Monitoring: InfluxDB-Telegraf-Grafana

This is something I wanted to try for some time. Normally for networks monitoring you use a NMS tool. They can be expensive, free or cheap. I have seen/used Observium and LibreNMS. And many years ago Cacti. There are other tools that can do the job like Zabbix/Nagios/Icinga.

But it seems time-series-databases are the new standard. They give you more flexibility as you can create queries and graph them.

There are many tools out there that I dont really know like Prometheus, the elk-stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana), Influxdb, telegraf and grafana.

I decided for InfluxDB-Telegraf-Grafana stuck as I could find quickly info based on scenarios of networks.

What is the rule of eachc one:

Telegraf: collect data
InfluxDB: store data
Grafana: visualize

My main source is again Anton’s blog. All credits to him.

Environment

My network is just 3 Arista ceos containers via docker. All services will run as containers so you need docker installed. Everything is IPv4.

InfluxDB

Installation:

// Create directories
mkdir telemetry-example/influxdb
cd telemetry-example/influxdb

// Get influxdb config
docker run --rm influxdb influxd config > influxdb.conf

// Create local data folder for influxdb that we will map
mkdir data
ls -ltr

// Check docker status
docker images
docker ps -a

// Create docker instance for influxdb. Keep in  mind that I am giving a name to the instance

docker run -d -p 8086:8086 -p 8088:8088 --name influxdb \
-v $PWD/influxdb.conf:/etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf:ro \
-v $PWD/data:/var/lib/influxdb \
influxdb -config /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf

// Verify connectivity
curl -i http://localhost:8086/ping

// Create database "test" using http-query (link below for more details)
curl -XPOST http://localhost:8086/query --data-urlencode "q=CREATE DATABASE test"
{"results":[{"statement_id":0}]} <-- command was ok!

// Create user/pass for your db. 
curl -XPOST http://localhost:8086/query --data-urlencode "q=CREATE USER xxx WITH PASSWORD 'xxx123' WITH ALL PRIVILEGES"
{"results":[{"statement_id":0}]} <-- command was ok!

// Create SSL cert for influxdb
docker exec -it influxdb openssl req -x509 -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.crt -days 365 -subj "/C=GB/ST=LDN/L=LDN/O=domain.com/CN=influxdb.domain.com"

// Update influxdb.conf for SSL
telemetry-example/influxdb$ vim influxdb.conf
…
https-enabled = true
https-certificate = "/etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.crt"
https-private-key = "/etc/ssl/influxdb-selfsigned.key"
…

// Restart influxdb to take the changes
docker restart influxdb

// Get influxdb IP for using it later
docker container inspect influxdb --format='{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}'
172.17.0.2

// Verify connectivity via https
curl -i https://localhost:8086/ping --insecure

The verification for HTTPS was a bit more difficult because the result was always correct no matter what query I was running:

$ curl -G https://localhost:8086/query --data-urlencode "db=test" --data-urlencode "q=SELECT * FROM test" --insecure
{"results":[{"statement_id":0}]}

$ curl -XPOST 'https://localhost:8086/query?db=test&u=xxx&p=xxx123' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM test' --insecure
{"results":[{"statement_id":0}]}

$ curl -XPOST 'https://localhost:8086/query?db=test&u=xxx&p=yyy1231' --data-urlencode 'q=SELECT * FROM test' --insecure
{"results":[{"statement_id":0}]}

So I decided to see if there was cli/shell for the influxdb (like in mysql, etc). And yes, there is one. Keep in mind that you have to use “-ssl -unsafeSsl” at the same time! That confused me a lot.

$ docker exec -it influxdb influx -ssl -unsafeSsl
Connected to https://localhost:8086 version 1.8.1
InfluxDB shell version: 1.8.1
> show databases
name: databases
name
_internal
test
> use test
Using database test
> show series
key
cpu,cpu=cpu-total,host=5f7aa2c5550e

Links about influxdb that are good for the docker creation and the http queries:

https://hub.docker.com/_/influxdb

https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/v1.7/tools/api/#query-http-endpoin

Telegraf

I struggled with the SNMP config needed in Telegraf. The installation was fine.

