How to install SmokePing on Debian Bullseye

Keep track of network latency using SmokePing on Debian Bullseye.

Install and configure SmokePing

Update package index.

$ sudo apt-get update

Install smokeping package, but skip recommended packages.

$ sudo apt install --no-install-recommends smokeping dnsutils curl

At first, check out the database settings as you cannot easily modify these later on. I will use default settings, which means 20 pings every 5 minutes.

$ cat /etc/smokeping/config.d/Database

*** Database ***

step     = 300
pings    = 20

# consfn mrhb steps total

AVERAGE  0.5   1  1008
AVERAGE  0.5  12  4320
    MIN  0.5  12  4320
    MAX  0.5  12  4320
AVERAGE  0.5 144   720
    MAX  0.5 144   720
    MIN  0.5 144   720

Update the cgiurl address.

$ cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/smokeping/config.d/General
*** General ***

owner    = Milosz
contact  = milosz@example.org
mailhost = localhost
# NOTE: do not put the Image Cache below cgi-bin
# since all files under cgi-bin will be executed ... this is not
# good for images.
cgiurl   = http://smoke.example.org/smokeping.cgi
# specify this to get syslog logging
syslogfacility = local0
# each probe is now run in its own process
# disable this to revert to the old behaviour
# concurrentprobes = no

@include /etc/smokeping/config.d/pathnames
EOF

Update imgurl path.

$ cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/smokeping/config.d/pathnames
sendmail = /usr/sbin/sendmail
imgcache = /var/cache/smokeping/images
imgurl   = /smokeping/images
datadir  = /var/lib/smokeping
piddir  = /run/smokeping
smokemail = /etc/smokeping/smokemail
tmail = /etc/smokeping/tmail
dyndir = /var/lib/smokeping/__cgi
EOF

Define probes that will be used to check specified targets.

$ cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/smokeping/config.d/Probes
*** Probes ***

+ FPing
binary = /usr/bin/fping

+DNS
binary = /usr/bin/dig

+Curl
binary = /usr/bin/curl

+SSH
binary = /usr/bin/ssh-keyscan
pings  = 5
EOF

Define available alerts.

$ cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/smokeping/config.d/Alerts
*** Alerts ***
to   = root@localhost
from = smokealert@localhost

+offlineatstartup
type = rtt
pattern = ==S,==U
comment = offline at startup

+hostdown_with_state
type        = loss
pattern     = >50%
edgetrigger = yes
comment     = host down

+lossdetect
type        = loss
pattern     = ==0%,==0%,==0%,==0%,==0%,>0%,>0%,>0%
comment     = suddenly there is packet loss

+lossdetect_with_state
type        = loss
edgetrigger = yes
pattern     = ==0%,==0%,==0%,==0%,==0%,>0%,>0%,>0%
comment     = sudden packet loss

+rttdetect
type    = rtt
pattern = <100,<100,<100,<100,<100,>100,>100,>100
comment = suddenly latency increased over 100ms

+lost_5_from_20_with_state
type        = matcher
edgetrigger = yes
pattern     = CheckLoss(l => 5,x => 20)
comment     = lost over 5 from 20 samples

+rtt_avg_increased
type        = matcher
pattern     = Avgratio(historic => 20, current => 2, comparator=>'>', percentage => 150)
comment     = average latency from last 2 samples increased over 150% when compared to average from last 20 samples
EOF

Precisely define targets using defined probes and alerts.

$ cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/smokeping/config.d/Targets
*** Targets ***
menu  = Top
title = Network Latency Grapher
probe = FPing


+ Example
menu  = Example domains
title = Example domains

++ example_com
menu   = example.com
title  = Host example.com
host   = example.com
alerts = offlineatstartup,hostdown_with_state,rttdetect,rtt_avg_increased,lossdetect

++ example_org
menu   = example.org
title  = Host example.org
host   = example.org
alerts = offlineatstartup,hostdown_with_state,rttdetect,rtt_avg_increased,lossdetect


+ dns
menu  = DNS check
title = DNS check
probe = DNS

++ google
menu  = Google
title = DNS check using Google Public DNS

+++ example_org_dns_google
menu   = example.com
title  = DNS check example.com using first Google Public DNS server
host   = example.com
pings  = 5
server = 8.8.8.8

+++ example_com_dns_google
menu   = example.com
title  = DNS check example.com using second Google Public DNS server
host   = example.com
pings  = 5
server = 8.8.4.4

++ local
menu  = local
title = DNS check using local DNS

+++ example_org_dns_local
menu   = example.com
title  = DNS check example.com using local DNS
host   = example.com
pings  = 5
server = 192.168.1.254


