Stack installation on CentOS 5

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 "<?php phpinfo();" > /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 <Directory "/var/www/html">:
    /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (excerpt)
    <Directory "/var/www/html">
    
        [...]
    
        AllowOverride All
    
        [...]
    
    </Directory>
    

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