Category: AlmaLinux

Samba is a widely used open-source software suite that allows interoperability between Linux and Windows systems, enabling file and print sharing across networks. AlmaLinux 8 is a popular Linux distribution that is a drop-in alternative to CentOS 8. This guide will teach you about install and uninstall Samba on AlmaLinux 8, ensuring seamless integration between your AlmaLinux system and Windows-based networks.

Requirements

To install Samba on AlmaLinux 8, you need to meet the following requirements:

– Access to an AlmaLinux 8 machine with root privileges.

– Internet connectivity to download the necessary packages.

– RAM: It is recommended to have at least 2 GB or more.

If you need to buy a Linux VPS server to run Samba, we suggest you to use the various, high-quality and location-variety plans offered on our website.

How to Install Samba on AlmaLinux 8

In the first step, you should install Samba on AlmaLinux 8 by executing the following command:

sudo dnf install samba samba-client

SMB is a daemon that handles the actual transfer and sharing operations and nmb performs the NetBIOS name resolutions and allows resources to appear in Windows while browsing the network.

After installing the packages, you need to start and enable the SMB and the NMB daemons at the boot:

sudo systemctl enable --now {smb,nmb}

AlmaLinux has a firewalld that is enabled by default. The firewall blocks other connections of computers trying to access the Samba service. In this step, you need to allow the proper ports through the firewalld with the help of the following command:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=samba
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

You can add the –zone option to the above command if configuration is needed.

How to Create a Samba User on AlmaLinux 8

You can setup a Samba Share without the need for an account, But it’s better for people who connect to Samba Share to create user accounts. Each Samba user needs a normal user account on the AlmaLinux account.

You can create a new Samba account by running the following command:

sudo adduser -M sambauser -s /sbin/nologin

The -M option is the short form for –no-create-home, and the -s option allows you to specify a shell: /sbin/nologin. There is no need to set a password for a user account, just a password for the Samba service.

You can create a Samba password for the newly created user by entering the following command:

sudo smbpasswd -a sambauser

How to Configure Samba to Share a Directory on AlmaLinux 8

Now it’s time to configure the directory you want to share via Samba:

In this tutorial, a shared directory is made at /mnt/shared:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/shared
sudo chmod 777 /mnt/shared

Then you need to open your configuration file with your favorite text editor to edit it:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Next, you should go all the way to the bottom of the file and paste the following lines:

[neuronvm]
        path = /mnt/shared
        guest ok = no
                read only = no

Save the changes to the file and exit it. You should restart the Samba service by entering the following command for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart {smb,nmb}

Now it’s time to allow Samba through SELinux. SELinux is also enabled by default in AlmaLinux. You should assign the appropriate context to your shared directory and files. This allows Samba to function while keeping SELinux in the recommended enforcing mode:

sudo chcon -R -t samba_share_t /mnt/shared

Connecting to Samba Server from AlmaLinux

Other systems should be able to connect to this directory to upload or download files from the Samba server.

First, you need to create an empty directory by entering the following command to use it as a mount point for the remote Samba share:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/fileserver

In this step, you need to install the remote Samba share to the folder you just created by executing the following command:

sudo mount -t cifs -o username-sambauser //192.168.1.10/neuronvm/mnt/fileserver

Enter the password to mount Samba Share.

Now you should access your Samba share from Gnome’s file manager:

smb://127.0.0.1/neuronvm/

Remember to replace the IP address.

The Samba share will be installed on the left side of the Gnome file manager.

How to Uninstall Samba on AlmaLinux 8

You can remove Samba from your AlmaLinux server by executing the following command:

sudo apt-get remove --purge samba

If you have client problems, enter the following command to remove the SMB client:

sudo apt-get remove --purge smbclient libsmbclient

Conclusion

Install and uninstall Samba on AlmaLinux 8 is a straightforward process that allows you to enhance cross-platform compatibility between Linux and Windows systems. By following the steps outlined in this comprehensive guide, you can easily set up Samba to share files and printers, and later remove it if desired. Enjoy seamless integration and efficient network collaboration between your AlmaLinux system and Windows-based networks.

FAQ

Ansible is known as a free, open-source automation tool that allows system administrators to configure and control hundreds of nodes from a central server without having to install any agents on the nodes. This tool is a better management solution than Poppet and Chef due to its easy installation and use. You will learn How to Configure and Use Ansible on AlmaLinux 8.5 by studying this article.

Requirements

To configure and use Ansible on AlmaLinux 8.5, you need to ensure that your system meets the following requirements:

– Processor: You will need at least a 1 GHz processor or higher.

– RAM: It is recommended to have at least 4 GB of RAM for better performance.

– Storage: A minimum of 20 GB of storage should be sufficient.

– Network Connectivity: A stable network connection is essential for Ansible to communicate with the target hosts.

Notice that to use this helpful tool on distributions like AlmaLinux you can purchase Cheap Linux VPS servers from NeuronVM.

