d/xdebug.conf:

    zend_extension=/usr/lib64/php/modules/xdebug.so
    xdebug.profiler_enable_trigger = 1
    

  • Restart Apache:

    /etc/init.d/httpd restart
    

  • And then load the page you want to profile with "?XDEBUG_PROFILE=1" at the end of the URL.

To do

• Set up multiple memcached instances (instead of the default single instance)
• Tune APC