New Install
GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 8.6.1
A New Install is used for a fresh GroundWork Monitor installation. If your installation is an update, please refer to Update Install page.
The installation process uses an installer file and does not require Internet access other than for the initial download. You will need to prepare your system, get the installer file, and run the installer. The installer will initially create a gw8
subdirectory of the directory where it runs, and will drop the configuration files into this subdirectory. It is important to complete all sections in this document starting with:
- 1. Pre Install preparation,
- proceeding to the 2. New Install section for your selected platform,
- and after installation implementing tasks in the 3. Post Install section.
1. Pre Install
Checklist
This section outlines important information you'll need prior to installing GroundWork Monitor. If you have any questions regarding these items, please submit a support ticket.
far fa-square Release Notes for this release.
far fa-square System Requirements for this release.
far fa-square System and Install Preparation: You will need to be familiar with the Linux command line, and have a physical or virtual Linux server with root access.
- Network Connection: Connected to network, to be accessible via HTTPS and SSH.
- Web UI Hostname: During installation you will be prompted for the host name to be used to access your GroundWork Monitor system web interface. It is recommended to make it the FQDN, so certificates will validate correctly.
- Partition Disk Space: It is recommended to have at least 6GB disk space in the current working directory for the download. It is recommended to have at least 200GB disk space assigned to the partition that contains the /var/lib/docker path, the location for the GroundWork Monitor 8 installation.
- System Timezone: Setup system time, e.g., NTP and UTC. Additionally, during installation you will be prompted for the timezone to be used for the crontab. This is the timezone of those with the most access to the system, and it can be different from the server timezone, but ideally is not.
- SELinux and Virus Software: Disable SELinux and disable any virus scan software.
Purge any snap-installed docker package by running the following command as root (or with sudo):
snap remove --purge docker
CODE
far fa-square Subnets: During installation you will be prompted for a subnet to use for the Docker daemon and subnet for GroundWork Docker containers. Make sure the subnets do not conflict with your own infrastructure.
far fa-square
Type of Installation: During installation you will be prompted for the type of installation to use for this GroundWork server. GroundWork Monitor can be installed as a standalone system or installed to run as part of a Parent Child distributed monitoring configuration of GroundWork servers. The choices will be as listed below, note Parent Child is available in 8.1.0 and later. For more information on distributed monitoring see Deploying Parent Child.
- Standalone: GroundWork 8 server in a single location.
- Parent: GroundWork 8 central server for GroundWork Child servers. You will need the Parent host name which needs to resolve to the Parent server you are installing and be reachable by any associated Child servers.
- Parent Managed Child: GroundWork 8 Child server managed from the GroundWork 8 Parent. You will need the Parent host name which must match the Parent instance name on the Parent server this Child will connect and the Child hostname which must match the Child's Monarch Group name, be reachable by the Parent, and resolve to the server you are installing.
- Child Managed Child: GroundWork 8 Child server managed independently. You will need the Parent host name which must match the Parent instance name on the Parent server the Child will connect to.
far fa-square Optional Services: During installation you will be prompted for optional services to install:
Any of these services can be installed at a later time. For installing TCG containers post-install, see the TCG documentation Appendix A: Installing Containerized TCG Post GroundWork 8 Install.
- You can choose to install the optional Curator and ELK services: These are used to provide a way to log GroundWork container log message data into Elasticsearch, and can be useful when developing your skills at Elastic and Kibana. They aren't really useful for production monitoring as the Elastic cluster is too small (just one container). You probably don't want these running if you are using a minimal set of resources, or if you are installing as a Child server:
- CURATOR: Enable Curator (depends on ELK)
- ELK: Install Elastic Stack
- You can choose to install any of the following TCG connectors:
- TCG APM: Install TCG APM Connector to use along with a Prometheus client to forward custom metrics from your applications to GroundWork for monitoring.
- TCG ELASTIC: Install TCG Elastic Connector if you are using Elastic.
