UNIX-GUIDE(1) mrtg UNIX-GUIDE(1)
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unix-guide - Instructions for running MRTG 2.9.17 on a
Unix Box
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MRTG comes to you in Source Code. This means that you have
to compile parts of it before you can use it on a Unix
machine. These instructions help you to do so.
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In order to compile and use mrtg you need a C compiler and
a copy of perl installed on your machine. In most cases
this will already be available. In case it is not, here
are some starting points. Below I'll give you a detailed
run through the whole compilation process.
GCC The GNU C compiler comes pre installed on most of the
free Unicies out there. For commercial Derivats you
may have to download and compile it first. If you have
no compiler at all there is a chicken and egg problem,
but there are also precompiled versions of gcc avail-
able for most of the operating systems.
http://gcc.gnu.org/
Perl
Larg parts of the MRTG system are written in the Perl
scripting language. Make sure there is a recent copy
of perl on your machine (try perl -v). At least ver-
sion 5.005 is required for mrtg to work well. You can
get the latest perl from
http://www.perl.com/
MRTG generates traffic graphs in the PNG format. To be
able todo this it needs several 3rd party libraries. When
compiling these libraries I urge you to make sure you com-
pile them as ssssttttaaaattttiiiicccc libraries. There is just much less
trouble ahead if you are doing it like this. See the
Instructions in the next section for inspiration. Note
that many free unices have all the required libraries
already in place. So there is no need to install another
copy. To check it is best to skip all the library instruc-
tions below and go straight into the mrtg compile.
If the first attempt fails, and you do not get a working
version of mrtg, try compiling new copies of all libraries
as explained below ... Do this BBBBEEEEFFFFOOOORRRREEEE you send email to me
about problems compiling mrtg.
gd This is a basic graph drawing library created by
Thomas Boutell. Note that all releases after Version
1.3 only create PNG images. This is because a) Thomas
got into trouble because the GIF format which it used
to produce uses a compression technology patented by
Unisys. b) PNG is more efficient and patent free. MRTG
can work with old and new version of the GD library.
You can get a recent copy of GD from:
http://www.boutell.com/gd/
libpng
Is required by gd in order to produce PNG graphics
files. Get it from:
http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/src/
zlib
Finally is needed by libpng to compress the graphics
files you create. Get a copy from
ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror/infozip/zlib/
And last but not least you also need mrtg itself. In case
you have not yet downloaded it, you can find a copy on my
website:
http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~oetiker/webtools/mrtg/pub/
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In this section I will give you step by step instructions
on how to compile the various libraries required for the
compilation of mrtg. Note that these libaries may already
be installed if you have a _*_B_S_D or _L_i_n_u_x system so that
you can skip recompiling them. The wwwwggggeeeetttt programm used
below is a simple web downloader you can also enter the
address into your nnnneeeettttssssccccaaaappppeeee if you don't have wwwwggggeeeetttt avail-
able.
First lets create a directory for the compilation. Note
that this may already exist on your system. No Problem
just use it.
mkdir -p /usr/local/src
cd /usr/local/src
If you do not have zlib installed:
wget ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror/infozip/zlib/zlib.tar.gz
gunzip -c zlib.tar.gz | tar xf -
mv zlib-?.?.?/ zlib
cd zlib
./configure
make
cd ..
If you don't have libpng installed
wget http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/src/libpng-1.0.11.tar.gz
gunzip -c libpng-*.tar.gz |tar xf -
rm libpng-*.tar.gz
mv libpng-* libpng
cd libpng
make -f scripts/makefile.std CC=gcc ZLIBLIB=../zlib ZLIBINC=../zlib
rm *.so.* *.so
cd ..
And now you can compile gd
wget http://www.boutell.com/gd/http/gd-1.8.3.tar.gz
gunzip -c gd-1.8.3.tar.gz |tar xf -
mv gd-1.8.3 gd
cd gd
The \ characters at the end of the following lines mean
that all the following material should actually be written
on a single line.
make INCLUDEDIRS="-I. -I../zlib -I../libpng" \
LIBDIRS="-L../zlib -L. -L../libpng" \
LIBS="-lgd -lpng -lz -lm"
cd ..
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Ok now everything is ready for the mrtg compilation.
cd /usr/local/src
gunzip -c mrtg-2.9.17.tar.gz | tar xvf -
cd mrtg-2.9.17
If you all the libraries have been preinstalled on your
system you can configure mrtg by doing a simple:
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mrtg-2
Otherwise you may have to give some hints on where to find
the various libraries required to compile mrtg:
./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mrtg-2 \
--with-gd=/usr/local/src/gd \
--with-z=/usr/local/src/zlib \
--with-png=/usr/local/src/libpng
If you have RRDtool available you might want to tell mrtg
about it so that you can opt to use rrdtool with mrtg.
