Using web monitor within LXC to monitor core server?
 

Is there a way to expose the core server to an LXC container for a system monitor? I want to be able to have Nginx inside of a container, but use ezservermonitor (web based real-time monitor) to see the main system stats and not the container it's running in.

I'm trying to prevent installing Nginx on the server and use LXC as much as possible, but I don't think LXC can do this since it's kind of like a VM.

I haven't used Docker much, but I've seen netdata docker image so do I need to use Docker Nginx/PHP and that would allow me to use ezservermonitor to see the core system?

I'd like to stick to LXC if can, but will do Docker if can't.

You can have netdata monitor the host, while running inside an lxc container.

To do this, create the directories /host, /host/proc, /host/sys, /host/dev inside the container and use lxc configuration to mount /proc /sys /dev from the host to the container.
This is usually done with lxc configs like this:

So, something like these is needed:


Check the lxc docs for correct usage of this and additional information.

Then, in netdata.conf inside the container, set:

And restart netdata inside the container.
Now netdata should monitor the host.

Keep in mind that certain data collection features of netdata many not work as expected when running netdata inside a container, since netdata does not have full visibility of the host system. If you want to get the full of it, install netdata at the host (this is also the suggested way). netdata has binary packages that install it in /opt/netdata to avoid installing from source.

Thanks a lot. Was able to get ezservermonitor to pull up the core server stats using your examples for netdata.

Monitor Proxmox Host with ezservermonitor in LXC
 

Create Ubuntu 18.04 LXC with YOUR_IP_ADDR
=========================================
sudo nano /etc/pve/lxc/10x.conf
mp0: /proc,mp=/host/proc
mp1: /sys,mp=/host/sys
mp2: /dev,mp=/host/dev
mp3: /mnt/Share/Drive1,mp=/mnt/Drive1,size=800G
mp4: /mnt/Share/Drive2,mp=/mnt/Drive2


install lighttpd web server
===========================
sudo -i
apt update && apt upgrade
apt install lighttpd -y
systemctl enable lighttpd
systemctl start lighttpd

install PHP
===========
visit http://YOUR_IP_ADDR -> if all goes well see placeholder page
apt install -y php7.2 php7.2-fpm php7.2-mysql php7.2-cli php7.2-curl php7.2-xml

nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
uncomment cgi.fix_pathinfo=1

nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/pool.d/www.conf
Change listen = /run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock to listen = 127.0.0.1:9000
systemctl restart php7.2-fpm

nano /etc/lighttpd/conf-available/15-fastcgi-php.conf
FROM: "bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php-cgi", TO "host" => "127.0.0.1",
FROM: "socket" => "/var/run/lighttpd/php.socket", TO: "port" => "9000",

apt install cpanminus
lighty-enable-mod fastcgi
lighty-enable-mod fastcgi-php
systemctl restart lighttpd

nano /var/www/html/index.php
<?php phpinfo(); ?>

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/
systemctl restart lighttpd
systemctl restart php7.2-fpm

visit http://YOUR_IP_ADDR -> if all goes well see PHP info page

download and unzip ezservermonitor
apt install curl
apt install unzip
apt install net-tools
curl -L h_t_t_p_s://ezservermonitor.com/esm-web/downloads/version/2.5 -o ezservermonitor-web_v2.5.zip
unzip ezservermonitor-web_v2.5.zip
cp -R eZServerMonitor-2.5 /var/www/html/

visit: http://YOUR_IP_ADDR/eZServerMonitor-2.5/ -> if all goes well will see eZServerMonitor page


Modify eZServerMonitor to show Proxmox host info, not LXC info
==============================================================
config: nano /var/www/html/eZServerMonitor-2.5/conf/esm.config.json => "auto_refresh": 60, "theme": "dark",
Misc.php: nano /var/www/html/eZServerMonitor-2.5/libs/Utils/Misc.php /proc/cpuinfo => /host/proc/cpuinfo
cpu.php: nano /var/www/html/eZServerMonitor-2.5/libs/cpu.php /proc/cpuinfo => /host/proc/cpuinfo
memory.php: nano /var/www/html/eZServerMonitor-2.5/libs/memory.php /proc/meminfo => /host/proc/meminfo
swap.php: nano /var/www/html/eZServerMonitor-2.5/libs/swap.php /proc/meminfo => /host/proc/meminfo
disk.php: OK as-is
load_average.php: nano /var/www/html/eZServerMonitor-2.5/libs/load_average.php /proc/loadavg => /host/proc/loadavg
services.php: OK as-is
network.php: OK as-is
system.php: nano /var/www/html/eZServerMonitor-2.5/libs/system.php /proc/uptime => /host/proc/uptime

nano /var/www/html/eZServerMonitor-2.5/index.php
<td>Hostname</td> => <td>LXC Hostname</td>
<td>OS</td> => <td>LXC OS</td>

Enjoy!