Links:

https://hub.docker.com/_/telegraf

https://docs.influxdata.com/telegraf/v1.14/introduction/getting-started/

Steps:

// Create dir
mkdir telemetry-example/telegraf
cd telemetry-example/telegraf

// Get config file to be modified
docker run --rm telegraf telegraf config > telegraf.conf

// Add the details of influxdb in telegraf.conf. As well, you need to add the devices you want to poll. In my case 172.23.0.2/3/4.

vim telegraf.conf
....
[[outputs.influxdb]]
urls = ["https://172.17.0.2:8086"]
database = "test"
skip_database_creation = false
## Timeout for HTTP messages.
timeout = "5s"
## HTTP Basic Auth
username = "xxx"
password = "xxx123"
## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
insecure_skip_verify = true
# Retrieves SNMP values from remote agents
[[inputs.snmp]]
## Agent addresses to retrieve values from.
## example: agents = ["udp://127.0.0.1:161"]
## agents = ["tcp://127.0.0.1:161"]
agents = ["udp://172.23.0.2:161","udp://172.23.0.3:161","udp://172.23.0.4:161"]
#
## Timeout for each request.
timeout = "5s"
#
## SNMP version; can be 1, 2, or 3.
version = 2
#
## SNMP community string.
community = "tomas123"
#
## Number of retries to attempt.
retries = 3

This is the SNMP config I added below the SNMPv3 options in [[inputs.snmp]]

#   ## Add fields and tables defining the variables you wish to collect.  This
#   ## example collects the system uptime and interface variables.  Reference the
#   ## full plugin documentation for configuration details.

  [[inputs.snmp.field]]
    name = "hostname"
    oid = "RFC1213-MIB::sysName.0"
    is_tag = true

  [[inputs.snmp.field]]
    name = "uptime"
    oid = "DISMAN-EVENT-MIB::sysUpTimeInstance"

  # IF-MIB::ifTable contains counters on input and output traffic as well as errors and discards.
  [[inputs.snmp.table]]
    name = "interface"
    inherit_tags = [ "hostname" ]
    oid = "IF-MIB::ifTable"

    # Interface tag - used to identify interface in metrics database
    [[inputs.snmp.table.field]]
      name = "ifDescr"
      oid = "IF-MIB::ifDescr"
      is_tag = true

  # IF-MIB::ifXTable contains newer High Capacity (HC) counters that do not overflow as fast for a few of the ifTable counters
  [[inputs.snmp.table]]
    name = "interfaceX"
    inherit_tags = [ "hostname" ]
    oid = "IF-MIB::ifXTable"

    # Interface tag - used to identify interface in metrics database
    [[inputs.snmp.table.field]]
      name = "ifDescr"
      oid = "IF-MIB::ifDescr"
      is_tag = true

  # EtherLike-MIB::dot3StatsTable contains detailed ethernet-level information about what kind of errors have been logged on an interface (such as FCS error, frame too long, etc)
  [[inputs.snmp.table]]
    name = "interface"
    inherit_tags = [ "hostname" ]
    oid = "EtherLike-MIB::dot3StatsTable"

    # Interface tag - used to identify interface in metrics database
    [[inputs.snmp.table.field]]
      name = "name"
      oid = "IF-MIB::ifDescr"
      is_tag = true

For more info about the SNMP config in telegraf. These are good links. This is the official github page. And this is the page for SNMP input plugin that explain the differences between “field” and “table”.

As well, the link below is really good too for explaining the SNMP config in telegraf:”Gathering Data via SNMP”

https://blog.networktocode.com/post/network_telemetry_for_snmp_devices/

Start the container:

docker run -d -p 8125:8125 -p 8092:8092 -p 8094:8094 --name telegraf \
-v $PWD/telegraf.conf:/etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf:ro \
telegraf -config /etc/telegraf/telegraf.conf

Check the logs:

docker logs telegraf -f
...
2020-07-17T12:45:10Z E! [inputs.snmp] Error in plugin: initializing table interface: translating: exit status 2: MIB search path: /root/.snmp/mibs:/usr/share/snmp/mibs:/usr/share/snmp/mibs/iana:/usr/share/snmp/mibs/ietf:/usr/share/mibs/site:/usr/share/snmp/mibs:/usr/share/mibs/iana:/usr/share/mibs/ietf:/usr/share/mibs/netsnmp
Cannot find module (EtherLike-MIB): At line 0 in (none)
EtherLike-MIB::dot3StatsTable: Unknown Object Identifier
...