Check the mrtg-rrd manpage.
Configure will make sure your environment is fit for
building mrtg. If it finds a problem, it will tell you so
and it will also tell you what todo about it. If every-
thing is OK, you will end up with a custom Makefile for
your system. Now type:
make
This builds the rateup binary and edits all the perl path-
names in the scripts. You can now install mrtg by typing
make install
All the software required by MRTG is now installed under
in the _/_u_s_r_/_l_o_c_a_l_/_m_r_t_g_-_2 subdirectory.
You can now safely delete the libraries we compiled above.
But then again you might want to keep them around so that
you have them available when compiling the next version of
mrtg.
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The next step is now to configure mrtg for monitoring an
network device. This is done by creating an _m_r_t_g_._c_f_g file
which defines what you want to monitor. Luckily you don't
have to dive straight in and start writing your own con-
figuration file all by yourself. Together with mrtg you
also got a copy of ccccffffggggmmmmaaaakkkkeeeerrrr. This is a script you can
point at a router of your choice; and it will create a
mrtg configuration file for you. You can find the script
in the _b_i_n subdirectory.
cfgmaker --global 'WorkDir: /home/httpd/mrtg' \
--global 'Options[_]: bits,growright' \
--output /home/mrtg/cfg/mrtg.cfg \
community@router.abc.xyz
This example above will create an mrtg config file in
_/_h_o_m_e_/_m_r_t_g_/_c_f_g assuming this is a directory visible on
your webserver. You can read all about cfgmaker in the
cfgmaker manpage. One area you might want to look at is
the possibility of using --------iiiiffffrrrreeeeffff====iiiipppp to prevent interface
renumbering troubles from catching you.
If you want to start rolling your own mrtg configuration
files, make sure you read the reference manpage to learn
all about the possible configuration options.
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Once you have created a configuration file, try the fol-
lowing:
/usr/local/mrtg-2/bin/mrtg /home/mrtg/cfg/mrtg.cfg
This will query your router and also create your first
mrtg trafic graphs and webpages. When you run mrtg for the
first time there will be a lot of complaints about missing
log files. Don't worry, this is normal for the first 2
times you start mrtg. If it keeps complaining after this
time you might want to look into the problem.
Starting mrtg by hand is not ideal in the long run. So
when you are sattisfied with the results you must automate
the process of running mrtg in regular intervals (this
means every 5 minutes by default).
You can either add mrtg to your crontab with a line like
this:
0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * \
<mrtg-bin>/mrtg <path to mrtg-cfg>/mrtg.cfg \
--logging /var/log/mrtg.log
or if you live in Linux Land the line may look like this
if you are using "crontab -e"
*/5 * * * * <mrtg-bin>/mrtg <path to mrtg-cfg>/mrtg.cfg \
--logging /var/log/mrtg.log
or like this if you use _/_e_t_c_/_c_r_o_n_t_a_b
*/5 * * * * mrtg-user <mrtg-bin>/mrtg <path to mrtg-cfg>/mrtg.cfg \
--logging /var/log/mrtg.log
You can also run mrtg as a daemon process by adding the
line
RunAsDaemon: Yes
to your mrtg configuration file and then creating a
startup script in your system startup sequence. Unfortu-
nately, adding startup scripts differs widely amongst dif-
ferent unix systems. The modern ones normally have a
directory called _/_e_t_c_/_i_n_i_t_._d or _/_e_t_c_/_r_c_._d_/_i_n_i_t_._d where you
put scripts which starts the process you want to run when
the system boots. Further you must create a symbolic link
in _/_e_t_c_/_r_c_3_._d or _/_e_t_c_/_r_c_._d_/_r_c_?_._d called _S_6_5_m_r_t_g (this is
just a sample name ... it is just important that it starts
with S followed by a two digit number). If you are not
sure about this, make sure you consult the documentation
of your system to make sure you get this right.
A mmmmiiiinnnniiiimmmmaaaallll script to put into _i_n_i_t_._d might look like this:
#! /bin/sh
cd /usr/local/mrtg-2.9.17/bin && ./mrtg --user=mrtg-user \
/home/httpd/mrtg/mrtg.cfg --logging /var/log/mrtg.log
Note that this will only work with RRRRuuuunnnnAAAAssssDDDDaaaaeeeemmmmoooonnnn:::: YYYYeeeessss in
your mrtg.cfg file.
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Tobias Oetiker <oetiker@ee.ethz.ch>
2001-06-05 2.9.17 UNIX-GUIDE(1)