How to Install Ansible on AlmaLinux 8.5

First, you need to make sure the system is up to date using the following commands:

sudo dnf update
sudo dnf upgrade

Then you need to install EPEL using the following command:

sudo dnf install epel-release

Then, use the following commands to install Python 3 and run other dependencies:

sudo dnf module install python3.8
sudo alternatives --config python

In this step, install Ansible from the official AlmaLinux repository:

sudo dnf install ansible

To install Ansible, you need to run the following commands:

sudo pip3 install setuptools-rust wheel
sudo pip3 install --upgrade pip
sudo python3 -m pip install ansible

When done, it is time to confirm the installation using the following command:

ansible –version

How to Configure Ansible on AlmaLinux 8.5

In the first step of this step, to configure Ansible, it is necessary to install OpenSSH-server using the following commands:

sudo dnf install openssh-server
sudo systemctl enable ssh

Enter the following command to allow port 22 in the firewall:

sudo ufw allow 22

You can use the following commands for RHEL or CentOS Linux VPS:

sudo dnf install openssh-server

sudo systemctl enable sshd

You should allow port 22 in the firewall:

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port=22/tcp

To perform these steps, you must have three servers: Ubuntu, Debian, and CentOS:

Ubuntu – server_IP
CentOS – server_IP
Debian – server_IP

How to Use Ansible on AlmaLinux 8.5

In the continuation of this article, we intend to teach you step-by-step How to Use Ansible on AlmaLinux 8.5.

How to Generate SSH Keys on Ansible Installed AlmaLinux

To install the package or deploy it on the target remote server, create a pair of SSH keys on the localhost and then press them on each remote server so that you can manage them using SSH.

Type the command and press the Enter key several times until the keys are generated:

ssh-keygen

How to Copy SSH keys to Remote or Target Servers

Press the key created in almaLinux to the remote servers that you want to configure or manage. You need to know the username of the remote server or use the default root user.

Tip: Replace Linda with sudo users on remote servers or use the default root and replace the IP address with the server address.

ssh-copy-id linda@Ubuntu – server_IP
ssh-copy-id linda@CentOS – server_IP
ssh-copy-id linda@Debian – server_IP

Run the following command on each server so that you can run sudo commands on them using Ansible without entering a password:

echo "$(whoami) ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/$(whoami)

How to Inventory Files for Remote Hosts

In Ansible, create a file that defines the entire remote host or target system that you want to manage. Also create a group of hosts, for example, a group is a web server that only includes a remote system that runs some web servers such as Apache, and another group can be a Mysql group running a Database server and so on. The Inventory file is also important because it uses the commands, modules, and tasks in a playbook.

Now as you have three remote servers in this tutorial, add them to the Ansible host file:

sudo dnf install nano -y

sudo nano /etc/ansible/hosts

If you do not want to create a group, put your remote server IP address or domain name in the file, and specify a group before adding IP addresses.

Edit the default values of the Ansible inventory file that already contains samples, or add your own samples at the bottom of the file. In this section, add two servers to a host group identified by the web servers, and one server is defined as an individual.

They are in a group called a web server. The advantage of creating a group is that you can issue a command to a complete set of servers defined in that particular group of hosts.

Inventory with custom SSH port

If you are using a server that does not have a default SSH port 22, for example, a server running on a Docker, you can also define it by its IP address:

your_IP_address ansible_user=remote-server-username ansible_port=49153

Tip: In the above command, replace the IP address, remote-server username, and port number and add it to the inventory file:

To save the file, just press Ctrl + X, Type “-y” and press Enter.

How to Ping all added Remote Servers on AlmaLinux

Once you have successfully created the inventory file, check if Ansible can ping all the added servers for it. To ping group server:

ansible -m ping group-name

example:

ansible -m ping web-servers

To ping a single server:

ansible -m ping ip-address

example:

ansible -m ping your_IP_address

Finally, you can type the following command to ping all:

ansible -m ping all

Ansible Commands to Install Packages from Remote Servers

Suppose you want to install the Apache web server on a group of servers that you have defined in the Inventory file. Use a web server, as we have already mentioned here, you can use any name you give to your server group.

Command Syntax 

You can use the following command as a syntax command:

ansible -b --become-method = sudo -m shell -a 'command to execute' web servers

For example, running an update and installing the Apache server on Debian and Ubuntu remote systems simultaneously:

ansible -b --become-method=sudo -m shell -a 'apt update' webservers

Installing Apache

You can use the following command to install Apache:

ansible -b --become-method=sudo -m shell -a 'apt install -y apache2' webservers

To execute the same command above for all defined remote PCs:

ansible -b --become-method=sudo -m shell -a 'apt install -y apache2 ' all

For non-grouped hosts, you can use their IP address, for example, the following command:

ansible -b --become-method=sudo -m shell -a 'apt install -y apache2' your_IP_address

Also use other commands that do not require sudo, such as working time check:

ansible -m command -a "uptime" group-name/ip-adress

The command can be used for other purposes, just replace the uptime with the command you want to run on the remote server and rename the group/IP address.

Troubleshooting

1) Ansible command not found:

If you are unable to run Ansible commands on AlmaLinux, it could be due to the package not being installed. You can troubleshoot this by running the following command to ensure Ansible is installed on your system.

sudo dnf install ansible

2) SSH connection failure:

Ansible relies on SSH for remote execution, so if you are unable to establish an SSH connection to the target host, it will prevent Ansible from working. Troubleshoot this issue by checking if SSH is installed and correctly configured on both the Ansible control node and the target host.

