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Installing MBI

This page is intended for administrators who will install and configure Centreon MBI.

This page presents the software architecture of the Centreon MBI extension, then explains how to install it. To do so, five main steps are required:

  1. Check the system requirements.
  2. Install the Centreon MBI interface in the Centreon application.
  3. Install the reporting server (Centreon MBI Reporting Server).
  4. Configure the ETL in the Centreon interface.
  5. Build the MBI database.

Once installation is complete, you can monitor your MBI server with Centreon.

Architecture​

A dedicated reporting server​

The architecture and these requirements apply to:

  • test
  • pre-production
  • production environments.

The diagram below highlights the main components of Centreon MBI:

image

The monitoring database is not necessarily on the same server as the Centreon server.

  • ETL: Process that extracts, transforms and loads data into the reporting database.
  • CBIS: The scheduler that manages the execution and publication of reports.
  • Reporting Database: The MariaDB/MySQL database that contains the reporting data and some raw data extracted from the monitoring database.

Network Flow Tables​

The table below shows the different types of flows, by default, between the dedicated BI server, the Centreon server and the databases:

ApplicationSourceDestinationPortProtocol
ETL/CBISReporting serverCentreon database server3306TCP
ETLLocalhostLocalhost8085TCP
SSHReporting serverCentreon Server22TCP
CBISReporting serverCentreon Server80HTTP*
CBISCentreonReporting server1234TCP
WidgetsCentreon central serverReporting server3306TCP

Only required for Host-Graph-v2 and Hostgroup-Graph-v2 reports that use the Centreon API to generate graphs.

Information about the packages​

The Centreon MBI installation is based on two RPM packages:

  • Centreon-bi-server: Installs the MBI interface integrated with the Centreon interface. The package is installed on the Centreon central server.
  • Centreon-bi-reporting-server: Contains all the components needed to run the reporting server (report scheduler, ETL, standard reports). It must be installed on a server dedicated to reporting processes.

The installation of the database must be done at the same time. We strongly recommend installing the MariaDB/MySQL database on the reporting server, for performance and isolation reasons.

Step 1: Check the system requirements​

Central Centreon server​

Software requirements​

See the software requirements.

You should install the MariaDB/MySQL database at the same time. We highly recommend installing the database on the same server, due to performance and isolation considerations.

  • Centreon Web 26.10

  • Check that date.timezone is correctly configured in the /etc/php.d/50-centreon.ini or /etc/php.d/20-timezone.ini file (same as the one returned by the timedatectl status command).

  • Avoid using the following variables in the configuration file /etc/my.cnf. They interrupt the execution of long queries and can stop ETL or report generation jobs:

    • wait_timeout
    • interactive_timeout

    This only applies to the monitoring database. The optimized configuration file of the reporting database sets these variables to 28800 seconds on purpose.

Users and groups​

UserGroup
centreonBI (new)apache,centreon,centreonBI
apache (existing)centreonBI

Description of users, umask and home directory​

Userumaskhome
centreonBI0002/home/centreonBI

Dedicated reporting server​

Hardware layer​

ElementValue
CPU4 vCPU
RAM16 GB

This is how your MBI server should be partitioned:

Volume group (LVM)File systemDescriptionSize
/bootboot images1 GB
vg_root/system root20 GB
vg_rootswapswap4 GB
vg_root/var/logcontains all log files10 GB
vg_data/var/lib/mysqldatabase233 GB
vg_data/var/backupbackup directory10 GB
vg_dataFree space (unallocated)5 GB

To check the free space, use the following command by replacing vg_data with the name of the group volume:

vgdisplay vg_data | grep -i free*

Firmware and software layer​

Make sure that the reporting server and the central server have the same time zone; otherwise report publications will fail (the link to download them will be missing). The /etc/localtime file must also exist on the reporting server; otherwise the install.sh script will fail to create the database schema.

  1. Set the time zone of the reporting server to the same time zone as the central server (for example, Europe/Paris):

    timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Paris

    If the central server uses UTC, use Etc/UTC rather than UTC. If the reporting server already reports UTC, timedatectl set-timezone UTC does nothing and does not create /etc/localtime.

