[HOWTO]monitoring the system and network by netdata @pfSense Plus

insmod

pfSense Plus 23.05 based FreeBSD 14 current,so we can install the netdata much easier than pfSense 2.6 CE.

1.install netdata

pkg install -y pkgconf bash e2fsprogs-libuuid libuv nano protobuf libyaml json-c
echo y |pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-yaml-6.0.pkg
pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-pysocks-1.7.1.pkg
pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-six-1.16.0.pkg
pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-openssl-20.0.1%2C1.pkg
pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-idna-3.4_1.pkg
pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-pycparser-2.21.pkg
echo y | pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-cffi-1.15.1.pkg
echo y | pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-cryptography-3.4.8_1%2C1.pkg
pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-certifi-2023.5.7.pkg
pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/py39-urllib3-1.26.16%2C1.pkg 
echo y | pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/netdata-1.38.1.pkg
echo y | pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/netdata-go-0.53.0.pkg

2.enable auto start

sysrc netdata_enable="YES"
service netdata start

3.register your box to the cloud

/usr/local/sbin/netdata-claim.sh -token=YOUR TOKEN -url=https://app.netdata.cloud

4.you can monitor your firewall in the netdata cloud.

#We can make sure the version number of the software in https://www.freshports.org/

insmod

Now,pfSense 2.7 based FreeBSD 14,so we can install netdata in 2.7 too.
I use the new way to install netdata bypass the version number problem.

1.enable the FreeBSD pkg

perl -p -i -e 's/no/yes/g' /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf
perl -p -i -e 's/no/yes/g'  /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf

2.install netdata from FreeBSD pkg

echo y | pkg install netdata netdata-go

jriffle73

@insmod Any chance there are updated instructions for the current 23.05.1 pfsense. these instructions break something in 'pkg' and caused this error for me.

ld-elf.so.1: Shared object "libssl.so.30" not found, required by "pkg"

I was able to restore the pfsense version of pkg and no longer get the error.

shift

@jriffle73 How did you restore the pfSense version of pkg?

jriffle73

@shift disable the freebsd repo again, then pkg-static install -f pkg

shift

@jriffle73 Thank you - it is a pity that Netdata cannot be installed under pfSense plus. Or did you made progress?

johnpoz

@shift that version of pkg prob needs openssl 3, but pfsense is currently only using

[23.05.1-RELEASE][admin@sg4860.local.lan]/root: openssl version
OpenSSL 1.1.1t-freebsd  7 Feb 2023

edit: just fired up 2.7 vm and it shows same.. Why are you updating the actual pkg package?

Not really a fan of adding non approved pfsense packages direct from freebsd.. But it should work - I see nothing in the netdata info about updating the pkg package.

https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/installing/pfsense

Per this

https://forum.netgate.com/post/1127124

I would pull the specific individual packages vs adding the freebsd repo

edit2: if I get a chance today I will fire up a 23.05.01 vm and test..

edit3: ok tried this - I wouldn't go down this path.. Ran into issue with py39-certifi-2023.5.7, there is a newer version 2023.7.22, and couldn't find it to just manually download (i didn't look real hard) - and once you enable the freebsd repo it wants to update the pkg package..

If there is some one off sort of package you want to install, sure ok - but this has so many requirements to get going. Its quite possible you could break pfsense normal pkg management, etc.. I wouldn't suggest you install this on 2.7 or plus.. And if you were going to jump through the hoops to get it installed - sure wouldn't do it on any sort of production pfsense. Playing with it on some lab install have fun.. But if you actually use your pfsense for your normal connection, I wouldn't do it.

shift

@johnpoz We are using pfSense plus from the Azure Marketplace. If I activate the Freebsd repos any pkg install first wants to update pkg itself. And if I do this pkg command for pfSense is broken. All other instructions to install netdata runs into this. Maybe a pkg-static would help...

johnpoz

@shift said in [HOWTO]monitoring the system and network by netdata @pfSense Plus:

And if I do this pkg command for pfSense is broken.

Exactly - which is why I wouldn't do it ;)

I was able to install the first package on the list just directly, json-c-0.15_1, well the newer version json-c-0.16

Like I said if you had a one off sort of package to install - prob not that big of a deal. But there are so many requirements for this netdata to work.. I would not suggest trying to get it to work on anything other than some lab version of pfsense, that you don't care if you break..

shift

@shift Yes, thank you. We have a Zabbix Agent running on our pfSense box which provides a monitoring which is satisfying. Currently evaluate Netdata which seems to have a more modern approach. Maybe we run with both for the time being.

johnpoz

@shift don't get me wrong the netdata is pretty slick, I have played with it before on just linux boxes.. But until such time that is approved by the pfsense developers and added to the pfsense repo/packages to just install I would be leery of installing it by hand. I could for sure break pfsense pkg management, and "worse case" open up some security issue.

Installing anything on your pfsense box that is not part of the pfsense pkg management system comes with risks of breaking something.

raidflex

Has there been any progress with installing netdata without breaking pfSense?