3) Inventory file not found:

Ansible uses an inventory file to define the hosts and groups it manages. If Ansible is unable to locate the inventory file, it will fail to execute playbooks. Verify the path to the inventory file specified in the Ansible configuration file (typically “ansible.cfg“) and ensure that it exists.

4) Permission denied for SSH key:

When using SSH key-based authentication, ensure that the SSH key is correctly configured and has the necessary permissions. The private key file should have permissions set to 600 (i.e., only readable by the owner) to prevent permission-denied errors.

5) Playbook syntax errors:

If you encounter issues with running Ansible playbooks, syntax errors within the playbook YAML files could be the cause. Use the “ansible-playbook” command with the “–syntax-check” flag to validate the syntax of the playbook files and troubleshoot any errors or warnings reported by the command. Also, ensure that indentation is correct, as YAML is sensitive to correct indentation.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you have learned how to configure and use Ansible on AlmaLinux 8.5. We covered the installation process, configuring Ansible using an inventory file, testing the connection to remote hosts, writing Ansible playbooks, and running them to automate tasks on your server infrastructure. With Ansible, you can easily manage and deploy applications, configurations, and systems across your network, saving time and effort in the process. Experiment with Ansible, explore its vast capabilities and unlock the power of automation in your IT operations.

Varnish Cache technology increases performance by keeping duplicate web pages in memory. In effect, when a user searches for a web page, it receives a cached copy, bypassing the time-consuming process of waiting for the original web server to recreate the page. This function provides better control over the performance of your website and allows for more fine-tuning for the main results. Because Varnish Cache is open source and user-friendly, it is used by millions of websites worldwide to increase performance. In this post, we will tell you how you can Experience Lightning-Fast Website Loading with Varnish Cache on AlmaLinux.

What is Varnish Cache?

Varnish Cache is an open-source web application accelerator that helps optimize web pages for faster loading. It does this by storing copies of web pages in memory. When a user requests a web page, it retrieves the cached version instead of waiting for the original web server to generate the page from scratch.

This reduces server load and page load times, making websites more responsive and improving user experience. Varnish also allows you to control how pages are stored in your cache using HTTP cache control headers. Using these, you can specify when the cached version of a page should expire before Varnish sends it back to the origin server to be regenerated.

This gives you more control over the performance of your website and allows you to fine-tune it even more for optimal results. Because it’s open-source and relatively easy to use, millions of websites around the web now use Varnish Cache to improve performance.

Benefits of using Varnish Cache on AlmaLinux

Varnish Cache on AlmaLinux offers several significant benefits that enhance the performance and user experience of a website:

1- Faster Content Delivery: Varnish Cache stores a copy of the most commonly accessed pages on your website in memory. This reduces the need for frequent requests to your server, resulting in significantly faster delivery of content to end users.

2- Reducing Server Load: Because Varnish Cache serves content from its own cache instead of relying on the server to regenerate content for each request, it significantly reduces server load and increases the overall performance of your website.

3- Scalability: Cache Varnish can help your website handle increased traffic more easily by serving cached content to a large number of concurrent users. This feature makes it a great tool for scalability.

4- Ability to Customize: Varnish Cache uses a flexible programming language called VCL. This allows you to create specific storage rules and policies tailored to your website’s needs.

5- Increasing Accessibility: In cases where the backend server is down or unreachable, Varnish Cache can serve the old version of the content from its cache. As a result, the availability and uptime of your site will increase.

6- Edge Side Includes (ESI) support: Cache Varnish supports ESI. A technology that allows you to cache different parts of a web page separately. This feature is especially useful for websites with dynamic content.

7- GeoIP support: With Varnish, you can serve localized content using GeoIP extensions to identify users’ geographic locations.

These benefits make Varnish Cache an invaluable tool on AlmaLinux for anyone looking to increase the performance, scalability, and reliability of their web server.

Installing Varnish Cache on AlmaLinux

Before we start teaching how to install Varnish Cache on AlmaLinux, it is necessary to have a Linux VPS server with the AlmaLinux operating system.

In the first step, you must log in to the server using the following command through SSH as the root user:

ssh root@IP_ADDRESS -p PORT_NUMBER

Update the packages on the server with the help of the following command:

dnf update -y

Disable the default Varnish repo by running the following command:

dnf module disable varnish

Now you need to install the EPEL repository:

dnf install epel-release -y

Then you can install the Varnish repo using the following command:

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/varnishcache/varnish70/script.rpm.sh | bash -

Finally, you can install Varnish on Almalinux using the following command:

dnf install varnish -y

After the successful installation of Varnish, you should now verify the version of Varnish by running the following command:

rpm -qi varnish

You can start and enable Varnish using the following commands and view the installation status:

sudo systemctl start varnish
sudo systemctl enable varnish
sudo systemctl status varnish

Configuring Varnish Cache for your website

In this section, we will teach how to configure the varnish cache on AlmaLinux. In order for Varnish to listen on port 80, you need to open the configuration file using a text editor:

nano /usr/lib/systemd/system/varnish.service

Now you can change the default port 6081 to port 80 using the following command:

ExecStart=/usr/sbin/varnishd -a :80 -a localhost:8443,PROXY -p feature=+http2 -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl -s malloc,2g

After saving the configuration file and exiting it, you can now reload the systemd daemon by running the following command:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Finally, to apply the changes, restart Varnish with the help of the following command:

sudo systemctl restart varnish

To configure Nginx to work with Varnish, you need to first install the Nginx package:

sudo dnf install nginx

Then you need to run the Nginx configuration file using a text editor:

nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Change the listening port to 8080 as follows:

.....
server {
        listen       8080 default_server;
        listen       [::]:8080 default_server;
        server_name  _;
        root         /usr/share/nginx/html;
.....

After saving the configuration file, restart Nginx to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

In the final step, it is necessary to open access to the HTTP service in the firewall:

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http

Also, reload the firewall settings to apply the new changes:

sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Testing website performance with Varnish Cache

In this section, we are going to check the performance of cache varnish using wrk. Note that wrk is a modern tool written in C language and used to measure HTTP. This tool can be used to load test web servers with many requests per second. To install wrk, it is necessary to first install some build tools for C and git using the following command:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev git unzip -y

In the next step, you can clone the git repository for wrk in the wrk directory by running the following command:

git clone https://github.com/wg/wrk.git work

Now you can easily change to that new directory:

cd wrk

After changing to the new directory, it’s time to build the wrk executable with the make command:

make

Copy wrk to the corresponding folder as in the command below. By doing this you will be able to access it from anywhere in your directory structure:

sudo cp wrk /usr/local/bin

You can use wrk to test Apache responsiveness:

wrk -t2 -c1000 -d30s --latency http://server_ip/

The meaning of the parameters in the above command is as follows:

• -t2: Run two threads.
• -c1000: Keep 1000 HTTP connections open.
• -d30s: Run the test for 30 seconds.
• –latency: Print latency statistics.

The output of the above command will be as follows:

output
Running 30s test @ http://your_ip_address/
  2 threads and 1000 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency    44.45ms  104.50ms   1.74s    91.20%
    Req/Sec     8.29k     1.07k   12.40k    71.00%
  Latency Distribution
     50%   11.59ms
     75%   22.73ms
     90%  116.16ms
     99%  494.90ms
  494677 requests in 30.04s, 5.15GB read
  Socket errors: connect 0, read 8369, write 0, timeout 69
Requests/sec:  16465.85
Transfer/sec:    175.45MB

Now it’s time to run the same test for the Varnish server by running the following command:

wrk -t2 -c1000 -d30s --latency http://server_ip:8080/

The output of the above command will be as follows:

output
Running 30s test @ http://server_ip:8080/
  2 threads and 1000 connections
  Thread Stats   Avg      Stdev     Max   +/- Stdev
    Latency    14.41ms   13.70ms 602.49ms   90.05%
    Req/Sec     6.67k   401.10     8.74k    83.33%
  Latency Distribution
     50%   13.03ms
     75%   17.69ms
     90%   24.72ms
     99%   58.22ms
  398346 requests in 30.06s, 4.18GB read
  Socket errors: connect 0, read 19, write 0, timeout 0
Requests/sec:  13253.60
Transfer/sec:    142.48MB

Troubleshooting common issues

In some cases, the varnish may show incorrect behavior. In other words, it doesn’t behave the way you want it to. There are a few places you can check to troubleshoot these, including:

• varnishlog
• /var/log/syslog
• /var/log/messages

In the following, we will introduce you to the basic troubleshooting method in Varnish.

1) Varnish won’t Start

Sometimes the varnish may not start. There are many reasons for not starting Varnish. Start Varnish in debug mode with the following command:

varnishd -f /usr/local/etc/varnish/default.vcl -s malloc,1G -T 127.0.0.1: 2000 -a 0.0.0.0:8080 -d

The output of the above command will be as follows:

Using old SHMFILE
Platform: Linux,2.6.32-21-generic,i686,-smalloc,-hcritbit
200 193
-----------------------------
Varnish Cache CLI.
-----------------------------
Type 'help' for command list.
Type 'quit' to close CLI session.
Type 'start' to launch worker process.

Now you can tell the main process to start the cache by running the command:

start
bind(): Address already in use
300 22
Could not open sockets

2) Varnish is Crashing (panics)

The next thing is that when the varnish wears off, the child’s processing may be damaged. Note that when Varnish encounters this, the save process will be disabled in a controlled manner. It should be noted that this failure may be due to incorrect configuration. You can check the status of panic messages by running the following command:

panic.show

The output of the above command may be as follows:

Assert error in ESI_Deliver(), cache_esi_deliver.c line 354:
  Condition(i == Z_OK || i == Z_STREAM_END) not true.
thread = (cache-worker)
ident = Linux,2.6.32-28-generic,x86_64,-sfile,-smalloc,-hcritbit,epoll
Backtrace:
  0x42cbe8: pan_ic+b8
  0x41f778: ESI_Deliver+438
  0x42f838: RES_WriteObj+248
  0x416a70: cnt_deliver+230
  0x4178fd: CNT_Session+31d
  (..)