You will see errors about not able to find the MIB files! So I used Librenms mibs. I download the project and copied the MIBS I thought I needed (arista and some other that dont belong to a vendor). As well, this is noted by Anton’s in this link:

https://github.com/librenms/librenms/tree/master/mibs

In my case:

/usr/share/snmp/mibs$ ls -ltr
total 4672
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  52820 Feb  7  2019 UCD-SNMP-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  18274 Feb  7  2019 UCD-SNMP-MIB-OLD.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8118 Feb  7  2019 UCD-IPFWACC-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   6476 Feb  7  2019 UCD-IPFILTER-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   3087 Feb  7  2019 UCD-DLMOD-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   4965 Feb  7  2019 UCD-DISKIO-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2163 Feb  7  2019 UCD-DEMO-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5039 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-VACM-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   4814 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-TC.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1226 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-SYSTEM-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2504 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-PERIODIC-NOTIFY-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   3730 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-PASS-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1215 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-MONITOR-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2036 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   9326 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-EXTEND-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   9160 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-EXAMPLES-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  15901 Feb  7  2019 NET-SNMP-AGENT-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5931 Feb  7  2019 LM-SENSORS-MIB.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1913 Jul  2 04:38 GNOME-SMI.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5775 Jul 17 13:14 SNMPv2-TM
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2501 Jul 17 13:14 SNMPv2-TC-v1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  38034 Jul 17 13:14 SNMPv2-TC
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1371 Jul 17 13:14 SNMPv2-SMI-v1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8924 Jul 17 13:14 SNMPv2-SMI
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  29305 Jul 17 13:14 SNMPv2-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8263 Jul 17 13:14 SNMPv2-CONF
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  17177 Jul 17 13:14 INET-ADDRESS-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  71691 Jul 17 13:14 IF-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   3129 Jul 17 13:15 ARISTA-BGP4V2-TC-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  64691 Jul 17 13:15 ARISTA-BGP4V2-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7155 Jul 17 13:15 ARISTA-VRF-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1964 Jul 17 13:15 ARISTA-SMI-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  10901 Jul 17 13:15 ARISTA-NEXTHOP-GROUP-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5826 Jul 17 13:15 ARISTA-IF-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   4547 Jul 17 13:15 ARISTA-GENERAL-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7014 Jul 17 13:15 ARISTA-ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  62277 Jul 17 13:21 IANA-PRINTER-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  36816 Jul 17 13:21 IANA-MAU-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   4299 Jul 17 13:21 IANA-LANGUAGE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  13954 Jul 17 13:21 IANA-ITU-ALARM-TC-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  35628 Jul 17 13:21 IANAifType-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  15150 Jul 17 13:21 IANA-GMPLS-TC-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  10568 Jul 17 13:21 IANA-CHARSET-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   4743 Jul 17 13:21 IANA-ADDRESS-FAMILY-NUMBERS-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   3518 Jul 17 13:21 IANA-RTPROTO-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  13100 Jul 17 13:31 ENTITY-STATE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  16248 Jul 17 13:31 ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  59499 Jul 17 13:31 ENTITY-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2114 Jul 17 13:31 BGP4V2-TC-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  50513 Jul 17 13:31 BGP4-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  96970 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE8021-CFMD8-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  86455 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE8021-BRIDGE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 113507 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE802171-CFM-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   6321 Jul 17 13:31 ENTITY-STATE-TC-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 112096 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE802dot11-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  44559 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE8023-LAG-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  24536 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE8021-TC-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  62182 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE8021-SECY-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  96020 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE8021-Q-BRIDGE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  62591 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE8021-PAE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 135156 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE8021-CFM-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  48703 Jul 17 13:31 IPV6-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  15936 Jul 17 13:31 IPV6-ICMP-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   3768 Jul 17 13:31 IPV6-FLOW-LABEL-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  31323 Jul 17 13:31 IPMROUTE-STD-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  33626 Jul 17 13:31 IPMROUTE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 186550 Jul 17 13:31 IP-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  46366 Jul 17 13:31 IP-FORWARD-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 240526 Jul 17 13:31 IEEE-802DOT17-RPR-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   4400 Jul 17 13:31 IPV6-UDP-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7257 Jul 17 13:31 IPV6-TCP-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2367 Jul 17 13:31 IPV6-TC
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  14758 Jul 17 13:31 IPV6-MLD-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  69938 Jul 17 13:31 MPLS-LSR-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  61017 Jul 17 13:31 MPLS-L3VPN-STD-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  16414 Jul 17 13:31 LLDP-V2-TC-MIB.mib
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  77651 Jul 17 13:31 LLDP-V2-MIB.mib
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  76945 Jul 17 13:31 LLDP-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  59110 Jul 17 13:31 LLDP-EXT-MED-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  30192 Jul 17 13:31 LLDP-EXT-DOT3-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  30182 Jul 17 13:31 LLDP-EXT-DOT1-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  36147 Jul 17 13:31 LLDP-EXT-DCBX-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 145796 Jul 17 13:31 ISIS-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  28564 Jul 17 13:31 TCP-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1291 Jul 17 13:31 RFC-1215
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  79667 Jul 17 13:31 RFC1213-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2866 Jul 17 13:31 RFC-1212
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   3067 Jul 17 13:31 RFC1155-SMI
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  60053 Jul 17 13:31 MPLS-VPN-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  95418 Jul 17 13:31 MPLS-TE-STD-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  55490 Jul 17 13:31 MPLS-TE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  26327 Jul 17 13:31 MPLS-TC-STD-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  76361 Jul 17 13:31 MPLS-LSR-STD-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  12931 Jul 17 13:31 RFC1389-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  30091 Jul 17 13:31 RFC1284-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 147614 Jul 17 13:31 RFC1271-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  22342 Jul 17 13:33 SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 223833 Jul 17 13:33 RMON2-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 127407 Jul 17 13:33 DIFFSERV-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 101324 Jul 17 13:34 TOKEN-RING-RMON-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 147822 Jul 17 13:34 RMON-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  26750 Jul 17 13:34 INTEGRATED-SERVICES-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   1863 Jul 17 13:34 DIFFSERV-DSCP-TC
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  34162 Jul 17 13:34 SNMP-VIEW-BASED-ACM-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  84133 Jul 17 13:34 Q-BRIDGE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  16414 Jul 17 13:34 TRANSPORT-ADDRESS-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  39879 Jul 17 13:35 P-BRIDGE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   4660 Jul 17 13:35 HCNUM-TC
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  54884 Jul 17 13:35 BRIDGE-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   2628 Jul 17 13:35 VPN-TC-STD-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  10575 Jul 17 13:35 HC-PerfHist-TC-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  22769 Jul 17 13:50 SNMP-TARGET-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  84492 Jul 17 13:54 EtherLike-MIB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  68177 Jul 17 13:56 DISMAN-EXPRESSION-MIB

