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Preparing server devices

This section describes how to prepare Linux and Windows servers for monitoring. For other device types, refer to the ZenPack catalog documentation.

Preparing Linux servers for monitoring

Resource Manager can monitor Linux servers with SNMP or SSH. For SNMP monitoring, install an SNMP package on the server (for example, Net-SNMP) and start the agent.

For SSH monitoring, install an SSH server package (for example, OpenSSH) and start the SSH daemon. In addition, you must enable an account to run the pvs, vgs, lvs, systemctl, initctl, and service commands through SSH, without a TTY.

Enabling the root account to run monitoring commands

By default, root may only run monitoring commands locally. To enable remote privileges, follow these steps on each server to monitor:

  1. Log in to the server as root or as a user with superuser privileges.
  2. If necessary, install the sudo package on the server. For more information, refer to your operating system documentation.

  3. Allow root to execute commands through SSH, without a TTY.

    1. Open the /etc/sudoers file with a text editor.

    2. Find the line containing root ALL=(ALL) ALL.

    3. Add the following line beneath it:

      Defaults:root !requiretty

    4. Save the file, and then exit the editor.

Enabling a non-privileged account to run monitoring commands

To enable an account other than root to run monitoring commands remotely, follow these steps on each server to monitor:

  1. Log in to the server as root or as a user with superuser privileges.
  2. Create a user named zenmonitor.
  3. If necessary, install the sudo package on the server. For more information, refer to your operating system documentation.

  4. Configure the zenmonitor user to run the commands through SSH, without a TTY.

    1. Open /etc/sudoers.d/zenoss with a text editor. If sudoers.d is not supported, open /etc/sudoers.

    2. Add the following lines to the bottom of the file:

      Defaults:zenmonitor !requiretty
Cmnd_Alias ZENOSS_LVM_CMDS = /sbin/pvs, /sbin/vgs, /sbin/lvs, \
    /usr/sbin/pvs, /usr/sbin/vgs, /usr/sbin/lvs
Cmnd_Alias ZENOSS_SVC_CMDS = /bin/systemctl list-units *, \
    /bin/systemctl status *, /sbin/initctl list, /sbin/service --status-all, \
    /usr/sbin/dmidecode
zenmonitor ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ZENOSS_LVM_CMDS, ZENOSS_SVC_CMDS

    3. Verify that all paths in the preceding lines are correct.

    4. Save the file, and then exit the editor.

Preparing Windows servers for monitoring

Resource Manager uses SNMP or WinRM to monitor Microsoft Windows systems as follows:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2106 - WinRM only. SNMP support does not exist for Windows Server 2106.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 - WinRM only. SNMP support does not exist for Windows Server 2012.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 - SNMP v1/v2 or WinRM. SNMP v3 support does not exist for Windows Server 2008 R2.

To prepare a Windows 2008 system for SNMP monitoring, start the SNMP service.

To prepare a Windows system for WinRM monitoring, refer to the support article that describes the options and provides the procedures for configuring your systems.