MS Windows, Hyper-V Monitoring

Skip Prerequisites, Web and LPAR2RRD tabs in case of configuring Virtual Appliance, Docker or a Container

  • LPAR2RRD can be hosted on any Unix or Linux Operating system
  • Perl: arbitrary version coming with the OS with some additional modules, more below
  • Apache or any other Web server
Skip it in case of configuring Virtual Appliance
HW sizing

User creation

  • create lpar2rrd user under root:
    # useradd -c "LPAR2RRD user" -m lpar2rrd
    # chmod 755 /home/lpar2rrd
    
  • Increase limits for user lpar2rrd and the WEB server user (under root)
    • AIX
      # chdev -l sys0 -a maxuproc=2000
      # chuser  nofiles=32768 data=-1  stack=-1 rss=-1 lpar2rrd
      # chuser  data=-1  stack=-1 rss=-1 apache
      
    • Linux
      # vi /etc/security/limits.conf
      
      lpar2rrd        hard    stack           -1
      lpar2rrd        soft    stack           -1
      lpar2rrd        hard    data            -1
      lpar2rrd        soft    data            -1
      lpar2rrd        hard    nofile          32768 
      lpar2rrd        soft    nofile          32768 
      lpar2rrd        hard    nproc           5000
      lpar2rrd        soft    nproc           5000
      
      apache          hard    stack           -1
      apache          soft    stack           -1
      apache          hard    data            -1
      apache          soft    data            -1
      
If you have already running STOR2RRD on the same host then skip to Web tab.

Linux RedHat, CentOS

  • RHEL 8: enable the codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-*-rpms repository
    # ARCH=$( /bin/arch )
    # subscription-manager repos --enable "codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-${ARCH}-rpms"
    
  • CentOS 8: enable the PowerTools repository
    # yum config-manager --set-enabled PowerTools
    or
    # dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools
    
    You can also just open /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Linux-PowerTools.repo with a text editor and set enabled= to 1 instead of 0

  • RedHat, CentOS: all versions
    # umask 0022 
    # yum install perl rrdtool rrdtool-perl httpd mod_ssl
    # yum install epel-release
    # yum install perl-TimeDate perl-HTTP-Date perl-Env perl-CGI perl-Data-Dumper perl-LWP-Protocol-https perl-libwww-perl perl-Time-HiRes perl-IO-Tty
    # yum install perl-PDF-API2 perl-JSON-XS perl-XML-Simple perl-XML-NamespaceSupport perl-URI perl-XML-SAX-Base perl-XML-SAX perl-XML-LibXML
    # yum install ed bc libxml2 sharutil
    
    Follow this for installing perl-PDF-API2 on RHEL/CentOS 8
    Note that rrdtool-perl and epel-release (this is necessary only for PDF reporting) might not be in your RedHat base repository especially for RHEL 6.x and olders.
    Install CentOS package instead rrdtool-perl-1.4.8-9.el7.x86_64.rpm and epel-release-7-11.noarch.rpm

Linux Debian, Ubuntu

    # umask 0022 
    # apt-get install apache2 perl rrdtool ed bc
    # apt-get install librrdp-perl libxml-sax-perl libxml-simple-perl libtimedate-perl libenv-sanctify-perl libcgi-pm-perl libdata-dumper-simple-perl libpdf-api2-perl libxml2-utils
    # apt-get install liblwp-protocol-https-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libmozilla-ldap-perl libxml-parser-perl libjson-xs-perl
    

SuSE

    # zypper install rrdtool perl-rrdtool apache2
    # zypper install perl-TimeDate perl-XML-Simple perl-XML-SAX perl-XML-LibXML perl-CGI perl-LWP-Protocol-https perl-libwww-perl perl-IO-Tty
    # zypper install perl-PDF-API2 perl-JSON-XS
    # zypper install ed bc libxml2-2 sharutils
    

AIX

Solaris

    # /opt/csw/bin/pkgutil -y -i pm_xml_simple pm_libxml_perl pm_xml_sax rrdtool
    
Skip it in case of configuring Virtual Appliance
Optional configuration of authorization in Apache. You can proceed it after Apache access works without authorization prompt as per below cfg.

Apache download

  • Linux CentOS, RedHat
    # yum install httpd
    
  • Linux Debian, Ubuntu
    # apt-get install httpd
    

Apache configuration

Apache start / restart

    Command depends on Apache version, one of these should work:
    # apachectl restart
    # /opt/freeware/apache/sbin/apachectl restart
    # /etc/init.d/httpd restart
    # service apache2 restart
    
    If you have firewall enabled then enable LPAR2RRD communication by:
    # firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent
    # firewall-cmd --add-service=https --permanent
    # firewall-cmd --add-port=8162/tcp --permanent
    
    # firewall-cmd --reload
    

Test web pages

    Point your web browser to http://<your lpar2rrd host>/lpar2rrd/ as soon as you configure LPAR2RRD
    Do not forget to ensure that Apache starts after the OS reboot (there must be a starting script in /etc/rc.... )

