Raymii.org

This tutorial shows you how to install extra software in the VMWare vCenter appliance. VMWare provides a vCenter appliance, which is a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server appliance with the VMWare vCenter server software installed. Because this is SUSE, we can add repositories and install software from there. By default it comes without repositories enabled. I needed to do this because I want to use NRPE on the vCenter appliance.

Recently I removed all Google Ads from this site due to their invasive tracking, as well as Google Analytics. Please, if you found this content useful, consider a small donation using any of the options below:

I'm developing an open source monitoring app called Leaf Node Monitoring, for windows, linux & android. Go check it out!

Consider sponsoring me on Github. It means the world to me if you show your appreciation and you'll help pay the server costs.

You can also sponsor me by getting a Digital Ocean VPS. With this referral link you'll get $200 credit for 60 days. Spend $25 after your credit expires and I'll get $25!

Make sure you can SSH to your vCenter Appliance. I use my own account with sudo, however, if you're feeling lucky you might be able to use the root account. Remember, to disable root login.

First we need to make sure we have the correct version. Check the file /etc /SuSE-release:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (x86_64)
VERSION = 11
PATCHLEVEL = 2

I use the vCenter 5.5 appliance. If you have another version, change the repository URL to match this version.

Add the openSUSE repository:

zypper addrepo -f http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.2/repo/oss/ opensuse

Output:

Adding repository 'opensuse' [done]
Repository 'opensuse' successfully added
Enabled: Yes
Autorefresh: Yes
GPG check: Yes
URI: http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.2/repo/oss/

Verify that adding the repository went successfully:

zypper repos -d

Output:

# | Alias    | Name     | Enabled | Refresh | Priority | Type | URI                                                      | Service
--+----------+----------+---------+---------+----------+------+----------------------------------------------------------+--------
1 | opensuse | opensuse | Yes     | Yes     |   99     | NONE | http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.2/repo/oss/ |

Update the local repository cache (comparable to apt-get update):

zypper refresh

It will ask you if you want to trust the repository:

Retrieving repository 'opensuse' metadata [\]

New repository or package signing key received:
Key ID: B88B2FD43DBDC284
Key Name: openSUSE Project Signing Key <opensuse@opensuse.org>
Key Fingerprint: 22C07BA534178CD02EFE22AAB88B2FD43DBDC284
Key Created: Fri Nov  7 14:10:07 2008
Key Expires: Sun Nov  7 14:10:07 2010 (EXPIRED)
Repository: opensuse

Do you want to reject the key, trust temporarily, or trust always? [r/t/a/?] (r): 

Answer with a to always trust this repository:

Retrieving repository 'opensuse' metadata [done]
Building repository 'opensuse' cache [done]
All repositories have been refreshed.

That's it. If you now for example want to install NRPE, you can use the following commands. First search for the correct package name:

zypper search nrpe

Output:

Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S | Name               | Summary                                               | Type
--+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+--------
  | nagios-nrpe        | Nagios Remote Plug-In Executor                        | package
  | nagios-nrpe-client | Client part of Nagios Remote Plug-ins Executor (NRPE) | package
  | nagios-nrpe-doc    | Nagios Remote Plug-In Executor documentation          | package
  | nagios-nrpe-server | Server part for Nagios Remote Plug-In Executor        | package

Install the correct one:

zypper install nagios-nrpe-client

Output:

Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...

The following NEW packages are going to be installed:
  nagios-nrpe-client nagios-plugins perl-Crypt-DES perl-Digest-HMAC perl-Net-SNMP

The following recommended package was automatically selected:
  nagios-plugins

5 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 612.0 KiB. After the operation, additional 2.4 MiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/?] (y):
Retrieving package nagios-nrpe-client-2.12-4.5.x86_64 (1/5), 30.0 KiB (52.0 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: nagios-nrpe-client-2.12-4.5.x86_64.rpm [done]
Retrieving package perl-Crypt-DES-2.05-135.1.x86_64 (2/5), 19.0 KiB (39.0 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: perl-Crypt-DES-2.05-135.1.x86_64.rpm [done]
Retrieving package perl-Digest-HMAC-1.01-630.2.x86_64 (3/5), 21.0 KiB (34.0 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: perl-Digest-HMAC-1.01-630.2.x86_64.rpm [done]
Retrieving package perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-134.3.x86_64 (4/5), 98.0 KiB (389.0 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-134.3.x86_64.rpm [done]
Retrieving package nagios-plugins-1.4.13-5.3.x86_64 (5/5), 444.0 KiB (1.9 MiB unpacked)
Retrieving: nagios-plugins-1.4.13-5.3.x86_64.rpm [done]
Installing: nagios-nrpe-client-2.12-4.5 [done]
Installing: perl-Crypt-DES-2.05-135.1 [done]
Installing: perl-Digest-HMAC-1.01-630.2 [done]
Installing: perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-134.3 [done]
Installing: nagios-plugins-1.4.13-5.3 [done]

After the install, enable and start the service:

chkconfig nrpe on
/etc/init.d/nrpe start

Tags: nagios , nrpe , suse , tutorials , vcenter , vcsa , virtualization , vmware , zypper