If you re the administrator on any network,

Let s do an inventory! If you re the administrator on any network, chances are you ve already faced the need to make an inventory. In fact, keeping a list of all the computers, monitors, software and other component of the network up-to-date is always both hard and tedious. But if those lists aren t kept up-to-date, it often leads to outdated machines being kept around or to installing more copies of a software than the number of licenses available. But stop worrying, as Debian can be easily transformed into an inventory server: just follow this short installation procedure, and then all will happen automatically. Follow the guide! Preparing the installation The installation of the two applications, OCSNG Inventory and GLPI, that are going to change your Debian in an inventory server require some preparation. The two of them are web applications that are written in PHP, and that relies on databases. Several webservers, such as lighttpd or mini-httpd, can be used, but you ll probably be better off using Apache, as it s the most widely used webserver on the internet. That way, you ll have plenty of documentation available if need be. There is no point to look at older versions of Apache (1.3), instead use the latest one available through Debian s repositories (2.2), so that your installation will benefit from the latest innovations and will remain usable for a long time. As far as databases are concerned, make your life simpler and choose MySQL, which is considered to be the most user-friendly database. Just get the latest version, version 5, from the Debian packages repositories. Lastly, OCSNG Inventory and GLPI require two command interpreters: PHP and PERL. Keep in mind that using PHP 5 should be favored over PHP 4, because the second is unmaintained since the end of 2007. So try to use maintained and updated software whenever possible. Now, let s get to work. There s no manual compilation or otherwise weird installation procedures to follow, all you need are the standard Debian tools: aptitude install apache2 libapache2-mod-perl2 libapache2-mod-php5 php5 php5-gd php5-mysql php5-cgi mysql-server Figure 1. OCS keeps track of all the computers and servers on the network Your LAMP architecture (LAMP stands for Linux-Apache-MySQL- PHP) is now deployed. If you want to do so, you can test it by going to the /var/www folder (cd /var/www). Create a file named test.php (touch test.php), and edit this file, using nano for example (nano test.php). Inside, put the following: 24 LINUX IDENTITY SET

Installing OCS Inventory NG OCS Inventory NG (Open Computer and Software Inventory Next Generation) is the application that ll keep track of the computers composing your network. It is a free (as in free beer and free speech) software, and is licensed under the terms of the GPLv2. First, grab the package. Go to /var/www (cd /var/www) and use this command: wget http://prdownloads.sour ceforge.net/ocsinventory/ OCSNG_LINUX_SERVER_ 1.01.tar.gz Extract the content of the archive with the following command: tar xvzf OCSNG_LINUX_SERVER_ 1.01.tar.gz cd OCSNG_LINUX_SERVER_1.01 Figure 2. OCS is configured through a web-based interface <? phpinfo();?> Open your web browser, and type in this address: http://127.0.0.1/test.php A page should be displayed, and it should be a summary of your PHP configuration. If that is not the case, there s something wrong, so get back to the start and try again, making sure you re following the steps correctly. To conclude this first part, secure your MySQL server by assigning a password for the root user. By default, when you install MySQL from the Debian repositories, the root user (the administrator of the database server) doesn t have any kind of password. To fix that, use the following command: It would be a good idea to use the same password than the one used by the linux root user, or else chances are that you ll forget the MySQL one. If you came out of this alive, we can get into the core of the task at hand, by installing OCS Inventory NG. The next step will be automatic, as an installation script is included with OCS Inventory NG. But before running this script, you ll have to install some complementary packages. Most of those are perl libraries and compilation tools needed for the OCS Inventory NG server to run. Once again, make use of the power of aptitude: aptitude install libxml- simple-perl libapache-dbi- perl libnet-ip-perl libsoap-lite-perl You re now ready to run the installation script: mysqladmin -u root password 'your_mysql_admin_ password' Figure 3. The GLPI interface www.linuxidentity.com 25