Once you have the MIB files, you need to copy across to the telegraf container:

docker cp /usr/share/snmp/mibs/. telegraf:/usr/share/snmp/mibs/
docker restart telegraf

These two links helped me a lot to troubleshoot and understand snmpwalk:

https://www.dev-eth0.de/2016/12/06/grafana_snmp/

snmpwalk Examples & Commands for Windows and Linux

If you dont want to see the OIDS in snmpwalk, you need to load all your MIBS with -m ALL

/usr/share/snmp/mibs$ snmpwalk -Os -v2c -c community -m ALL 172.23.0.2 | head -10
sysDescr.0 = STRING: Linux r01 5.7.0-1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.7.6-1 (2020-06-24) x86_64
sysObjectID.0 = OID: aristaProducts.2600
sysUpTimeInstance = Timeticks: (2503676) 6:57:16.76
sysContact.0 = STRING:
sysName.0 = STRING: r01
sysLocation.0 = STRING: ceoslab
sysServices.0 = INTEGER: 14
sysORLastChange.0 = Timeticks: (35427) 0:05:54.27
sysORID.1 = OID: tcpMIB
sysORID.2 = OID: mib-2.50

$ snmpwalk -v2c -c community -m ALL 172.23.0.2 | head -10
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = STRING: Linux r01 5.7.0-1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.7.6-1 (2020-06-24) x86_64
SNMPv2-MIB::sysObjectID.0 = OID: ARISTA-SMI-MIB::aristaProducts.2600
DISMAN-EVENT-MIB::sysUpTimeInstance = Timeticks: (2535736) 7:02:37.36
SNMPv2-MIB::sysContact.0 = STRING:
SNMPv2-MIB::sysName.0 = STRING: r01
SNMPv2-MIB::sysLocation.0 = STRING: ceoslab
SNMPv2-MIB::sysServices.0 = INTEGER: 14
SNMPv2-MIB::sysORLastChange.0 = Timeticks: (35427) 0:05:54.27
SNMPv2-MIB::sysORID.1 = OID: TCP-MIB::tcpMIB
SNMPv2-MIB::sysORID.2 = OID: SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.50

/usr/share/snmp/mibs$ snmpwalk -Os -v2c -c community 172.23.0.2 | head -10
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 = STRING: "Linux r01 5.7.0-1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.7.6-1 (2020-06-24) x86_64"
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.2.0 = OID: iso.3.6.1.4.1.30065.1.2600
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0 = Timeticks: (2505381) 6:57:33.81
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.4.0 = ""
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0 = STRING: "r01"
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.6.0 = STRING: "ceoslab"
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.7.0 = INTEGER: 14
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.8.0 = Timeticks: (35427) 0:05:54.27
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.2.1 = OID: iso.3.6.1.2.1.49
iso.3.6.1.2.1.1.9.1.2.2 = OID: iso.3.6.1.2.1.50

And if you want to verify that telegraf is capable to use the MIBS:

docker exec -it telegraf snmpwalk -Os -v2c -c community -m ALL 172.23.0.2 | head -10

Now, you can check if telegraf is updating influxdb. If there is output, it is good!

