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Ubuntu / Debian Linux: Install Monit Linux Server Monitoring Utility

How do I install monit to monitor my server under Debian / Ubuntu Linux?

Monit is a utility for managing and monitoring processes, files, directories and devices on a Debian / Ubuntu Linux server system. Here a few common uses of monit:

1. Monit can start a process if it does not run
2. Restart a process if it does not respond
3. Stop a process if it uses to much resources etc

How do I install monit utility for monitoring services?

Type the following command as the root user:

$ sudo apt-get update
 $ sudo apt-get install monit

Configure monit

Open monit configuration file /etc/monit/monitrc using vi text editor or nano command in linux:

# vi /etc/monit/monitrc

OR

# nano /etc/monit/monitrc

You need to set following parameters:

set daemon  120
 set logfile syslog facility log_daemon
 set mailserver localhost               # primary mailserver
 set alert vivek@nixcraft.com                       # receive all alerts

The next step is to save and close this file. Where,

• set daemon 120 : Start monit in background as daemon and check the services at 2-minute intervals.
• set logfile syslog facility log_daemon : Log messages in /var/log/messsages file
• set mailserver localhost : Send email alert via localmail server such as sendmail. Set list of mailservers for alert delivery. Multiple servers may be specified using comma separator. By default monit uses port 25 - it is possible to override it with the PORT option.
• set alert vivek@nixcraft.com : You can set the alert recipients here, which will receive the alert for each service. The event alerts may be restricted using the list.

Now open /etc/default/monit file to turn on monit service:

# vi /etc/default/monit

OR

# nano /etc/default/monit

Set startup to 1, so monit can start:

startup=1

Save and close the file.

Start the monit Linux monitor tool / service:

# /etc/init.d/monit start