3) Varnish is Crashing (segfaults)

The next error you may encounter is Varnish crashing (segfaults). In other words, Varnish may encounter a segmentation fault. When this event is registered by the child process, the core is unloaded and the child process is restarted. But to debug a segfault, you need to provide some data.

First, you need to make sure you have installed Varnish with debug symbols. After that, you need to make sure that kernel dump is allowed in the main shell:

ulimit -c unlimited

Open the kernel with gdb and issue the following command. By doing this you will get a stack trace of the thread that caused the segfault error:

bt

4) Varnish gives me Guru Meditation

To fix this problem, it is necessary to first find the corresponding log entries in varnishlog. Since it can be difficult to trace the entries, you can set varnishlog to log all your 503 errors using the following command:

 $ varnishlog -q 'RespStatus == 503' -g request

To get varnishlog to process the entire shared memory log, just run the following command:

$ varnishlog -d -q 'RespStatus == 503' -g request

Best practices for using Varnish Cache on AlmaLinux

To get the most out of Varnish Cache in AlmaLinux, it’s important to follow best practices. Some key best practices include:

1) Fine-tune the Varnish configuration: Experiment with different TTL values and URL patterns to find the optimal configuration for your website.

2) Monitor website performance: Regularly monitor website performance using tools like GTmetrix or Pingdom.

3) Keep Varnish Cache up-to-date: Update Varnish Cache regularly to make sure you’re using the latest version with the latest features and bug fixes.

Alternatives to Varnish Cache

10 alternatives to Varnish Cache are:

1) ApacheBooster

2) Squid-Cache

3) Speed Kit

4) WampServer

5) W3 Total Cache

6) Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)

7) TwicPics

8) F5 NGINX

9) F5 NGINX Plus

10) Varnish Software

Conclusion

As you read in this article, Varnish Cache is a powerful open-source web application accelerator that is widely used to increase the speed and performance of websites. By storing cached versions of web pages, it significantly reduces server load and improves page load times. Customization through its configuration language allows tailored storage rules based on specific website needs. Due to the use of Varnish cache and its importance, in this article, we tried to teach you how to Lightning-Fast Website Loading with Varnish Cache on AlmaLinux.

By reading the step-by-step guide of this article, you can easily Install Virtualizor on AlmaLinux 8. Virtualization is a creative and very practical idea and solution to create a virtual version of storage devices, servers, networks, and other resources that were once only physically available to users. You can virtualize with Virtualizor.

What is Virtualizor?

Virtualizor is a powerful web-based admin control panel for KVM, XEN, and OpenVZ virtualizers. This control panel forms a very powerful virtualization system by combining the virtualizers. One of the most important features of this powerful panel is the limitation of bandwidth for each virtual server.

Virtualizor lets you create virtual servers with just one click. Virtualizor uses the OS Template feature and through this option, installing operating systems and creating a virtual server is done in less than a few seconds.

Features of Virtualizor

1. Configure the Server on which Virtualizor is installed

2. Create or edit a Virtual Server

3. Manage Server IPs

4. Storage management

5. User management

6. Create and manage invoices

7. Manage ISO or manages to create VPS

Prerequisites

– Linux VPS Server with AlmaLinux 8 OS

– yum/apt-get

– Storage to create the VPS disks

Stay with us in the continuation of this article on How to Install Virtualizor on AlmaLinux 8.

How to Install Virtualizor on AlmaLinux 8

At first, you should open the Shell and SSH Terminals on your server and enter the following commands:

wget -N http://files.virtualizor.com/install.sh
chmod 0755 install.sh
./install.sh [email protected] kernel-kvm

Remember to give the email address correctly.

What are the Virtualizor Installation Parameters?

email: The Admin email address

kernel: Its KVM

noos: Add noos=true as a parameter to avoid downloading the DomU operating system for DomU

beta: If you add beta=true as a parameter, you can test the new version of the existing Virtualizor

nested_virt: Adding nested_virt=1 as a parameter enables nested virtualization on the server. Enabling this will install a new kernel to enable nested virtualization

Ivg (optional): If you are going to use LVM for the VPS storage

interface: You can specify the default interface you want to set. If not specified, it is considered eth0

license: You will get the internal license key, by opening the support ticket

After completing the installation process, you will see the following output:

After the installation is complete, restart the system by typing and running “Y“:

/root/virtualizor.log is an installation process log file that is created after installation.

You can create a Storage and Virtual Server and also manage your server from the Admin Panel.

How to Login to the Virtualizor Admin Panel

Go to the following URL:

https://Your-Server-IP:4085/
http://Your-Server-IP:4084/

Log in with your server’s root details:

Now, you will see the following Dashboard:

At this point, you need to define storage. To do this first, go to the Virtualizor Admin Panel and select Storage from the left column, and finally click Add Storage. Then fill in the details and define the storage:

As mentioned earlier, the network interface is considered eth0 by default. Therefore, to add the desired network interface to Virtualizor, you need to do the following steps:

1) Go to Virtualizor Admin Panel

2) Select Configuration

3) Click Save Settings

Manage the Bridge 

A viifbr0 bridge is created by Virtualizor that detects the IP, Netmask, and GATEWAY from the following:

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-INTERFACE_NAME

If you change the above file, remember to restart the Virtualizor network with the following command:

service virtnetwork restart

Enter the following command to start Virtualizor:

service virtnetwork start

And you can use the following command to stop Virtualizor:

service virtnetwork stop

You can Make the bridge permanent

Run the following commands to make the bridge permanent, so that, it can be started as soon as the operating system is booted, and the network is created.