Apache configuration per platform and version

  • Linux CentOS, RedHat


    Append at the end of /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf following
    # vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
    
    AddHandler cgi-script .sh
    # DocumentRoot  "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/"
    Alias /lpar2rrd  "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/"
    <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/">
        AllowOverride 
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    # CGI-BIN
    ScriptAlias /lpar2rrd-cgi/ "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi/"
    <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi">
        AllowOverride 
        SetHandler cgi-script
        Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    
  • Linux Debian, Ubuntu : Apache2 (2.4+)


    Enable CGI-BIN and optionally even SSL if it is required
    # a2enmod cgi
    # a2enmod ssl
    
    Append this at the end of /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
    # vi /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
    
    AddHandler cgi-script .sh
    Alias /lpar2rrd  "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/"
    <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks 
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    # CGI-BIN
    ScriptAlias /lpar2rrd-cgi/ "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi/"
    <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi">
        AllowOverride None
        Options +ExecCGI +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
        Require all granted
        SetHandler cgi-script
    </Directory>
    
  • SuSE

    Append at the end of /etc/apache2/httpd.conf following
    # vi /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
    
    AddHandler cgi-script .sh
    Alias /lpar2rrd  "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/"
    <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    # CGI-BIN
    ScriptAlias /lpar2rrd-cgi/ "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi/"
    <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi">
        AllowOverride None
        Options +ExecCGI +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
        Require all granted
        SetHandler cgi-script
    </Directory>
    
  • Apache 2.4+ generally


    Configure httpd.conf, it might be in different locations (depends of distribution)
    • /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
    • /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
    • /etc/opt/freeware/apache/httpd.conf (AIX)
    • /opt/freeware/etc/httpd/httpd.conf (AIX)
    • /opt/freeware/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (AIX)
    • /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

    1. Verify alias_module and cgi_module is loaded (uncommented it, the path can be different)
      LoadModule alias_module /opt/freeware/lib/httpd/modules/mod_alias.so
      LoadModule cgi_module /opt/freeware/lib/httpd/modules/mod_cgi.so
      
    2. cgi_module could depend on mpm_prefork_module like here.
      Allow it as well (uncomment it) and disable mpm_worker_module, mpm_event_module
      LoadModule mpm_prefork_module /opt/freeware/lib/httpd/modules/mod_mpm_prefork.so
      # LoadModule mpm_worker_module /opt/freeware/lib/httpd/modules/mod_mpm_worker.so
      # LoadModule mpm_event_module modules/mod_mpm_event.so
      <IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
           LoadModule cgi_module /opt/freeware/lib/httpd/modules/mod_cgi.so
      </IfModule>
      
    3. Append this at the end of httpd.conf
      AddHandler cgi-script .sh
      Alias /lpar2rrd  "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/"
      <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/">
          Options Indexes FollowSymLinks 
          Require all granted
      </Directory>
      # CGI-BIN
      ScriptAlias /lpar2rrd-cgi/ "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi/"
      <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi">
          AllowOverride None
          SetHandler cgi-script
          Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
          Require all granted
      </Directory>
      
      Sometimes appears necessary to remove "Require all granted" lines in both directives.

  • Apache 1.3 - 2.3


    Configure httpd.conf, it might be in different locations (depends of distribution)
    • /etc/httpd/httpd.conf
    • /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

    # vi /etc/opt/freeware/apache/httpd.conf
    
    Alias /lpar2rrd  "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/"
    <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/www/">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks 
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
    # CGI-BIN
    ScriptAlias /lpar2rrd-cgi/ "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi/"
    <Directory "/home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd-cgi">
        AllowOverride None
        Options ExecCGI FollowSymLinks
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>
    
  • SELinux changes


    You need to disable the SELinux service protection to be able to utilize basic web services.
    You must do it in case you get "(13)Permission denied:" in Apache error_log.
    You have 2 options:

    • Disable SELinux only for Apache
      Step 1. Query for the Boolean value you need to change:
      # getsebool -a | grep httpd_dis
        httpd_disable_trans --> off
      
      Step 2. Disable the SELinux protection:
      # setsebool -P httpd_disable_trans=1
      
      Step 3. Verify that the Boolean has changed:
      # getsebool -a | grep httpd_dis
        httpd_disable_trans --> on
      
    • Globally disable SELinux
      # setenforce Permissive
      # vi /etc/sysconfig/selinux
        SELINUX=disabled
      
    Follow SELinux configuration in case you want to enable SELinux with our tools


LPAR2RRD is able to monitor stand-alone MS Windows servers and MS Hyper-V performance metrics.
Implementation is done through single Windows OS agent running on any Windows host in the Windows domain.
This OS agent gets all required configuration from the AD and performance data of monitored hosts through WMI.
It passes such data to LPAR2RRD server where data is saved and presented.

LPAR2RRD Windows OS agent works everywhere where is available PowerShell 3 and higher
It does not directly depends on Windows version, if you are able to upgrade PowerShell to 3.0+ on older machines then it will work.