$ curl -G 'https://localhost:8086/query?db=test&pretty=true&u=xxx&p=xxx123' --data-urlencode "q=SELECT * FROM interfaceX limit 2" --insecure
{
"results": [
{
"statement_id": 0,
"series": [
{
"name": "interfaceX",
"columns": [
"time",
"agent_host",
"host",
"hostname",
"ifAlias",
"ifConnectorPresent",
"ifCounterDiscontinuityTime",
"ifDescr",
"ifHCInBroadcastPkts",
"ifHCInMulticastPkts",
"ifHCInOctets",
"ifHCInUcastPkts",
"ifHCOutBroadcastPkts",
"ifHCOutMulticastPkts",
"ifHCOutOctets",
"ifHCOutUcastPkts",
"ifHighSpeed",
"ifInBroadcastPkts",
"ifInMulticastPkts",
"ifLinkUpDownTrapEnable",
"ifName",
"ifOutBroadcastPkts",
"ifOutMulticastPkts",
"ifPromiscuousMode",
"name"
],
"values": [
[
"2020-07-17T13:00:10Z",
"172.23.0.2",
"6778bdf4ea85",
"r01",
null,
1,
0,
"Ethernet1",
0,
2118,
2013125,
7824,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
2118,
1,
"Ethernet1",
0,
0,
2,
null
],
[
"2020-07-17T13:00:10Z",
"172.23.0.2",
"6778bdf4ea85",
"r01",
"CORE Loopback",
2,
0,
"Loopback1",
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
0,
1,
"Loopback1",
0,
0,
2,
null
]
]
}
]
}
]
}

Grafana

I have seen Grafana before but I have never used it so the configuration on queries was a bit of a challenge but I was lucky and I found very good blogs for that. The installation process is ok:

// Create folder for grafana and data
mkdir -p telemetry-example/grafana/data
cd telemetry-example/grafana

// Create docker instance
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name grafana \
--user root \
-v $PWD/data:/var/lib/grafana \
grafana/grafana

// Create SSL cert for grafana
docker exec -it grafana openssl req -x509 -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/grafana-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/grafana-selfsigned.crt -days 365 -subj "/C=GB/ST=LDN/L=LDN/O=domain.com/CN=grafana.domain.com"

// Copy grafana config so we can update it
docker cp grafana:/etc/grafana/grafana.ini grafana.ini

// Update grafana config with SSL
vim grafana.ini
############################## Server
[server]
# Protocol (http, https, h2, socket)
protocol = https
…
# https certs & key file
cert_file = /etc/ssl/grafana-selfsigned.crt
cert_key = /etc/ssl/grafana-selfsigned.key

// Copy back the config to the container and restart
docker cp grafana.ini grafana:/etc/grafana/grafana.ini
docker container restart grafana

Now you can open in your browser to grafana “https://0.0.0.0:3000/ ” using admin/admin

You need to add a data source that is our influxdb container. So you need to pick up the “influxdb” type and fill the values as per below.

Now, you need to create a dashboard with panel.

Links that I reviewed for creating the dasbord

For creating a panel. The link below was the best on section “Interface Throughput”. Big thanks to the author.

https://lkhill.com/telegraf-influx-grafana-network-stats/

This is my query for checking all details:

And this is my final dashboard.

SNMP Config

BTW, you need to config SNMP in the switches so telegraf can poll it:

snmp-server location ceoslab
snmp-server community xxx123 ro
snmp-server host 172.17.0.1 version 2c xxx123

In my case, the stack of containers Influx-Telegraf-Grafana are running on the default bridge. Each container has its own IP but as the Arista containers are in the different docker network, it needs to “route” so the IP of telegraf container will be NAT-ed to 172.17.0.1 from the switches point of view.

Next

I would like to manage all this process via Ansible… Something like this.. but will take me time

https://github.com/akarneliuk/service_provider_fabric/tree/master/ansible/roles/cloud_monitoring/tasks

Notes

As usual, I have struggled but I have learned a lot and at the end things are working. I am happy with that.

