Category Archives: Archived

Openfiler – Monitoring With Cacti

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Openfiler – Monitoring With Cacti

Introduction

This article explains how to configure an Openfiler server for SNMP monitoring through Cacti.

The infrastructure used for this article was an Openfiler 2.3 virtual machine being monitored by a Fedora Core 10 64-bit server running Cacti.  Both virtual machines were hosted on a Fedora Core 8 64-bit server running VMware Server 1.0.8.

Pre-requisites

In order to configure an Openfiler 2.3 server for SNMP monitoring in Cacti the following pre-requisites must be met :-

  • An installed Openfiler 2.3 server / appliance with SNMP configured
  • An existing Cacti installation

Adding a device

The following section provides the configuration settings selecting when adding an Openfiler server as a new device in Cacti.  In order to add an Openfiler server in to Cacti as a new device perform the following steps :-

  1. Logon to the Cacti web site as an administrative user
  2. Click on the Console tab if neccesary
  3. Click on the Create devices link in the main pane
  4. Set the Description to the friendly name you wish to use within Cacti – E.G. Openfiler Server
  5. Set the Hostname to the FQDN if DNS is configured or the IP Address of the server
  6. Select the Generic SNMP-enabled Host template
  7. Set the SNMP version to Version 2
  8. Set the community string to the required string for your infrastructure – E.G. public
  9. Set the Downed device detection method to Ping and SNMP
  10. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Save button
  11. In the Devices list click on the device name and scroll down to the bottom of the page
  12. Confirm that at the top of the page that the general SNMP informatio is displayed for the server

Associate data queries to the device

Once the device has been added to Cacti data queries need to be associated to it so that graphs can be produced.  To associate data queries to the device perform the following steps :-

  1. In the Devices list click on the device name and scroll down to the bottom of the page
  2. In the Associated data queries section change the Add data query drop down box to SNMP – Get Mounted Partitions
  3. Click on the Add button to add the new data query
  4. Once added the query will be shown with a status of Success [xx Items, x Rows] (The amount of Items and Rows will differ depending on how many partitions exist on the server)
  5. Change the Add data query drop down box to SNMP – Get Processor Information
  6. Click on the Add button to add the new data query
  7. Once added the query will be shown with a status of Success [x Items, x Rows] (The amount of Items and Rows will differ depending on how many CPU’s exist in the server)
  8. Change the Add data query drop down box to SNMP – Get Interface Statistics
  9. Click on the Add button to add the new data query
  10. Once added the query will be shown with a status of Success [x Items, x Rows] (The amount of Items and Rows will differ depending on how many network interfaces exist in the server)
  11. Click on the Save button to associate the queries to the device.

Create graphs for the device

The next step in configuring an Openfiler server for monitoring through Cacti is to add the graphs required.  To add new graphs for the Openfiler server perform the following steps :-

  1. In the Devices list click on the device name and scroll down to the bottom of the page
  2. Click on the Create graphs for this host
  3. The create devices page for the device will be shown and list all of the items which have been discovered on the server by the Date query names associated in the previous section
  4. In the SNMP – Get Mounted Partitiions section of the screen all the partitions mounted on the server will be listed including the root partition, swap partition, and physical memory.
  5. Enable the tick box on the right hand side of the screen next to each partition you wish to graph
  6. In the SNMP – Get Processor Information section of the screen all of the CPU’s installed in the server will be listed
  7. Enable the tick box on the right hand side of the screen next to each CPU
  8. In the SNMP – Get Interface Statistics section of the screen all of the network interfaces installed in the server will be listed identified by the IP address associated.
  9. Enable the tick box on the right hand side of the screen next to each network interface you wish to graph
  10. Change the graph type drop down box to In/Out Bytes with Total Bandwidth
  11. Click on the Create button to create the graphs

Openfiler – Integrating in to an Active Directory infrastructure

Archived, Openfiler

Openfiler – Integrating in to an Active Directory infrastructure

Introduction

Openfiler can be integrated in to an Active Directory infrastructure and this article explains the steps to perform the integration in to an Active Directory infrastructure are provided.

The infrastructure used to perform this article is running on a Fedora Core 8 64-bit server running VMware Server 1.0.8 hosting a Windows 2003 Domain on an internal network.

The installation of the Fedora Core host server and Windows 2003 Domain are out side the scope of this article and it is assumed that you will have the necessary infrastructure available (Physical or Virtual) to perform the steps in this article.

Pre-requisites

In order to integrate Openfiler in to an Active Directory infrastructure the following pre-requisites must be met :-

  • An Openfiler server with Netwrk Access configured
  • A Windows Domain Controller
  • DNS configured for the Domain

Enabling the Services

The first thing to check is that the necessary Services are started and to do this through the web administration console perform the following steps :-

  1. Click on the Services option
  2. Click on Enable next to the SMB / CIFS service to enable access to Windows file share resources.
  3. Click on the SMB / CIFS Setup option in the Services section
  4. Configure the Server string to the name required for the server in Windows
  5. Set the NetBIOS name to the name required for the server
  6. Set the WINS server to the appropriate address if required

Joining Active Directory

The next step is to configure the Accounts section of the Openfiler so that it can utilise the Active Directory for its access control.  To configure account access perform the following steps :-

  1. Click on the Accounts option
  2. Scroll down if necessary and tick the Use Windows domain controller and authentication
  3. Set the security model to Active Directory
  4. Set the Domain / Workgroup to the NetBIOS Domain Name you wish to join
  5. Set the Domain Controllers to the FQDN of your Domain Controller
  6. Set the ADS Realm to the FQDN of your Domain
  7. Tick the Join to Domain option
  8. Set the Administrator User and Passwords to an account with privileges to add a machine to the Domain
  9. Click on Submit to join the Domain

It may take a while for the web administration page to refresh but once refreshed reboot the Openfiler by clicking on the Shutdown option in the top right of the screen and selecting the Shutdown and reboot option.

Confirming the server has joined successfully

Once the server has rebooted log back on to the web administration page and click on the Accounts tab.  Click on the Group List option in the Accounts section and confirm that your Active Directory Groups are listed.