- TCG SNMP: Install TCG SNMP Connector if you are using NeDi for Network Monitoring.
far fa-square Certificates: GroundWork includes self-signed certificates for HTTPS support out-of-the-box, however this is not intended for production. You can proceed with an installation and address certificates post-install. For certificates documentation see Adding certificates to HTTPS.
far fa-square LDAP: During the Install process you will create a gwos user for the installation as well as running the application. If you use LDAP, an LDAP based user is fine, as long as it can be added to sudo and to the docker group. For LDAP documentation see LDAP Mapping.
2. New Install
Platforms
Please read the Pre Install section above before proceeding.
Expand / Collapse the link below for your installation platform:
CentOS 7.5 / Red Hat 7.5
Log in as a user with sudo and get to a root shell.
Disable the firewall. These steps will disable the default firewall configuration and leave your GroundWork server in a potentially vulnerable state, so be sure to set up compatible secure rules after installing or upgrading GroundWork Monitor.
If you are using the iptables utility, enter:
iptables -F
CODEIf you are using the firewall tool firewalld, enter:
systemctl disable firewalld systemctl stop firewalld
CODE
Create the user gwos to be used to run the application.
Add the gwos user:
useradd gwos
CODEAdd the gwos password:
passwd gwos
CODE
Install Docker CE:
If Docker has been previously installed using Snap, or a similar package manager, it must be removed prior to following the steps below.
Install yum-utils as a preparation for Docker:
yum install -y yum-utils device-mapper-persistent-data lvm2
CODEAdd the Docker repos:
yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
CODEInstall the Community Edition of Docker:
yum install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
CODE
Install Docker Compose, which basically enables you to interact with Docker:
Download docker-compose using curl:
curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.26.215.1/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
CODESet the docker-compose binary to be executable:
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
CODECreate a symbolic link:
ln -s /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
CODE
Verify Docker is running:
Enable Docker auto-start:
systemctl enable docker
CODECheck the status of Docker:
systemctl status docker --no-pager
CODEIf Docker is not running, enter the following:
systemctl start docker
CODE
Add gwos user to the docker group, which was created by the installation of Docker:
usermod -a -G docker gwos
CODEAs gwos user verify access to Docker commands:
All commands, including installation commands, are performed as the gwos user, do not attempt installation as the root user.
Switch user to user gwos:
su - gwos
CODEVerify the docker command returns usage output:
docker
CODEVerify the docker-compose command returns usage output:
docker-compose
CODE
Adjust your log settings so the logs won't fill your disk space. See Log Settings.
Download and prepare the GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 8.6.1 installer:
Obtain the installer from the Downloads page and transfer it to your server in the gwos user home directory (/home/gwos).
Log in as the gwos user:
su - gwos
CODEChange the directory to gwos user home directory:
cd~
CODECheck the MD5 sum and compare it with the MD5 sum listed on the Downloads page:
md5sum gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEIf this does not match, re-download the installer, as you may have a corrupted download.
Change ownership of the installer to the gwos user:
chown gwos:gwos gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEMark the file as executable:
chmod +x gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODE
Run the GroundWork Installer:
Do not run the installer as the root. Run it as user gwos.
Verify the output of the whoami command returns the gwos user:
whoami
CODEAs gwos user, enter the following:
./gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEAs the install progresses, you will be asked about timezone, web UI host name, installation type, subnets, and services to install which are all mentioned in the Pre-Install section above.
After the install has completed, you can check the containers status:
Change to the gw8 directory and check the containers status:
cd gw8 docker-compose ps
CODE
To launch GroundWork Monitor, open a browser to the name of the host system you provided to the installer as the web UI host name. The default Administrator login is admin/admin. It may take a few minutes for the availability calculations to complete and display, as you may see warnings about this on the relevant dashboards.
Please read the Post Install section below.
CentOS 8 / Red Hat 8
Log in as a user with sudo and get to a root shell.
Disable the firewall. These steps will disable the default firewall configuration and leave your GroundWork server in a potentially vulnerable state, so be sure to set up compatible secure rules after installing or upgrading GroundWork Monitor.