sh setup.sh You ll be presented with a set of questions, most of them are selfexplanatory, and you can select the default answers. An exception to this rule is the question Where is Apache root document directory, to which you should answer with the path where your web documents are located, that is /var/www. Next, as you re told at the end of the execution of the script, restart apache: /etc/init.d/apache2 restart You re not done yet with OCS Inventory NG, you have to proceed to the database installation. This time around, you ll be working with a web-based interface. So fire up your browser and point it to: http://127.0.0.1/ocsreports A page should open, and you can fill in your MySQL configuration parameters. Here is what you should mention: MySql login : root MySql password : "your_mysql_ admin_password" MySql HostName : 127.0.0.1 The OCS database then proceeds to install itself automatically. When it s done, click on the Send button at the bottom of the page. And there you have it, the installation is completed. Connect to the web interface by either clicking on the link that you will be given, or by entering the following URL: http://127.0.0.1/ocsreports Click on the flag representing your language, then login into the interface by using the admin both as the login name and the password. Change the admin user s password right away: click on the purple icon with a key, in the upper-right corner of the page. Once the password has been modified, go back to the main screen. As you can see, there s nothing there Figure 4. The reservation tool of GLPI because no computer has been inventoried yet. To change that, the OCS Inventory client must be installed on every computer in the network. The OCS Inventory client It doesn t matter if the network s machines are running Linux or Windows, you have to install a client on every one of them either way. Under Windows, it s really easy: download the client at the following location: http://prdownloads.sourcefor ge.net/ocsinventory/ocsng_ WIN32_AGENT_1.01_repack.zip Next, uncompress the software and run the OcsAgentSetup.exe executable. Just type in the OCS Inventory server s address and you re done. On Linux systems, it s a little more complicated, as you ll have to compile the software yourself. For a typical Debian system, install the necessary packages: aptitude install libcompress- zlib-perl libnet-ip-perl libnet-ssleay-perl libwww- perl libxml-simple-perl libssl-dev libmail- sendmail-perl intltool- debian gettext libxml- libxml-common-perl libxml- libxml-perl libxml- namespacesupport-perl libxml-sax-perl libxml- simple-perl po-debconf make Then download the OCS client: wget http://prdownloads.sour ceforge.net/ocsinventory/ OCSNG_LINUX_AGENT_1.01_ with_require.tar.gz Extract the contents of the archive: tar xvzf OCSNG_LINUX_AGENT_ 1.01_with_require.tar.gz cd OCSNG_LINUX_AGENT_1.01 Just as you ve done to install the server, run the install script to compile and set up the client: sh setup.sh The script will ask you a set of questions, and here are the answers you should give it to end up with a typical installation: Which method will you use to generate the inventory? Http Which host is running OCS Inventory NG Communication Server? The OCS server s address On which port is running OCS Inventory NG Communication Server? 80 26 LINUX IDENTITY SET

The next steps can be carried out using a web-interface. First, you have to set some things up for GLPI to install its database automatically. Open up a web browser and go to: http://127.0.0.1/glpi Figure 5. GLPI also provides helpdesk functionalities What is the value of TAG? The name of the computer If no error message gets displayed, all is well, and the client is successfully installed. In most cases, a first synchronization between your computer and the server should have been carried out. From there on, a cron job set up by the OCS client will update the informations from time to time. To make sure that this first synchronization went well, connect to the web interface on the server, and, normally, you should see a line mentioning the name of the computer you just added. Installing GLPI The GLPI application (for computer stock management) is often coupled to OCSNG Inventory, as it brings many interesting features to an inventory system. GLPI enables you to manage every piece of the group of computer you have to supervise, and lets you get an helpdesk up and running. All maintenance operations are written in a database, and a summary of the carried out actions can then be produced. Of course, it also lets you follow the life cycle of a computer, keep tracks of the warranties, licenses... Go to the the directory where your web documents are placed (cd /var/ www) and grab the GLPI package: wget http://glpi-project.org/ IMG/gz/glpi-0.70.tar.gz Extract its contents: tar xvzf glpi-0.70.tar.gz A GLPI is created. This time, there s no need to compile anything or to run any install script. In fact, GLPI is a web-based application, and thus by extracting the archive, you already placed the right files at the right places, the rest being done by Apache and PHP who are able to interpret GLPI s files. Nevertheless, you still have some work to do: to delete the compressed package and give the right permissions to the GLPI folder. You can do that by executing: rm glpi-0.70.tar.gz chown -R www-data /var/www/glpi Before configuring GLPI, edit a value in one of the configuration files of PHP, /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini. Look for the following line: memory_limit = 16M The value specified is too low for GLPI to function correctly. So, replace it with the following: memory_limit = 32M And to apply this change, just restart Apache: /etc/init.d/apache2 restart The application is going to ask you several questions, the first being about the language you d rather use. Then, accept the terms of the GPL license to proceed. After that, click on Install. Your setup will be tested, and there shouldn t be any error (no lines of red text), so click on continue. You then have to input your MySQL parameters, as follow: Mysql server: 127.0.0.1 Mysql user: root Mysql pass: "your_mysql_ admin_password" GLPI then asks you to choose a database, but we advise you to create a new one, that you ll name glpi. It s simpler that way, and you won t forget it or overwrite it by mistake. When you re done, the installation process will come to an end, and a page will open, telling you that the installation is indeed completed. You can then click on Use GLPI. Configuring GLPI Connect to the application using the login name glpi and glpi as the password. For security reasons, you should change the administrator s password. Click on Settings, in the upper part of the page. In the Password field, type in the new password, and use that occasion to put an email address (the email of the administrator) before saving your changes by clicking on Refresh. Next in line is the activation of the OCS Inventory mode. Click on Configuration / general and finally on the Restrictions tab. The page that ll show up contains a field labeled Activate the OCSNG mode, and as you might have guessed, you should set this field s value to Yes. Save this change when you ve done so. If all is well, the configuration page for the OCSNG mode should be displayed. Now, click on the + www.linuxidentity.com 27