Tip: You should have the bridge-utils package on your server backup ifcfg-eth0.

– Take a Backup from ifcfg-eth0.

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 directory will contains the content below:

cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
DEVICE=eth0 
BOOTPROTO=static 
TYPE=Ethernet 
HWADDR=00:25:90:98:35:90 
IPADDR=10.0.0.93 
NETMASK=255.255.255.0 
GATEWAY=10.0.0.1 
IPV6INIT=yes 
IPV6ADDR=2607:f0d0:1002:0011:0000:0000:0000:0002
IPV6_DEFAULTGW=2607:f0d0:1002:0011:0000:0000:0000:0001
ONBOOT=yes

Then you should make a copy of that directory:

cp /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0.bak

Now, it is time to create the bridge file. This is the directory:

vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-viifbr0

You should copy some sections of ifcfg-eth0 to ifcfg-viifbr0. Here is the content:

DEVICE=viifbr0 
TYPE=Bridge 
BOOTPROTO=static 
IPADDR=10.0.0.93 
NETMASK=255.255.255.0 
GATEWAY=10.0.0.1 
ONBOOT=yes 
IPV6INIT=yes 
IPV6ADDR=2607:f0d0:1002:0011:0000:0000:0000:0002
IPV6_DEFAULTGW=2607:f0d0:1002:0011:0000:0000:0000:0001

Then you should save the copied file.

To edit the ifcfg-eth0 file, go through this way:

vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

The result would be like this:

DEVICE=eth0
HWADDR=00:25:90:98:35:90 
IPV6INIT=yes 
ONBOOT=yes 
BRIDGE=viifbr0

Tip: If the eth0 is the NIC name, then you should change the interface name in that route file to viifbr0:

root# mv route6-eth0 route6-viifbr0

As the last step, you should restart the network.

We should mention that virtnetwork is out of work now and you should restart only with the network, so use the command below:

service network restart

Conclusion

This article taught you how to install Virtualizor on AlmaLinux 8 and also you learned how to log in to the Virtualizor Admin Panel. Users can manage VPS on dedicated servers with the help of Virtualizor. I hope this tutorial was useful for you.

FAQ

Certainly, one of the important pillars of any network is having a monitoring system to check the structure of the network. Cacti is one of the free network monitoring software. If you want to compare the monitoring tools, Cacti is in a higher position in order to its open-source and availability of resources. If you follow this post until the end, you will learn how to Install and Configure Cacti on AlmaLinux 8 step by step.

What is Cacti?

Cacti make a connection to your devices using the SNMP protocol and analyze them during the interval. Cacti software is based on PHP/MySQL, which is basically installed on Linux Operating Systems and uses the RRDTool software to present its graphs. It should be noted that Cacti also allows you to provide a monitoring panel to your customers. In this software, you can specify which ports the subscriber will have access to after logging in. Cacti has made the monitoring process powerful by having a web-based management environment and various templates for different operating systems and devices.

Prerequisites

– A Linux VPS Server with AlmaLinux OS

– Apache Webserver

– MariaDB Database Server

– PHP and PHP extensions

– SNMP and RRDTool

Follow us in the continuation of this article by teaching how to install and configure Cacti on Almalinux.

How to Install Cacti on AlmaLinux 8

Cacti is a web-based tool, so you need to create an Apache web server on which to run Cacti. You can install the Apache web server by entering the following command:

sudo dnf install httpd -y

To start the Apache web server, execute the following command:

sudo systemctl start httpd

Now you should enter the following command to enable the Apache webserver:

sudo systemctl enable --now httpd

At this point, Cacti requires a database to store the collected data, which in this article uses the MariaDB database. To install the MariaDB database, execute the following command:

sudo dnf install -y mariadb-server mariadb

You should enter the following command to start the MariaDB database:

sudo systemctl start mariadb

Then you can use the following command to enable MariaDB to start on boot:

sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Since Cacti is written in PHP, PHP and PHP extensions should be installed. So use this command to add the Remi repository:

sudo dnf install dnf-utils http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpmmi

Then you should enable the DNF module for PHP installation by entering the following command:

sudo dnf module reset php
sudo dnf module enable php:remi-7.4

Now you can install PHP and PHP extensions by executing the following commands:

sudo dnf install @php
sudo dnf install -y php php-{mysqlnd,curl,gd,intl,pear,recode,ldap,xmlrpc,snmp,mbstring,gettext,gmp,json,xml,common}

