7. Requirements for Discovering Linux, FreeBSD and Windows Instances (Physical, virtual and cloud)

7.1. Linux

Please ensure the following packages are installed on your machines

  • Dmidecode
  • ifconfig (For RAMP versions less than or equal to 3.14)
  • ssh server
  • sudo
  • ip

Ensure that the ssh instances is configured properly, started and is allowing connections from the RAMP Data Collector.

To allow the RAMP Data Collector to accurately retrieve data with minimal impact on your system, please create a new user on your machines with the username ‘ramp’.

Once created, please assign ‘/bin/bash’ as the default shell for the ‘ramp’ user.

In order to gather certain hardware information such as the device’s serial-number, the RAMP Data Collector will need to temporarily gain root privileges.

The file below will allow the ramp user to temporarily gain root privileges when running specific commands.

Add the following 2 lines to /etc/sudoers.d/ramp

# Allow Data Collector to execute dmidecode without needing password
ramp ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/dmidecode

If you have a large number of instances that will be discovered and monitored by RAMP, you may want to consider using an automation tool such as Ansible or Puppet to make these additions.

Note that for virtual and cloud Linux instances some hardware information will not be collected due to the virtual nature of the asset.

Expected missing data for Virtual and Cloud Linux instances

  • Service Pack
  • Memory Speed: Memory Name may or may not be found depending on the hypervisor used
  • Logical Storage Status
  • Cloud instances will not display information about physical storage

7.2. FreeBSD

Please ensure the following packages are installed or enabled on your machines

  • Dmidecode
  • ifconfig (For RAMP versions less than or equal to 3.14)
  • ssh server
  • sudo
  • gawk
  • gsed

Ensure that the ssh instances is configured properly, started and is allowing connections from the RAMP Data Collector.

To allow the RAMP Data Collector to accurately retrieve data with minimal impact on your system, please create a new user on your machines with the username ‘ramp’.

Once created, please assign ‘/usr/local/bin/bash’ as the default shell for the ‘ramp’ user.

In order to gather certain hardware information such as the device’s serial-number, the RAMP Data Collector will need to temporarily gain root privileges.

The file below will allow the ramp user to temporarily gain root privileges when running specific commands.

Add the following 2 lines to /etc/local/sudoers.d/ramp

# Allow Data Collector to execute dmidecode without needing password
ramp ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/local/sbin/dmidecode

If you have a large number of instances that will be discovered and monitored by RAMP, you may want to consider using an automation tool such as Ansible or Puppet to make these additions.

7.3. Note for SSH Discovery Using a Certificate Credential

As of OpenSSH version 7.8, the default format of RSA keys generated using ssh-keygen has changed.

Prior to version 7.8, generated keys would display the following header:

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

As of version 7.8, generated keys display the following header:

-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----

The new format is currently not supported for discovery. You can generate RSA keys in a compatible format using the following command:

ssh-keygen -m PEM -t rsa -b 4096

7.4. Windows

  • The RAMP Data Collector requires network access to the Windows machine targeted for discovery. More details on this are available here.
  • RAMP requires credentials (local or domain user) with privileges to query and read WMI information. More details on this are available here.
  • The RAMP data collector required the target Windows machine to be fully resolved in DNS. If this is not possible, the target machine’s IP information can be added to the RAMP data collector’s HOSTS file as a workaround.