If you are using the iptables utility, enter:
iptables -F
CODEIf you are using the firewall tool firewalld, enter:
systemctl disable firewalld systemctl stop firewalld
CODE
Create the user gwos to be used to run the application.
Add the gwos user:
useradd gwos
CODEAdd the gwos password:
passwd gwos
CODE
Install Docker CE:
GroundWork Monitor 8.6.1 supports installations for Red Hat 8 and CentOS 8, however the typical commands to install Docker CE will not work, as the Red Hat (and therefore CentOS) repositories are missing the latest Docker packages. GroundWork 8 requires Docker CE (or Enterprise) installed, along with Docker Compose in order for it to be installed. The following are instructions for installing Docker CE packages that are compatible with GroundWork 8.6.1 on Red Hat 8.x or CentoOS 8.x. This is not the only way to do this, but we have found that yum does not easily connect to the repos where the latest packages reside and some work-around procedures published online are not stable.If Docker has been previously installed using Snap, or a similar package manager, it must be removed prior to following the steps below.
Install all the available updates:
$ sudo dnf update -y $ reboot
CODEConfigure Docker Repository and Install Docker:
To avoid errors, please remove podman and buildah from Rocky Linux before installing Docker.
Run following command to remove them,
$ sudo dnf remove podman buildah -y
CODERun the following command to configure docker official package repository:
$ sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo=https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo sudo dnf update
CODERun the following command to install docker:
$ sudo dnf install -y docker-ce
CODERun the commands to start and enable the docker service:
$ sudo systemctl start docker $ sudo systemctl enable docker
CODERun the command to verify the docker status:
$ sudo systemctl status docker
CODE
Install Docker Compose, which basically enables you to interact with Docker:
Download docker-compose using curl:
curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.28.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
CODESet the docker-compose binary to be executable:
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
CODECreate a symbolic link:
ln -s /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
CODE
Verify Docker is running:
Enable Docker auto-start:
systemctl enable docker
CODECheck the status of Docker:
systemctl status docker --no-pager
CODEIf Docker is not running, enter the following:
systemctl start docker
CODE
Add gwos user to the docker group, which was created by the installation of Docker:
usermod -a -G docker gwos
CODEAs gwos user verify access to Docker commands:
All commands, including installation commands, are performed as the gwos user, do not attempt installation as the root user.
Switch user to user gwos:
su - gwos
CODEVerify the docker command returns usage output:
docker
CODEVerify the docker-compose command returns usage output:
docker-compose
CODE
Adjust your log settings so the logs won't fill your disk space. See Log Settings.
Download and prepare the GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 8.6.1 installer:
Obtain the installer from the Downloads page and transfer it to your server in the gwos user home directory (/home/gwos).
Log in as gwos user:
su - gwos
CODEChange the directory to gwos user home directory:
cd ~
CODECheck the MD5 sum and compare it with the MD5 sum listed on the Downloads page:
md5sum gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEIf this does not match, re-download the installer, as you may have a corrupted download.
Change ownership of the installer to the gwos user:
chown gwos:gwos gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEMark the file as executable:
chmod +x gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODE
Run the GroundWork Installer:
Do not run the installer as the root. Run it as user gwos.
Verify the output of the whoami command returns the gwos user:
whoami
CODEAs gwos user, enter the following:
./gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEAs the install progresses, you will be asked about timezone, web UI host name, installation type, subnets, and services to install which are all mentioned in the Pre-Install section above.
After the install has completed, you can check the containers status:
Change to the gw8 directory and check the containers status:
cd gw8 docker-compose ps
CODE
To launch GroundWork Monitor, open a browser to the name of the host system you provided to the installer as the web UI host name. The default Administrator login is admin/admin. It may take a few minutes for the availability calculations to complete and display, as you may see warnings about this on the relevant dashboards.
Please read the Post Install section below.
SLES 15
Please avoid using the {{--icc=false}} DOCKER_OPTS directive in /etc/sysconfig/docker, as we have found this setting can break GroundWork Monitor 8 upgrades.