+ ssh
menu  = SSH
title = SSH check
probe = SSH

++ example_org_ssh
menu    = example.org
title   = SSH check - example.org
host    = example.org
keytype = rsa
port    = 22
alerts  = hostdown_with_state,rttdetect,rtt_avg_increased


+ WWW
menu  = WWW
title = WWW check
probe = Curl

++ local_www
menu              = local
title             = WWW check - this website
host              = smoke.example.org
extraargs         = --user secret-user:secret-password
urlformat         = https://%host%/
expect            = Logged in as secret-user
pings             = 5
alerts            = offlineatstartup,hostdown_with_state

++ google_www_check
menu              = google.com
title             = WWW check - google.com
host              = google.com
follow_redirects  = yes
include_redirects = yes
urlformat         = https://%host%/
expect            = search
pings             = 5
alerts            = offlineatstartup,hostdown_with_state,rttdetect,rtt_avg_increased
EOF

Reload smokeping service.

$ sudo systemctl reload smokeping

Inspect service status.

$ systemctl status smokeping

● smokeping.service - Latency Logging and Graphing System
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/smokeping.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-08-25 18:29:16 UTC; 5s ago
       Docs: man:smokeping(1)
             file:/usr/share/doc/smokeping/examples/systemd/slave_mode.conf
    Process: 5273 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/smokeping --pid-dir=/run/smokeping (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 5289 (smokeping)
      Tasks: 5 (limit: 2311)
     Memory: 49.8M
        CPU: 283ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/smokeping.service
             ├─5289 /usr/bin/perl /usr/sbin/smokeping --pid-dir=/run/smokeping
             ├─5290 /usr/sbin/smokeping [DNS]
             ├─5291 /usr/sbin/smokeping [SSH]
             ├─5292 /usr/sbin/smokeping [Curl]
             └─5293 /usr/sbin/smokeping [FPing]

Inspect service logs and apply how to fix SmokePing SSH probe on Debian Buster patch if you see the following error.

$ sudo journalctl -u smokeping
-- Journal begins at Wed 2021-08-25 17:34:06 UTC, ends at Wed 2021-08-25 17:53:34 UTC. --
Aug 25 18:57:10 bullseye smokeping[2434]: Reloading configuration.
Aug 25 18:57:10 bullseye smokeping[2434]: WARNING: Hostname 'smoke.example.org' does currently not resolve to an IPv4 address
Aug 25 18:57:10 bullseye smokeping[2434]: Reloading configuration from /etc/smokeping/config failed: ERROR: output of '/usr/bin/ssh-keyscan -t dsa,rsa,rsa1 127.0.0.1' does not match (?^i:^# \S+ SSH-)
                                           at (eval 170) line 1.
...

Install and configure uWSGI

Install uWSGI package.

$ sudo apt install --no-install-recommends uwsgi

Define smokeping application with simple basic-auth (user secret-user and password secret-password).

$ cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/uwsgi/apps-available/smokeping.ini
[uwsgi]
plugins      = router_basicauth, cgi
route        = ^/ basicauth:smokeping,secret-user:secret-password
uid          = www-data
gid          = www-data
processes    = 1
threads      = 2
cgi          = /usr/lib/cgi-bin/smokeping.cgi
chown-socket = www-data:www-data
EOF

Specified CGI script executes real SmokePing web-frontend.

$ cat /usr/lib/cgi-bin/smokeping.cgi

#!/bin/sh
exec /usr/share/smokeping/smokeping.cgi /etc/smokeping/config

Enable application.

$ sudo ln -s /etc/uwsgi/apps-available/smokeping.ini /etc/uwsgi/apps-enabled/

Reload application server configuration.

$ sudo systemctl restart uwsgi

Install and configure nginx

Install nginx package.

$ sudo apt install --no-install-recommends nginx

Disable default Nginx site.

$ sudo unlink /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Create directory for ssl certificates.

$ sudo mkdir /etc/nginx/ssl

Generate a self-signed SSL certificate for your domain.

$ sudo openssl req -subj "/commonName=smoke.example.org/" -x509 -nodes -days 730 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.key -out /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.crt

Prepare nginx virtual host configuration.

$ cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-available/smoke.example.org
server {
  listen 443 ssl;
  server_name default;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.key;
  ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.crt;
  location = / {
    include uwsgi_params;
    uwsgi_modifier1 9;
    uwsgi_pass unix:/var/run/uwsgi/app/smokeping/socket;
  }
  location /smokeping {
    alias /usr/share/smokeping/www/;
  }
}
EOF

Enable virtual host.

$ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/smoke.example.org /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Reload HTTP server configuration.

$ sudo systemctl reload nginx

It is as simple as that.

Install and configure SmokePing#

Install and configure uWSGI#

Install and configure nginx#

Install and configure SmokePing

Install and configure uWSGI

Install and configure nginx