mrtg Installation Guide Installation Guide

mrtg is a free and open-source traffic grapher. MRTG provides tool to monitor traffic load on network links

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum

Storage: 5GB for RRDs

Network: SNMP/HTTP

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 80 (default mrtg port)

None

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install mrtg
sudo dnf install -y mrtg

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now mrtg

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
mrtg --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install mrtg
sudo apt install -y mrtg

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now mrtg

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 80

# Verify installation
mrtg --version

bash

# Install mrtg
sudo pacman -S mrtg

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now mrtg

# Verify installation
mrtg --version

bash

# Install mrtg
apk add --no-cache mrtg

# Enable and start service
rc-update add mrtg default
rc-service mrtg start

# Verify installation
mrtg --version

bash

# Install mrtg
sudo zypper install -y mrtg

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now mrtg

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
mrtg --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install mrtg

# Start service
brew services start mrtg

# Verify installation
mrtg --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install mrtg

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'mrtg_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service mrtg start

# Verify installation
mrtg --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install mrtg

# Or using Scoop
scoop install mrtg

# Verify installation
mrtg --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/mrtg

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
mrtg --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable mrtg

# Start service
sudo systemctl start mrtg

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop mrtg

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart mrtg

# Check status
sudo systemctl status mrtg

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u mrtg -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add mrtg default

# Start service
rc-service mrtg start

# Stop service
rc-service mrtg stop

# Restart service
rc-service mrtg restart

# Check status
rc-service mrtg status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'mrtg_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service mrtg start

# Stop service
service mrtg stop

# Restart service
service mrtg restart

# Check status
service mrtg status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start mrtg
brew services stop mrtg
brew services restart mrtg

# Check status
brew services list | grep mrtg

powershell

# Start service
net start mrtg

# Stop service
net stop mrtg

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service mrtg
Stop-Service mrtg
Restart-Service mrtg

# Check status
Get-Service mrtg

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream mrtg_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:80;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name mrtg.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name mrtg.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/mrtg.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/mrtg.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://mrtg_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName mrtg.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://mrtg.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName mrtg.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/mrtg.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/mrtg.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:80/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:80/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend mrtg_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/mrtg.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend mrtg_backend

backend mrtg_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server mrtg1 127.0.0.1:80 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R mrtg:mrtg /etc/mrtg
sudo chmod 750 /etc/mrtg

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status mrtg

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u mrtg -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep mrtg)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/mrtg"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/mrtg-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/mrtg /var/lib/mrtg

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/mrtg-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop mrtg

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/mrtg/mrtg-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start mrtg

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u mrtg -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/mrtg/mrtg.log

# Check configuration
mrtg --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/mrtg

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 80

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 80

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep mrtg)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep mrtg)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 80

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  mrtg:
    image: mrtg:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/mrtg
      - ./data:/var/lib/mrtg
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update mrtg

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade mrtg

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu mrtg

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade mrtg

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update mrtg

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade mrtg

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/mrtg-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/mrtg

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart mrtg

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/mrtg

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/mrtg -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/mrtg

Official Documentation: https://docs.mrtg.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/mrtg/mrtg

Community Forum: https://forum.mrtg.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.mrtg.org/best-practices

---

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

Related Network monitoring Guides

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darkstat Installation Guide

iftop Installation Guide