Linux

This section provides the installation steps for NetObserv SNMP. Many users get started using ElastiFlow with the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch and Kibana). To install and configure the Elastic Stack step-by-step instructions are provided for both Ubuntu/Debian and RedHat/AlmaLinux.

NetObserv SNMP can be installed natively on Linux. Packages are currently provided for and supported on the Linux distributions and versions listed in the following table.

Distribution	Versions
Ubuntu	22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS
Debian	12
RHEL/RockyLinux/AlmaLinux	8.x, 9.x

Ubuntu/Debian Installation (deb)

The Debian package for the NetObserv SNMP can be downloaded from here. It can be used for installation on most Debian-based systems such as Debian and Ubuntu.

Download the .deb Package

The package can be easily downloaded using either the wget or curl command:

wget https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb

curl https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb --output snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb

Verify the Package

Checksum Verification

To ensure the downloaded file was fully downloaded and wasn't corrupted or tampered with, you can verify the provided checksum matches.

# get checksum of the downloaded file:
sha256sum snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb

# verify the checksum provided from the previous command matches the checksum here:
https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb.sha256

GPG Verification

ElastiFlow signs the Debian package with a GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key. To verify the Debian package, download and import the ElastiFlow GPG public key:

curl -o- https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/elastiflow.pgp | gpg --import -

Next, download the signature file:

curl -SLO https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb.sig

Finally, verify the file with the signature:

gpg --verify snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb.sig snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb

The collector requires libpcap-dev. Check if the libpcap-dev package is installed:

sudo dpkg-query -l | grep libpcap-dev

If installed, the output will look similar to the follow:

ii  libpcap-dev:amd64      1.9.1-3      amd64      development library for libpcap (transitional package)

If it is not present, install it:

sudo apt install libpcap-dev

Install the .deb Package

There are two methods to install the NetObserv SNMP package, apt or dpkg.

Install with apt

sudo apt install ./snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb

Install with dpkg

curl https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb --output snmp-collector_7.24.0_linux_amd64.deb

RedHat/AlmaLinux Installation (rpm)

The RPM package for the NetObserv SNMP can be downloaded from here. It can be used for installation on most RedHat-based systems such as RHEL and CentOS.

Download the .rpm Package

The package can be easily downloaded using wget or curl:

wget https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector-7.24.0-1..x86_64.rpm

curl https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm --output snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm

Verify the Package

Checksum Verification

To ensure the downloaded file was fully downloaded and wasn't corrupted or tampered with, you can verify the provided checksum matches.

# get checksum of the downloaded file:
sha256sum snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm

# verify the checksum provided from the previous command matches the checksum here:
https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm.sha256

GPG Verification

ElastiFlow signs the RPM package with a GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key. To verify the RPM package, download and import the ElastiFlow GPG public key:

# import public key into gpg keychain
curl -o- https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/elastiflow.pgp | gpg --import -

# trust the public key
echo "6A2E26EFDE24AA7A634A442ED5C0572E5D212F6B:6:" | gpg --import-ownertrust

# import public key into rpm trust store
rpm --import https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/elastiflow.pgp

Next, download the signature file:

curl -SLO https://elastiflow-releases.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/snmp-collector/snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm.sig

Finally, verify the file with the signature:

gpg --verify snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm.sig snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm

Ensure that libpcap and libpcap-devel are Installed

The collector requires libpcap and libpcap-devel. Check if the packages are installed:

rpm -q libpcap libpcap-devel

If installed, the output will look similar to the following:

libpcap-1.9.1-5.el8.x86_64
libpcap-devel-1.9.1-5.el8.x86_64

If the packages are not present, install them:

RHEL 8.x based Distributions

sudo dnf --enablerepo=powertools install libpcap libpcap-devel -y

RHEL 9.x based Distributions

sudo dnf --enablerepo=crb install libpcap libpcap-devel -y

Install/Upgrade the .rpm Package

If installing the NetObserv SNMP package for the first time, i.e. NOT upgrading, run the following:

sudo yum install -y snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm

If upgrading from a previously installed NetObserv SNMP package, run the following:

sudo rpm -Uhv snmp-collector-7.24.0-1.x86_64.rpm

Configuration

The NetObserv SNMP will be installed to run as a daemon managed by systemd. Configuration of the collector is provided via environment variables and, depending on the enabled options, via various configuration files which by default are located within /etc/elastiflow.

To configure the variables, edit the file /etc/elastiflow/snmpcoll.yml. For details on all the configuration options, please refer to the Configuration Reference.

At a minimum the NetObserv SNMP must point to a valid data store. The most common installation uses Elasticsearch and Kibana as the data store. To install and configure the Elastic Stack step-by-step instructions are provided for both Ubuntu/Debian and RedHat/AlmaLinux.

NetObserv SNMP will set CAP_NET_RAW capability for itself. It must have permission to create/send ping requests to detect 'degraded' device status. In some Linux distributions, that permission is not automatic, so the systemd service file adds it explicitly. CAP_NET_RAW grants the process the capability to use RAW and PACKET sockets and to bind to any address for transparent proxying.

Checking the SNMP Definition Files

If you are upgrading NetObserv, and the changelog mentions that 'SNMP definition' files have been updated, then consult this page for how to make sure you receive those changes.

Running the Collector

To start the collector, execute the follow commands:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl start snmpcoll.service

To ensure the collector has started and is running, execute:

sudo systemctl status snmpcoll.service

The collector can be stopped using:

sudo systemctl stop snmpcoll.service

If you want the collector to be started automatically when the system is booted, it must be enabled:

sudo systemctl enable snmpcoll.service