Install and Configure Monitorix Monitoring Software on Debian 10

Monitorix is a lightweight open-source computer network monitoring tool that can be used to monitor overall system performance. It collects system data and shows the information as graphs using the web interface. It can be run on most Linux-based operating systems including, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD.

Monitorix has a rich set of features some of them are listed below:

• System load average and usage.
• Per-processor kernel usage.
• Global kernel usage.
• HP ProLiant System Health.
• Generic sensors statistics.
• LM-Sensors and GPU temperatures.
• NVIDIA temperatures and usage.
• Disk drive temperatures and health.
• Filesystem usage and I/O activity.
• Network traffic and usage.

In this tutorial, I will explain how to install Monitorix monitoring server on Debian 10.

Prerequisites

• A server running Debian 10.
• A root password is configured on your server.

Getting Started

Before starting, it is recommended to update your server with the latest version. You can update it using the following command:
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y

Once your server is updated, restart it to implement the changes.

Install Monitorix

First, download the latest version of Monitoring from their official website using the following command:
wget https://www.monitorix.org/monitorix_3.11.0-izzy1_all.deb

Once the download is completed, install the downloaded file using the following command:
dpkg -i monitorix_3.11.0-izzy1_all.deb

The above command will produce some dependency error. You can resolve any dependency error with the following command:
apt-get install -f

After installing Monitorix, start the Monitorix service and enable it to start after system reboot with the following command:
systemctl start monitorix
systemctl enable monitorix

Output:
monitorix.service is not a native service, redirecting to systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable monitorix


You can now verify the Monitorix service by running the following command:
systemctl status monitorix

You should see the following output:
? monitorix.service - LSB: Start Monitorix daemon
Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/monitorix; generated)
Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-12-29 16:05:19 UTC; 30s ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 2359)
Memory: 71.0M
CGroup: /system.slice/monitorix.service
??9827 /usr/bin/monitorix -c /etc/monitorix/monitorix.conf -p /var/run/monitorix.pid

Dec 29 16:05:18 debian10 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Start Monitorix daemon...
Dec 29 16:05:19 debian10 monitorix[9822]: .
Dec 29 16:05:19 debian10 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Start Monitorix daemon.


To check the installed version of Monitorix, run the following command:
monitorix -v

You should get the following output:
Monitorix version 3.11.0 (14-Mar-2019)
by Jordi Sanfeliu <[email protected]>
http://www.monitorix.org/


Configure Monitorix

The default configuration file for Monitorix is located at /etc/monitorix/monitorix.conf. You will need to edit it and make some changes according to your system details.

You can edit it with the following command:
nano /etc/monitorix/monitorix.conf

Change the following lines:
title = Monitorix Monitoring Server
hostname = debian10
host = debian10
hosts_deny = all
hosts_allow = 192.168.1.0/24
enabled = y


Save and close the file when you are finished.

Next, you will need to create a user to authenticate Monitorix.

First, install Apache Utilities package with the following command:
apt-get install apache2-utils -y

Next, create a user for Monitorix with the following command:
htpasswd -d -c /var/lib/monitorix/htpasswd admin

You will be asked to set the password for user as shown below:
New password:
Re-type new password:
Adding password for user admin


Next, restart the Monitorix service to implement the changes.
systemctl restart monitorix

By default, Monitorix listens on the port 8080. You can verify it with the following command:
netstat -ant | grep 8080

Output:
tcp6 0 0 :::8080 :::* LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 ::1:8080 ::1:45178 TIME_WAIT


Access Monitorix Web UI

Now, open your web browser and type the URL http://your-server-ip:8080/monitorix. You will be redirected to the Monitorix log in page:

Provide your Monitorix username, password and click on the Sign in button. You should see the Monitorix dashboard in the following page:

Global kernel usage, Filesystem usage, and I/O activity

Network traffic, usage and Netstat statistics

Congratulations! you have successfully installed Monitorix monitoring server on the Debian 10.