rConfig Installation Guide – Cisco Config Automatic backup

overview

rConfig depends heavily on interaction with CentOS built-in tools and utilities to complete certain tasks and features. An example is search. rConfig uses the Linux find and grep utilities installed with CentOS to carry out very fast and efficient searches across downloaded configuration files. rConfig also reads from and writes to the filesystem.

rConfig should be installed as a dedicated standalone server. Whether a physical server or virtual, your server should be dedicated for rConfig use only. This is currently the only supported method for rConfig installations. If rConfig is shared with any other application i.e. internal websites etc… the updated Apache settings and other Operating Systems settings may interfere with rConfig operations.

From a security point of view, because rConfig essentially holds the configuration information for your network devices, you should apply standard security principles to the server and it’s related network segment. It should NOT be exposed to the Internet (rConfig should not be publicly accessible). And it is best placed in a network management DMZ in your network. A secure segment for network management servers/appliances that is firewalled from the rest of your network.

hardware requirements (minimum)

• Stand alone/ dedicated server (physical or virtual)
• 100 GB Hard Disk Space free
• 1 GB Ram
• Intel x86_64 CPU

software requirements (minimum)

• CentOS 6.3 Minimal (with rConfig build)
• PHP 5.3.3
• Apache 2.2.15
• MySQL 5.1.61
• CRON

CentOS configuration

Some CentOS configuration files need to be edited before rConfig can be installed. If these are not updated per the below, rConfig install may fail and some rConfig features may not work.

1.   Update the sudoers file, using visudo

visudo

CTRL+D to scroll to end of file
add the following lines to the sudoers file

apache  ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/crontab, /usr/bin/zip, /bin/chmod, /bin/chown, /usr/bin/whoami
Defaults:apache !requiretty

rConfig installation

At this point you are ready to upload rConfig to the server for installation. You need to upload your downloaded copy ofrConfig, extract the files, change the Apache config file and run the installation script. See details below.

1.   Upload your copy of rConfig to /home directory on your CentOS Server
2.   Navigate to /home and extract the rConfig ZIP file per the following command

cd /home

unzip rconfig-x.x.zip (where rconfig-x.x.zip is the name if the file you donwloaded)

3.   Apply some new permissions the the newly unzipped directories

chown -R apache /home/rconfig

4.   You need to update the httpd.conf file from its default to the preconfigured httpd.conf file packaged with rConfig

mv /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf.original
cp /home/rconfig/www/install/httpd.conf.new /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
service httpd restart

You can now launch a web browser and go to http://rconfig.hostname/install/ to complete the installation

rConfig web installation

When you launch http://rconfig.hostname/install/ you will see the installation dialog screen per below. Please complete all fields

1.   The pre-installation check list lets you know if you have the correct and up to date software versions installed. You should correct any errors before you proceed

2.   You must read and click to accept the license agreement on the next screen before you are allowed to proceed

3.   The next screen is where you enter your database settings for rConfig. It is advised that you create a non-root database account for the rConfig database. If the database is installed on the same server as rConfig, then you may enter localhost as the ‘Database Server’. Click ‘Check Settings’ to validate the settings you’ve entered, and click ‘Install’ to create and install the rConfig database.

4.   The final screen allows you to confirm that all rConfig paramaters are installed correctly before you run rConfig for the first time. Just click on the ‘Final Check’ button. If there are any failures or errors, you must correct these before you can use rConfig. 

At this point, you are also warned to remove the install directory from /home/rconfig/www/ once the installation is complete for security purposes. If you do not, you will get warnings every time you launch rConfig. You are also presented with the default Admin username and password.

Command to remove the install directory is

rm -fr /home/rconfig/www/install/

5.   At the bottom of the Final Check page, you will be presented with a checklist of items to carry out when you launchrConfig for the first time. It is advised you carry out this task list in order to avoid and errors or issues when using rConfigafter first launch.

Welcome to rConfig!