Debian – apt-file

In the past, I have had to use Centos systems a lot at work and there was something I really liked from rpm, it is “yum provides” that tells you which package you need to install based on the command you need.

I always struggle to do that in Debian. I hope I remember it for the next time. Based on this link:

# aptitude install apt-file

# apt-file update

# apt-file search snmpwalk
libnet-snmp-perl: /usr/share/doc/libnet-snmp-perl/examples/snmpwalk.pl
libsnmp-session-perl: /usr/share/doc/libsnmp-session-perl/examples/snmpwalkh.pl
python3-pysnmp4-apps: /usr/bin/pysnmpwalk
python3-pysnmp4-apps: /usr/share/man/man1/pysnmpwalk.1.gz
snmp: /usr/bin/snmpwalk  <=== THIS IS WHAT I WANT !!!!
snmp: /usr/share/man/man1/snmpwalk.1.gz
snmpsim: /usr/share/doc/snmpsim/examples/data/foreignformats/linux.snmpwalk.gz
snmpsim: /usr/share/doc/snmpsim/examples/data/foreignformats/winxp1.snmpwalk.gz

# aptitude install snmp

Ansible Troubleshooting 2

Today I was trying to write a playbook to push config to Arista devices.

Initially I wanted to use napalm module to push the config (as I have done with nornir) but it seems the napalm-ansible module requires napalm3 and netmiko3 and that breaks my nornir2.4 ( that requires napalm<3) So I uninstalled napalm-ansible and restored the other packages. Good thing i chekced the version before hand.

$ python -m pip list | grep -E 'nornir|napalm|netmiko|ansible'
ansible 2.9.10
napalm 2.5.0
netmiko 2.4.2
nornir 2.4.0

So I had to check the eos_config module. I think the napalm-ansible module is more powerful as it uses diff and sessions provided by Arista. As far as I can see, there is no option to say to the module to just make a dry run.

At the end I managed to put everything together but the eos_config was failing:

TASK [11- push config]
task path: xxx/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible/playbooks/gen-config.yaml:60
fatal: [r1]: FAILED! => {
"changed": false,
"msg": "path specified in src not found"
}

The funny thing is all other tasks that needed to use templates were using the same path and were fine:

- name: 10- merge all configs in one file
  assemble:
    src: "CFGS/{{ inventory_hostname }}/" 
    dest: "CFGS/{{ inventory_hostname }}-full.txt"

- name: 11- push config
  debugger: on_failed
  eos_config:
    #src: "{{playbook_dir}}/../CFGS/{{ inventory_hostname }}-full.txt"
    src: "../CFGS/{{ inventory_hostname }}-full.txt"
    backup: yes

So I had to find out where that task was looking for the file. It seems “assemble“, “template” and “file” tasks use as pwd where I am calling the script (xxx/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible). But “eos_config” is using where the playbook is (xxx/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible/playbook) based on my running command “…/ansible master$ ansible-playbook playbooks/gen-config.yaml“.

So I was searching for some help and I found the playbook path and ansible search paths. So now I needed to verify that. I found some ansible debugger and examples that were really useful!

So I used “debugger: on_failed” for my task 11. And could see the path:

TASK [11- push config]
task path: /home/tomas/storage/technology/arista/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible/playbooks/gen-config.yaml:60
fatal: [r1]: FAILED! => {
"changed": false,
"msg": "path specified in src not found"
}
[r1] TASK: 11- push config (debug)> p task.args
{'backup': True,
'src': '/home/tomas/storage/technology/arista/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible/playbooks/CFGS/r1-full.txt'}
[r1] TASK: 11- push config (debug)> quit
User interrupted execution

So it is clear it was looking at the playbook dir.

So after fixing the path, I realised that I didn’t want to run everything and wanted to use tags so only the last part was executed.

/ansible master$ cat playbooks/gen-config.yaml
...
- name: 12- display result 
  debug: msg: "Backup file is {{ load_config.shortname }} and result is: {{ load_config }}" 
  tags: push_config
...