For SLES 15 you will need access to SMT/RMT server (Local mirror or direct to SuSE SMT), with access to the repository "Container Module 15 x86_64". To enable the container module, follow instructions in PROCEDURE 2.1: Enabling the container module using YAST of the Docker Open Source Engine Installation documentation.
Log in as a user with sudo and get to a root shell.
Disable the firewall. These steps will disable the default firewall configuration and leave your GroundWork server in a potentially vulnerable state, so be sure to set up compatible secure rules after installing or upgrading GroundWork Monitor.
If you are using the iptables utility, enter:
iptables -F
CODEIf you are using the firewall tool firewalld, enter:
systemctl disable firewalld systemctl stop firewalld
CODE
Create the user gwos to be used to run the application:
useradd -m -d /home/gwos/ gwos
CODEInstall Docker CE packages:
If Docker has been previously installed using Snap, or a similar package manager, it must be removed prior to following the steps below.
zypper in docker containerd docker-bash-completion
CODE- Install Docker Compose:
Download docker-compose using curl:
curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.26.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
CODESet the docker-compose binary to be executable:
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
CODECreate a symbolic link:
ln -s /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
CODE
Verify Docker is running:
Enable Docker auto-start:
systemctl enable docker
CODECheck the status of Docker:
systemctl status docker --no-pager
CODEIf Docker is not running, enter the following:
systemctl start docker
CODE
Add gwos user to the docker group, which was created by the installation of Docker:
usermod -a -G docker gwos
CODEAs gwos user verify access to Docker commands:
All commands, including installation commands, are performed as the gwos user, do not attempt installation as the root user.
Switch user to user gwos:
su - gwos
CODEVerify the docker command returns usage output:
docker
CODEVerify the docker-compose command returns usage output:
docker-compose
CODE
- Adjust your log settings so the logs won't fill your disk space. See Log settings.
Download and prepare the GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 8.6.1 installer:
Obtain the installer from the Downloads page and transfer it to your server in the gwos user home directory (/home/gwos).
Login as the gwos user:
su - gwos
CODEChange the directory to gwos user's home directory:
cd ~
CODECheck the MD5 sum and compare it with the MD5 sum listed on the Downloads page:
md5sum gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEIf this does not match, re-download the installer, as you may have a corrupted download.
Change ownership of the installer to the gwos user:
chown gwos:gwos gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEMark the file as executable:
chmod +x gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODE
Run the GroundWork Installer:
Do not run the installer as the root. Run it as user gwos.
Verify the output of the whoami command returns the gwos user:
whoami
CODEAs gwos user, enter the following:
./gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEAs the install progresses, you will be asked about timezone, web UI host name, installation type, subnets, and services to install which are all mentioned in the Pre-Install section above.
./gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODE
After the install has completed, you can check the containers status:
Change to the gw8 directory and check the containers status:
cd gw8
CODEdocker-compose ps
CODE
- To launch GroundWork Monitor, open a browser to the name of the host system you provided to the installer as the web UI host name. The default Administrator login is admin/admin. It may take a few minutes for the availability calculations to complete and display, as you may see warnings about this on the relevant dashboards.
- Please read the Post Install section below.
Ubuntu 18.04 , 20.04, 22.04
Log in as a user with sudo and get to a root shell (sudo su -), or use a user with rights to execute commands using sudo.
Disable the firewall. These steps will disable the default firewall configuration and leave your GroundWork server in a potentially vulnerable state, so be sure to set up compatible secure rules after installing or upgrading GroundWork Monitor.
If you are using the ufw default firewall configuration tool for Ubuntu, enter:
sudo ufw disable
CODEIf you are using the iptables utility, enter:
sudo iptables -F
CODEIf you are using the firewall tool firewalld, enter:
sudo systemctl disable firewalld sudo systemctl stop firewalld
CODE
Create the user gwos to be used to run the application. The adduser utility will walk you through options, including setting a password and other optional fields:
sudo adduser gwos
CODEInstall Docker CE using Docker's RPM repository and installation instructions for Ubuntu:
If Docker has been previously installed using Snap, or a similar package manager, it must be removed prior to following the steps below.