Use the following command to enable the PHP-fpm service:

sudo systemctl enable --now php-fpm

In this step, you should install SNMP and RRDTool, which are needed to gather and analyze system metrics:

sudo dnf install -y net-snmp net-snmp-utils net-snmp-libs rrdtool

You can start it with the following command:

sudo systemctl start snmpd

Enter the following command to enable snmpd:

sudo systemctl enable snmpd

The next step is to create a database and user for the Cacti and then grant all the necessary privileges to the Cacti user. So, enter the following command:

mysql -u root -p

MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE cactidb;
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL ON cactidb.* TO cacti_user@localhost IDENTIFIED  BY 'passwd123';
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;

Now you should import the mysql test data timezone.sql file into the MySQL database:

mysql -u root -p mysql < /usr/share/mariadb/mysql_test_data_timezone.sql

Now you should enter the following command to connect to the MySQL database and then provide the Cacti user access to the mysql.time zone name table:

MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT SELECT ON mysql.time_zone_name TO cacti_user@localhost;
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;

Then you should add the following configuration to the mariadb-server.cnf file under the [ mysqld ] section:

sudo vi /etc/my.cnf.d/mariadb-server.cnf

Remember to paste the following configuration.

collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci
character-set-server=utf8mb4
max_heap_table_size=32M
tmp_table_size=32M
join_buffer_size=64M
# 25% Of Total System Memory
innodb_buffer_pool_size=1GB
# pool_size/128 for less than 1GB of memory
innodb_buffer_pool_instances=10
innodb_flush_log_at_timeout=3
innodb_read_io_threads=32
innodb_write_io_threads=16
innodb_io_capacity=5000
innodb_file_format=Barracuda
innodb_large_prefix=1
innodb_io_capacity_max=10000

You can exit after saving the changes.

Because the Cacti package is available in the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository. First release it with the following command:

sudo dnf install epel-release -y

Now you can install the Cacti monitoring tool by executing the following command:

sudo dnf install cacti -y

Then you should verify the installation of Cacti with the following command:

rpm -qi cacti

Now to determine the default Cacti database path, execute the following command:

rpm -ql cacti | grep cacti.sql

Then you should import the default cacti database tables into the MariaDB cacti database using the following command:

mysql -u root -p cactidb < /usr/share/doc/cacti/cacti.sql

You should modify the cacti configuration file according to the following database details:

sudo vim /usr/share/cacti/include/config.php

Now you should change the database name, username, and password to reflect the name you have already created and then set the timezone in the php.ini file. Remember to change the following parameters:

date.timezone = Africa/Nairobi
memory_limit = 512M
max_execution_style = 60

At this point, you need to set the cron for Cacti. To do this, you should first edit the /etc/cron.d/cacti file:

sudo vim /etc/cron.d/cacti

To have a Cacti poll for data every 5 minutes, you can uncomment the following line:

*/5 * * * *   apache /usr/bin/php /usr/share/cacti/poller.php > /dev/null 2>&1

After saving the changes, you can exit the configuration file.

Modifying the Apache configuration file enables remote access to Cacti. To do this, enter the following command:

sudo vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/cacti.conf

Now you should change the following lines in the file:

– Modify Require host localhost to require all grants.

– Change Allow from localhost to Allow from network subnet.

– Specify your network subnet.

To apply the changes, just restart the Apache and PHP-fpm services with the following command:

sudo systemctl restart httpd
sudo systemctl restart php-fpm

Finally, you need to enable HTTP service on your Firewall by executing the following command:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

How to Configure Cacti on AlmaLinux 8

First, you should visit your server’s IP with the following command:

http://server-ip/cacti

After viewing the login page, you should log in with the default credentials:

Username: admin
Password: admin

Then click on Login:

 

Now you need to set the default Cacti admin login password:

 

 

Next, you should accept the GPL license agreement and then click on Begin:

 

 

Cacti execute pre-installation tests to ensure that the necessary PHP modules and database settings are installed. Then, click Next to continue:

 

 

Now you should choose the New Primary Server as the type of installation and then verify the database connection parameters are right:

 

 

At this point, you can check for directory issues and confirm that there are proper permissions. Then click on Next; but if there is a problem you should click on Previous and correct the problems:

 

 

Then the installation of binary paths of the required packages is checked by the installer:

 

 

Now you should validate the data input methods and read the instructions; then check the ‘I have read this statement’ box:

 

 

Next, you need to choose the cron interval and input your network subnet. Then click Next:

 

 

Cacti has templates with which you can monitor and graph a variety of network devices, including Linux and Windows computers. Check all the options to make sure you get all the templates you need. Then click on Next:

 

 

Now it is being checked whether the database/server collation is compatible with UTF8. Then click on Next:

 

 

Now you should click on the Confirm Installation checkbox and then click on the Install:

 

 

After completing the installation of the necessary packages, you can click on Get Started:

 

 

Finally, you can see the Cacti dashboard:

 

 

You can navigate through Graph –> Default Tree –> Local –> Choose Your Device to view the graphs:

 

 

Conclusion

This article introduced one of the best monitoring tools called Cacti. In the continuation of the article, we taught how to install and configure Cacti on AlmaLinux 8. If you want to install Cacti on your AlmaLinux system, you can get inspired by this tutorial.