/ansible master$ ansible-playbook playbooks/gen-config.yaml --limit="r1" -vvv --tags "push_config"

One more thing, the output of ansible when you have dictionaries, it is not great. I checked this link and it is good for failures and with -vvvv. But for green outputs still not great:

TASK [12- - display result] *
task path: /home/tomas/storage/technology/arista/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible/playbooks/gen-config.yaml:61
ok: [r1] =>
msg: 'Backup file is /home/tomas/storage/technology/arista/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible/playbooks/backup/r1_config and result is: {''changed'': True, ''commands'': [''interface Ethernet1'', ''no shutdown'', ''interface Ethernet2'', ''no shutdown'', ''router bgp 100'', ''neighbor AS100-CORE password mpls-sr''], ''updates'': [''interface Ethernet1'', ''no shutdown'', ''interface Ethernet2'', ''no shutdown'', ''router bgp 100'', ''neighbor AS100-CORE password mpls-sr''], ''session'': ''ansible_1594920727'', ''backup_path'': ''/home/tomas/storage/technology/arista/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible/playbooks/backup/r1_config.2020-07-16@18:32:07'', ''date'': ''2020-07-16'', ''time'': ''18:32:07'', ''shortname'': ''/home/tomas/storage/technology/arista/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible/playbooks/backup/r1_config'', ''filename'': ''r1_config.2020-07-16@18:32:07'', ''failed'': False}'
META: ran handlers
META: ran handlers
PLAY RECAP
r1 : ok=3 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
(testdir2) go:1.12.5|py:3.7.3|tomas@athens:~/storage/technology/arista/testdir2/ceos-testing/ansible master$

Traceroute

A good refresh about traceroute. It is a very common tool for network troubleshooting so it is important to use it wisely

Important points

  • ICMP vs UDP: most implementations do UDP (it can be blocked…)
  • Every probe is an independent trial!
  • Try to identify the characteristics and location of each hop
  • If there is a congestion/delay issue in one hop, it has to be carried out to the next hops, if not, it is just prioritizing of the ICMP generation by that router/hop.
  • You dont see the reverse path – Ask the other end (if possible) to send the traceroute from its end.
  • Border routers between providers can be a hot spot for issues.
  • Asymmetric paths can bite you. Try to set the source address in your tests (from the provider IP, from your own space, etc)
  • Spot ECMP (in the same hop, you see several different IPs). Multiple unequal length paths can be painful.
  • MPLS: most times is hidden (TTL is removed). It can be tricky to spot. But it can be funny when you see the hops (with private IPs 🙂

And if you are more interested in the paths than latency, this can be a good too:

https://github.com/rucarrol/traceflow

Breath and Cold

I finished this book. It is quite good, I have read about Wim Hof through another book that mentioned the benefits of cold for physical recovery in sports. And after a bit of more searching I was interested in reading more.

The book shows the benefits of breathing and how disconnected we are from our environment. And we have the tools to change that.

In other books about depression and trauma, mentioned the disconnection from our environment as one main cause, and getting back to it (nature) gets improvements.

I have never been a strong swimmer neither have a big lung capacity but I remember that when I was swimming as a teenager in my hometown, after doing the breathing exercises I could hold much longer. And the second day I tried the breathing exercise from the book, I managed 4 minutes. I was quite surprised. So I am adding this to my meditation practice too.

Regarding the cold, the days I am going for a run, I finish my shower with cold water (based on the fittest book) so I can give better recovery to my legs (and knees). And to be honest, It feels very good afterwards. If you don’t fight the cold (don’t shiver) it is interesting how your body relaxes and heartbeat slows down.

So I will carry on with the cold and breath exercises.

VIM – Indent multiple lines quickly

This is the thing I have to do from time to time and I never remember how to do:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/235839/indent-multiple-lines-quickly-in-vi

And this what works for me:

Key presses for more visual people:
1- Enter Command Mode:
Escape

2- Move around to the start of the area to indent:
hjkl↑↓←→

3- Start a block:
v

4- Move around to the end of the area to indent:
hjkl↑↓←→

5- Type the number of indentation levels you want
0..9

6- Execute the indentation on the block:
>

Let’s see if I can remember it…

Openconfig

I have struggled to get something working for learning a bit of openconfig.

At the end, all info my info comes from Anton’s Karneliuk blog series about Openconfig. So all credit to him. It is the best source about real testing of openconfig in different platforms.

OpenConfig. Part 1. OpenConfig (w/o and w/ Ansible) for Arista EOS, Cisco IOS XR and Nokia SR OS

I am not going to create the wheel and explain what openconfig is. In my head, it is attempt from several big vendors to standardise the network management (config) and monitoring (telemetry) via YANG (vendor-neutral) models. So OC uses YANG. And we interact with OC using a transport protocol like netconf, restcong and gNMI. So the network devices need to implement one of these protocols. Based on the blog Cisco, Nokia and Arista have netconf implementations and Ansible has a module for that!!! So the key words are openconfig, yang and netcong.

