[TOP TIP] Server monitoring (the cool way)
So how do you do it? You do it the gkrellm
Install gkrellm on the server
yum install gkrellm-daemon
systemctl enable gkrellmd
The above should install and enable gkrellm with systemd, but before we start the daemon we need to properly configure it.
Configure gkrellm on the server
So open the configuration file at /etc/gkrellmd.conf and set the following parameters.
* update-hz, update frequency, anything above 5 seconds should be ok, unless you know what you are doing.
max-clients, should be set to 1 since we usually monitor only from one location
address, we listen at the local loopback address
port, any high numbered port is ok
update-hz 5
max-clients 1
address 127.0.0.1
port 19150
Now we may start our daemon and we are ready to listen for the client.
systemctl start gkrellmd
Install gkrellm on your desktop
yum install gkrellm
The above should install gkrellm. You may just type "gkrellm" and see it monitor your desktop system, since it is possible to execute gkrellm multiple times and have each instance monitor a different system.
Configure gkrellm on your desktop
There is no immediate configuration, once you start using gkrellm, you may use the graphical interface to configure all the different monitors. Each system being monitored will have its own configuration saved under the ~/.gkrellm2/ directory.
But, there is one little thing that we need to configure, ssh port redirection from the desktop system to the server. We avoid connecting directly the two (or more) systems via the TCP ports because the connection will NOT be secure, in addition, this method has the advantage of not running the daemon on a public interface.
We expect that you already have setup proper ssh access to the server as root. If you want, you could also modify the "gkrellmd" user/group with its own ssh certificate key, to avoid using root. But that is out of the scope of this "top tip" post.
So, the following ssh command will redirect the local 19150 port to the remote server 19150 port, both listening on the local loopback and not any public interface. Finally, we execute gkrellm and tell it to hit the redirected port.
ssh -N -f -L 19150:127.0.0.1:19150 root@server.domain.tld
gkrellm -f -s 127.0.0.1 -P 19150
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Be cool
Now you are one of the cool admins. Let that breeze of coolness flow over you.