FAQ

The Control Panel is a set of sub-programs that can be used to configure various aspects of the Operating System. The Control Panel is the center of all operating system settings and is designed to make changes to the mouse, keyboard, sound, speakers, and screen. Webmin is also a Control Panel and Graphical User Interface for hosting. After reading this article, you can learn how to Install and Use Webmin on AlmaLinux 8.4 from the AlmaLinux training series.

What is Webmin?

Webmin is a web-based Control Panel and Graphical User Interface for Linux systems that can be used for free. You can configure all aspects of the system through your web browser with Webmin. It should note that Webmin removes the need to manually edit Linux/Unix configuration files, allowing you to manage a server from the console or remotely. It also allows you to control many machines through a single interface or seamless access to other Webmin hosts on the same subnet or LAN.

Webmin Features

1- Configure Email Server 2- Configure Apache Web Server 3- Configure DNS Server 4- Data Backup 5- Manage users and User groups

How to Install Webmin on AlmaLinux 8.4

First, you should buy a Linux VPS with the AlmaLinux Operating system. Then, switch to root user and log in as root to run all commands:

sudo -i

You need to add the yum Webmin repository to AlmaLinux 8.4 so that you can fetch Webmin packages for installation. Enter the following command in your Terminal and press Enter:

cat << EOF > /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo
[Webmin]
name=Webmin
mirrorlist=https://download.webmin.com/download/yum/mirrorlist
enabled=1
gpgkey=http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc
EOF

Then you should update the system by entering the following command, which refreshes the repository cache and makes the system recognize the latest added repo of Webmin:

dnf update

In this step, you can download and install Webmin on the AlmaLinux RPM-based Linux Operating System:

dnf install webmin

Next, you should open Webmin port 10000 in the firewall to access the web interface of this web-based system configuration tool from any system browser that can access the IP address of the server or domain. Run the following command:

firewall-cmd --add-port=10000/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

How to Use Webmin on AlmaLinux 8.4

Open Webmin through your web browser and specify the name of the computer and port that Webmin is running on. Note that if the Webmin installed in AlmaLinux is managed through a browser, its IP address or domain should be specified in the URL box along with port 10000. But if you are using Webmin in a GUI system, the management should be done using the local URL in the web address http://localhost:10000 and if only encrypted communication is possible in the system, just replace http with https:

https://server-ip-address:10000
or
https://example.com:10000

If SSL isn’t implemented, you will receive a ‘Your connection is not private‘ alert. You should click on Advanced and then click the Proceed to x.x.x.x link. Now you should enter your username and password. Be sure to enter AlmaLinux 8.4 server root as your username and password. The Webmin Dashboard running on AlmaLinux is as follows, where the user can manage its server:

Conclusion

Webmin is easy to use and offers several options for administrators to manage their Linux server through web-based remote access. In this article, Webmin Control Panel was introduced and how to install and use Webmin on AlmaLinux 8.4 was taught.

Docker is a free and open-source containerization tool that allows developers to package their applications in containers. The installation of these software packages can be done in the same way as the usual installation by the package manager of your operating system to download a program. The only difference is that Docker does everything automatically. After reading this post you will earn a top way to install Docker on AlmaLinux.

Installing Docker on AlmaLinux

After a little explanation about Docker, now we have a step-by-step guide for you, so you can install this useful tool easily.

Prerequisites

– A Linux VPS Server with the AlmaLinux operating system

– Minimal 10 Gb free disk space

– Sudo privileges with admin rights

– Have a good internet connection

– 2 GB RAM and 2 CPU/vCPU

Step1. Uninstalling Podman and Buildah

In order not to get confused and have an easy installation process, you should remove Podman and Buildah from your AlmaLinux system before installing Docker. You can use the following command:

sudo dnf remove -y podman buidah

Tip: If you don’t have them on your system as a default, skip this part.

Step 2. Enabling Docker Repository

You should use the following command to enable Docker official repository because the Docker package is not available in the default AlmaLinux:

sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo=https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

Step 3. Installing Docker with dnf Command

You can run the command below to install the latest Docker from the official repository:

sudo dnf install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

Step 4. Starting and Enabling Docker Service on ALmaLinux

Now that you have installed Docker and its dependencies on your AlmaLinux system, you can start this tool and enable it using the following command:

sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

Use this command to verify the Docker service:

sudo systemctl status docker

You should use the Docker command without sudo for adding your local user to the Docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Use the following command to see the Dockers version:

docker --version
Docker version 20.10.18, build b40c2f6

In addition, we have another easy and quick way to see how many Docker containers are running. Also you can see some of docker’s configured options:

sudo docker info 

Step 5. Testing Docker Installation

If you want to test your Docker installation, use the following command:

docker run hello-world

If you see the below message from the Docker container, you can be sure that the Docker is working perfectly and the installation process is successful:

How to Remove Docker from AlmaLinux

At last, if you decide to remove Docker from your system, you should run the command below:

sudo dnf remove -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/docker
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/containerd

Conclusion

FAQ

Here, we tried to show a simple installation guide for install Docker on AlmaLinux. Now, you can use Docker to install software packages. We hope this guide was useful to you. If you have any ideas or questions please share them with a comment.