So in my case, based on my ceos lab, I have added a new playbook based on Anton’s to test openconfig/netcong with Arista cEOS:

https://github.com/thomarite/ceos-testing/blob/master/README.md#openconfig

This is quite basic as it only gets the interface config.

Following Anton’s Part3 Blog:

OpenConfig. Part 3. Advanced OpenConfig (w/ Ansible) for Arista EOS, Cisco IOS XR and Nokia SR OS: route policy BGP and interfaces again

I tried to push config via openconfig to my ceos devices (all files are in github as per link above).

The blog is dense but it is good because there is a lot of info. In this case, you have to use an Ansible role so it is a new thing to learn. As well, I wanted to adapt that role to my env and found some ansible issues but managed to fix after reading ansible documentation and paying attention to the -vvv info.

From “oc-push-config.yaml” the first task “collect” it is fine. It just takes some 10 minutes or more to get all YANG modules from each device.

The issue is with task “configure”. It fails when trying to push the interface config. I have tried Anton’s config and the actual config generated from oc-get-interface-info.yaml but no joy.

Based on the blog, it seems Arista doesnt have much interest in Openconfig.

Anyway, there have been a couple of intense days looking at all this openconfig/netcong/yang thing. I have just touched the surface but I have learned some Ansible in the way too. So could be worse.

Will move on to something else.

Empanada

Some time ago I watched this video from Paul Hollywood in Madrid. I was amazed! And there was something I had in my to-cook list: Empanada

As a kid I have eaten different types of empanadas, mainly vegetable and meat ones. Although you have find versions with fish (cod) and seafood/octupus. Depends on the region in Spain.

And you can find them in many Latin countries too!

Finally this weekend I gave it a go.

Based on this recipe, I made mine with grilled vegetables.

  • Filling: Grilled Vegetables
    • Pre-Heat oven at 200C
    • Oil a tray.
    • Cut several types of vegetables: onions, courguettes, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, etc
    • Add some spices: tumeric, paprika, a bit of salt, etc
    • Mix everything with your hand so all ingredients have a bit of oil coatting.
    • Put in the hot oven for 20m at least. Depends on the amount of vegs. At this point you coud start the empanada dough.

  • Empanada Dough Ingredients:
    • You should put the butter and lard (pig’s fat) into the freezer!
    • 200gr plain flour
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 125 ml water
    • 65gr butter, frozen and then grated (or finely laminated)
    • 65gr lard, frozen and then grated (or finely laminated)

  • Empanada Process:

1. Oven should be hot from the grilled vegs at 200C

2. Mix the flour and salt. Add water bit a bit until getting a dough. Shouldnt be too sticky. You can knead it a bit.

3. Roll the dough out into a rectangle on a lightly floured work surface. Add half of the butter/lard over the pastry. Fold the dough on top of the butter/lard. Turn, use the roll to mix and repeat again with the rest of the butter/lard. In the video is much easier to see/understand. Repeat the roll and folding two more times so we create the layers in the pastry.

4. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.

5. Take the chilled pastry from the fridge and roll out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a rectangle. Just be sure the dough doesn’t break. Brush the edges with beaten egg as this will be the sticking point for the pastry.

6. Add the grilled vegs in half of the dough. Fold the other half to cover the filling. Press the edges to seal. Brush the top with beaten egg

7. Put in the oven at 200C for 25 minutes or so until the pastry is crispy and a golden brown colour.

For being the first time, I was really surprised how crunchy it was! I had a good lunch.

I think you prepare the dough the day before, and as soon the vegs are ready, take it out of the fridge and carry on.

Grating the butter/lard was a bit messy even being frozen. Next time I will slice it very finely. When making croissants, you just flatten the butter.

Anyway, new recipe in my arsenal!

Sourdough Focaccia

I like bread, a lot. And I have been baking at home once a week for a couple of years already. And Mainly sourdough. Still far from the courses and videos you can find in the internet but I am happy with it. I really enjoy eating it 🙂

Once day watching some videos about sourdough, I found this focaccia sourdough recipe. I had seen another videos in the past from the author so I decided to give it a go. I have tried once focaccia a couple of years ago using yeast sackets but never with sourdough starter.

All credits to the author.

My topping was different. I did tomate sauce, thin slices of potatoes, onions, a bit of courguette and frozen rosemary.

Not sure why, my dough didnt come up like in the video/blog. I think it needs a bit more oil?

Anyway, the taste is good. Will try another time.

Other things I want to try with sourdough are croissants and ciabattas!