Hyper-V schema

Installation summary

  • Allow TCP connection initiated from Windows LPAR2RRD Hyper-V agent server to LPAR2RRD server on port 8162
  • PowerShell version 3 and higher only is supported on Windows hosts

User creation

  1. Create LPAR2RRD user in the AD with membership in these groups:
    • Event Log Readers
    • Hyper-V Administrators
    • Performance Log Users
    • Performance Monitor Users
    This must be done for all Hyper-V nodes and MS Windows servers that are supposed to be monitored (this can be set globally in AD).

  2. Set rights in GPO and AD using this manual

  3. Give local admin rights to the LPAR2RRD user on the Win server where LPAR2RRD Hyper-V agent will be running.
    Add him into Domain Users group.

  4. Assign read-only rights for monitored Hyper-V clusters to LPAR2RRD user
    Hyper-V cluster rights 1
    Hyper-V cluster rights 2

OS agent installation


    Unzip LPAR2RRD-Win-agent-1.3.3.zip
    Unblock these files by right clicking them and checking "Unblock"
    Setup.vbs, Configuration.vbs, LPAR2RRD-agent.ps1
    LPAR2RRD-agent-Configuration.ps1, LPAR2RRD-agent-Installer.ps1
    Hyper-V OS agent install

    Run Setup.vbs

    Select installation directory
    Hyper-V OS agent install

    Put hostname of the LPAR2RRD server
    Hyper-V OS agent install

    Test connection to the LPAR2RRD server
    Hyper-V OS agent install

    Put user which will run LPAR2RRD OS aget on this machine
    Hyper-V OS agent install

    Select monitored mode (agent v1.3.3+)
    Hyper-V OS agent install
    You can also use manuall OS agent installation
    In case of a cluster: add there cluster name and names of all nodes as well like: cluster1,node1,node2,cluster2,node...
  • Wait about 30 minutes, then Ctrl-F5 in your LPAR2RRD UI and you should see Hyper-V folder in the main menu

Monitored modes

    The agent can run in these modes:
    1. leave it in default mode and monitor just the server where it is installed
    2. monitor all visible servers from AD
    3. monitor only specific servers (recommended), added into cfg file
      for monitoring of cluster - add its name to servers/nodes too like: cluster1,node1,node2,cluster2,node...

    Mode configuration is selected during installation or run whenever Configuration.vbs in the agent install dir.
    Win OS agent release notes
Troubleshooting

Skip it in case of configuring Virtual Appliance

Install LPAR2RRD server

  • Definitelly use the latest available version (6.10+ at least)

  • Install it:
    # su - lpar2rrd
    $ tar xvf lpar2rrd-7.XX.tar
    $ cd lpar2rrd-7.XX
    $ ./install.sh
    $ cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
    
  • Schedule to run it from lpar2rrd crontab (it might already exist there)
    $ crontab -l | grep load.sh
    $
    
    Add if it does not exist as above
    $ crontab -e
    
    # LPAR2RRD UI
    0,30 * * * * /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/load.sh > /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/load.out 2>&1 
    
    Assure there is just one such entry in crontab.

  • You might need to add lpar2rrd user into /var/adm/cron/cron.allow (/etc/cron.allow on CentOS 8) if crontab command fails
    Allow it for lpar2rrd user as root user.
    # echo "lpar2rrd" >> /var/adm/cron/cron.allow
    
  • Assure you have a cron jobs for Hyper-V in place (upgrade script might do it automatically)
    Skip it on the Virtual Appliance, it is already there.
    $ crontab -l | grep "load_hyperv.sh"
    $
    
    Add it if it does not exist like above
    $ crontab -e
    
    # MS Hyper-V support
    0,20,40 * * * *  /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/load_hyperv.sh > /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/load_hyperv.out 2>&1 
    
    
  • Initial start from cmd line:
    $ cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
    $ ./load.sh
    
  • Go to the web UI: http://<your web server>/lpar2rrd/
    Use Ctrl-F5 to refresh the web browser cache.

Troubleshooting

  • If you have any problems with the UI then check:
    (note that the path to Apache logs might be different, search apache logs in /var)
    tail /var/log/httpd/error_log             # Apache error log
    tail /var/log/httpd/access_log            # Apache access log
    tail /var/tmp/lpar2rrd-realt-error.log    # STOR2RRD CGI-BIN log
    tail /var/tmp/systemd-private*/tmp/lpar2rrd-realt-error.log # STOR2RRD CGI-BIN log when Linux has enabled private temp
    
  • Test of CGI-BIN setup
    umask 022
    cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/
    cp bin/test-healthcheck-cgi.sh lpar2rrd-cgi/
    
    go to the web browser: http://<your web server>/lpar2rrd/test.html
    You should see your Apache, LPAR2RRD, and Operating System variables, if not, then check Apache logs for connected errors
Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct schema

S2D prerequisites

  1. WinServer 2019
  2. Performance history enabled (enabled by default) docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/performance-history
In case LPAR2RRD OS agent detects Storage Spaces Direct enabled in cluster it also collects additional data from Performance History once per hour in 5 minute samples.

Just install the latest Windows OS agent and upgrade to LPART2RRD 7.30+ to get S2D statistics.