tab, and another page should open. Choose Empty template and configure the OCS server as follow: Name: "choose a name" Host: 127.0.0.1 Name of OCS data base: OCSWEB OCSweb database user: root OCSweb user password: "your root password" Now, you can select the kind of import you want to make, and you should probably choose global for each element. That way, all is imported, but the hardware is managed globally (without redundant information). As far as general informations on computers and on components, we advise you to select Yes for everything to obtain as much information as possible. Last but not least, say Yes to Activate automatic link. The basic configuration of GLPI is now behind you, and you can, if you want to, fine-tune this installation to adapt it to your specific needs. For that, please refer to the online help or the official website of the GLPI project: http://glpi-project.org/ to obtain additional documentation. How to reserve hardware with GLPI? Amidst all the functionalities offered by GLPI, there s one that can prove particularly helpful for those who administrate large computer networks: the management of hardware reservations. Indeed, you have the possibility to make some hardware available for people on the network to use. To make a piece of hardware available, connect to the GLPI web interface (http://127.0.0.1/glpi). Click on Inventory and select the kind of hardware you re interested in, before selecting the specific hardware you want to mark as available. Click on it to open its page and click on the Click to authorize reservation button, at the bottom of the page. The reservation of an available hardware piece happens through the Tools menu, in the upper menu bar. Select the Reservations submenu to see all the available hardware. At the end of the line concerning what you re interested in, there is a calendar-shaped icon. Click on it to open a calendar: just click on the day for which you d like to reserve the hardware. This solution is really easy to set up, and helps a lot when you have to manage a large computer stock. But it implies, on the other hand, that you ll have to manage users with various permission levels. GLPI helpdesk GLPI also offers an helpdesk service: any user can ask the GLPI administrator for help when he faces a problem on some hardware. There again, you ll need to manage users. Each user will have at least the post-only profile. But to make the helpdesk easier to use, you re going to modify this profile. Login into GLPI. In the upper menu bar, go to the Administration menu, then to the Profiles sub-menu. A list of all the available profiles will show, in which you ll have to select post-only. A new page will then be displayed, with all the options regarding this particular profile. Change a few things: Link with hardware when creating tickets: All hardware Hardware linkable to tickets: select everything (keep the [Ctrl] key pressed, and click on every line) Once this profile is modified, click on Refresh. Then, log out of GLPI, and log back in using an username associated to the post-only profile. The page that ll open up let you request assistance (it s called opening a ticket ). The interface asks for the type of hardware involved, and to specify the priority of the request. You can also upload attachments to help processing your request. It s a really complete tool that should cover all your needs. When the request is confirmed, you ll be kept up-to-date with the evolution of its processing. All in all, GLPI provides a simple to use tool, but it should cover most of your needs regarding daily assistance. You re on your own now... With some relatively easy to perform manipulations, you just turned your server into a management system for your whole network. Be it hardware, software, reservations, help requests or many other things, you know have it covered. The only thing we can wish for is for your OCS database to contain only Debian-based computers... 28 LINUX IDENTITY SET