Category: Scalr

Scalr 4.5 Install Notes For Cento 6.4

February 1, 2014

Last year we published an article on installing the open-source version of Scalr: http://blogs.reliablepenguin.com/2013/08/29/scalr-install-notes Now there’s a new 4.5 release of Scalr available so it’s time for an update. We’re installing on Cento 6.4 hosted on a RackSpace Performance 1 Cloud Server. The installation instructions have improved since the last time around but Scalr is till a complex install: https://scalr-wiki.atlassian.net/wiki/display/docs/Installing+Scalr+4.5 Follow these instructions one section at a time and make sure you’ve got the section complete and working before moving to the next section. We’ve provided notes below about each section. Before you start, select a hostname for the server and add a DNS A record. For this article we’ll use:

scalr.domain.com

1	scalr.domain.com

You’ll have problems later on if you don’t get the hostname setup in advance. Also I like to add some swap to the server:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/1GB.swap bs=1M count=1024
mkswap /1GB.swap
swapon /1GB.swap
echo "/1GB.swap  none  swap  sw 0  0" >>/etc/fstab

dd if=/dev/zero of=/1GB.swap bs=1M count=1024

mkswap /1GB.swap

swapon /1GB.swap

echo "/1GB.swap none swap sw 0 0" >>/etc/fstab

Create UNIX Users and Group for Scalr I setup a script at /root/env.sh

Scalr Install Notes

August 29, 2013

We love Scalr and there’s a great set of instructions for install on CentOS 6.4 but we found there were a number of additional steps that we wanted to share. Here’s the starting point: http://wiki.scalr.com/display/docs/Scalr+4.1+on+CentOS+6.4 And here are the changes and additions that we found to be necessary when building on a RackSpace Cloud Server: In step 1 addded:

yum install git

1	yum install git

In step 2.3, added:

yum install php-pear gcc make php-pecl-ssh2 php-pecl-yaml

1	yum install php-pear gcc make php-pecl-ssh2 php-pecl-yaml

In step 3.1, added:

/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 mysqld on

1	/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 mysqld on

Also in 3.1, secured mysql logins and added .my.cnf file according to these instructions: http://blogs.reliablepenguin.com/2012/10/09/secure-mysql-installation http://blogs.reliablepenguin.com/2012/10/09/create-my-cnf-file-for-mysql-authentication In step 3.2, added:

mysql> flush privileges;

1	mysql> flush privileges;

In step 4, should be config.yml instead of config.ini as indicated in the docs.

cp config.yml-sample config.yml

1	cp config.yml-sample config.yml

Also in step 4, when editing config.yml set the:

endpoint -> host

1	endpoint -> host

record to:

scalr.yourdomain.com

1	scalr.yourdomain.com

And change:

stats_poller -> graphics_url

1	stats_poller -> graphics_url

record to:

http://scalar.yourdomain.com/graphics

1	http://scalar.yourdomain.com/graphics

In step 6, put the vhost config in /etc/httpd/conf.d/vhosts.conf The default version of rrdtool is too old …. we need at least 1.4:

cd /root
 yum erase rrdtool rrdtool-devel
 yum install gettext ruby perl-Time-HiRes
 wget http://packages.express.org/rrdtool/rrdtool-perl-1.4.7-1.el6.wrl.x86_64.rpm
 wget http://packages.express.org/rrdtool/rrdtool-1.4.7-1.el6.wrl.x86_64.rpm
 rpm -i rrdtool-1.4.7-1.el6.wrl.x86_64.rpm rrdtool-perl-1.4.7-1.el6.wrl.x86_64.rpm