Performance Monitoring with Monitorix on Ubuntu 16.04

Monitorix is a free, open-source, lightweight system monitoring tool designed to monitor as many services and system resources as possible. It has been created for production Linux/UNIX servers but due to its simplicity and small size, it can also be used on embedded devices. This article explains how to install and configure Monitorix on Ubuntu 16.04.

Features of Monitorix

Monitorix provides comprehensive monitoring capabilities including CPU usage, memory consumption, disk I/O, network traffic, system load, and various services. It generates detailed graphs and reports accessible through a web interface, making it easy to track system performance over time.

Adding the Monitorix Repository

To add the Monitorix Repository, open the /etc/apt/sources.list file −

$ sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

The file will contain Ubuntu's default repositories. Place the cursor at the end of the file and add the following line −

deb http://apt.izzysoft.de/ubuntu generic universe

Save the file and exit.

Adding the PGP Key

Once the repository is added, download and install the PGP key to verify package authenticity −

$ wget http://apt.izzysoft.de/izzysoft.asc

--2016-05-24 11:35:47-- http://apt.izzysoft.de/izzysoft.asc
Resolving apt.izzysoft.de (apt.izzysoft.de)... 144.76.109.57
Connecting to apt.izzysoft.de (apt.izzysoft.de)|144.76.109.57|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1692 (1.7K) [text/plain]
Saving to: 'izzysoft.asc'

izzysoft.asc 100%[=======================================================>] 1.65K --.-KB/s in 0s
2016-05-24 11:35:47 (212 MB/s) - 'izzysoft.asc' saved [1692/1692]

Add the downloaded key to the system −

$ sudo apt-key add izzysoft.asc

OK

Update the package repositories −

$ sudo apt-get update

Installing Monitorix

Install Monitorix along with Apache utilities for web authentication −

$ sudo apt-get -y install monitorix apache2-utils

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  libconfig-general-perl libdbi-perl libdbi1 libemail-date-format-perl 
  libhttp-server-simple-perl libmime-lite-perl libmime-types-perl 
  librrd4 librrds-perl libxml-libxml-perl rrdtool
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  monitorix libconfig-general-perl libdbi-perl...

Configuring Monitorix

Open the main configuration file −

$ sudo nano /etc/monitorix/monitorix.conf

Locate the authentication section and modify it to enable password protection −

<auth>
    enabled = y
    msg = Monitorix: Restricted access
    htpasswd = /var/lib/monitorix/htpasswd
</auth>

Save the file and restart the Monitorix service −

$ sudo service monitorix restart

Setting Up Web Authentication

Create a username and password for web access. This example uses "admin" as the username −

$ sudo htpasswd -d -c /var/lib/monitorix/htpasswd admin

New password:
Re-type new password:
Adding password for user admin

Accessing the Web Interface

Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080/monitorix/. You will see an authentication dialog −

After entering your credentials, you will access the main monitoring dashboard −

Key Monitoring Features

Conclusion

Monitorix provides a lightweight yet comprehensive monitoring solution for Ubuntu systems. Its web-based interface makes it easy to track system performance metrics and identify potential issues. The tool is particularly useful for system administrators who need reliable monitoring without the complexity of larger monitoring frameworks.