Scroll down to the section Install using the repository.
Then, perform the steps in the section SET UP THE REPOSITORY.
Next, perform steps 1 and 3 in the INSTALL DOCKER ENGINE, then return to this page.
Testing Docker commands creates dummy hosts you should remove. These hosts will be monitored by default in GroundWork, and will show up as being down. You can verify the test is successful with the displayed “Hello from Docker!” message, then, simply enter the following to clean up the hosts it creates:
List all containers:
docker ps -a
Look for hello-world, e.g.,:
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
2b261cbe8d87 hello-world “/hello” 19 minutes ago Exited (0) 19 m
Enter the following command with that container ID, e.g.,:
docker rm 2b261cbe8d87
List all containers again:
docker ps -a
Install Docker Compose:
Download docker-compose using curl:
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.26.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
CODESet the docker-compose binary to be executable:
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
CODECreate a symbolic link:
sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
CODE
Verify Docker is running:
Enable Docker auto-start:
sudo systemctl enable docker
CODECheck the status of Docker:
sudo systemctl status docker --no-pager
CODEIf Docker is not running, enter the following:
sudo systemctl start docker
CODE
Add gwos user to the docker group, which was created by the installation of Docker:
sudo usermod -a -G docker gwos
CODEAs gwos user verify access to Docker commands:
All commands, including installation commands, are performed as the gwos user, do not attempt installation as the root user.
Switch user to user gwos:
su - gwos
CODEVerify the docker command returns usage output:
docker
CODEVerify the docker-compose command returns usage output:
docker-compose
CODE
Adjust your log settings so the logs won't fill your disk space. See Log settings.
Download and prepare the GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 8.6.1 installer:
Obtain the installer from the Downloads page and transfer it to your server in the gwos user home directory (/home/gwos).
Login as the gwos user:
su - gwos
CODEChange the directory to gwos user home directory:
cd ~
CODECheck the MD5 sum and compare it with the MD5 sum listed on the Downloads page:
md5sum gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEIf this does not match, re-download the installer, as you may have a corrupted download.
Change ownership of the installer to the gwos user:
chown gwos:gwos gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEMark the file as executable:
chmod +x gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODE
Run the GroundWork Installer:
Do not run the installer as the root. Run it as user gwos.
Verify the output of the whoami command returns the gwos user:
whoami
CODEAs gwos user, enter the following:
./gw8setup-8.6.1-GA.run
CODEAs the install progresses, you will be asked about timezone, web UI host name, installation type, subnets, and services to install which are all mentioned in the Pre-Install section above.
After the install has completed, you can check the containers status:
Change to the gw8 directory and check the containers status:
cd gw8
CODEdocker-compose ps
CODE
To launch GroundWork Monitor, open a browser to the name of the host system you provided to the installer as the web UI host name. The default Administrator login is admin/admin. It may take a few minutes for the availability calculations to complete and display, as you may see warnings about this on the relevant dashboards.
Please read the Post Install section below.
3. Post Install
Checklist
- Restart Script: You'll need to put auto restart in-place in case of power outage. See Restart Script.
- Firewall Settings: Don't forget! You will need to determine and instantiate the appropriate firewall rules or security settings for your host! GroundWork uses port TCP/443, and optionally TCP/5667 (for legacy GDMA) to the revproxy container, and it also requires container-to-container communications. You can adjust the firewalld settings to match your companies security policy as long as these conditions are met. A useful example of adjusting firewalld rulesets to secure a Docker CE host can be found here.
- Certificates: GroundWork includes self-signed certificates out of the box. To load your own certificates, please refer to Adding Certificates to HTTPS.
- SMTP Service: Setup SMTP for email alert notifications.
- Docker Commands: To access logs, control containers, and navigate in Docker, see Docker Commands.
- Users, Roles, Permissions: To configure GroundWork Monitor users, see Users Roles and Permissions, and if you use LDAP see LDAP Mapping.
- GroundWork Menu: To customize the GroundWork menu options and access, see Menu Editor.
Related Resources
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