  2. Check that /etc/localtime exists and points to the right time zone:

    ls -l /etc/localtime

    The output should look like this: /etc/localtime -> ../usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Paris.

Be sure to optimize MariaDB/MySQL on your reporting server. You WILL need at least 12 GB of RAM in order to use the optimized configuration file. Without this, the database doesn't start. Download the file that matches your database:

You will save this file as 85-centreon-bi.cnf when you optimize the database. Keep this name: the 85- prefix makes sure the file is read after the 80-centreon.cnf file installed by Centreon packages, so that its values are not overridden.

If you want to use a different directory than /var/lib/mysql/, edit the datadir and tmpdir variables in the 85-centreon-bi.cnf file.

Make sure a tmp folder is created inside the same partition as /var/lib/mysql.

Do not set these MariaDB optimizations on your monitoring server.

Users and groups:

UserGroup
centreonBIcentreonBI

Description of users, umask and user directory:

Userumaskhome
centreonBI0002/home/centreonBI

Step 2: Install the extension on Centreon​

The actions listed in this chapter must be performed on the Centreon Central Server.

  1. Install the Business repository. You can find it on the support portal.

  2. Then run the following commands:

dnf install centreon-bi-server

Grant rights to the centreon user​

In the central database, grant trigger rights to the centreon user:

  1. Find the host(s) on which the centreon user exists:

    SELECT user, host FROM mysql.user WHERE user = 'centreon';

  2. Grant the rights to the centreon user:

    GRANT TRIGGER ON centreon.* TO 'centreon'@'<host>';
    GRANT TRIGGER ON centreon_storage.* TO 'centreon'@'<host>';

    Replace <host> with the value returned by the previous query (for example, localhost if the database is local to the central server, or % or an IP address if it is remote). If the query returns several hosts, run these commands for each of them.

Allow function creation (MySQL only)​

If the central database uses MySQL, perform the following actions on the server that hosts it before you enable the extension. Otherwise, the installation fails with ERROR 1419: the extension appears as installed, but its menu and options are missing.

  1. Perform the following action:

In the /etc/my.cnf.d/mysql-server.cnf file, add:

log_bin_trust_function_creators=1

  1. Restart MySQL.

  2. Check the database to confirm this variable is applied:

show global variables like 'log_bin_trust_function_creators';
+---------------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name                   | Value |
+---------------------------------+-------+
| log_bin_trust_function_creators | ON   |

If the variable is not turned on, set it manually:

mysql> SET GLOBAL log_bin_trust_function_creators = 1;

Enable the extension​

The Administration > Extension > Manager menu allows you to install the extensions detected by Centreon. Click the Centreon MBI tile to install.

Then, download the license sent by the Centreon team to start configuring the general options.

Configure the extension​

Enter the following values in the Centreon MBI general options menu, Reports > Monitoring Business Intelligence > General Options:

TabsOptionValue
Scheduler optionsCBIS HostIP address of the reporting server
ETL optionsReporting engine uses a dedicated MySQL serverYes
Reporting widgets*Reporting MariaDB databaseIP address of the reporting base (default = IP address of the reporting server)
Reporting widgets*PasswordPassword of the centreonbi database user on the reporting server

* The connection test will not work at this point in the installation.

The Password field of the Reporting widgets tab is prefilled with centreonbi. This is not the password that the installation scripts (centreonMysqlRights.pl and install.sh) set for the centreonbi user. If you keep the default value, the widgets cannot connect to the reporting database, and the connection test fails with the following error: Access denied for user 'centreonbi'@'<IP_CENTRAL>'.

The password can be updated in Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > General Options > Reporting widgets.

Access to the Central database​

The MariaDB monitoring database is hosted on the central monitoring server.

Run the command below to allow the reporting server to connect to the databases on the monitoring server. Use the following option:

perl /usr/share/centreon/www/modules/centreon-bi-server/tools/centreonMysqlRights.pl --root-password=@MYSQLROOTPASSWORD@

This script will return the password for the CentreonBI user. The password can be updated in Reports > Monitoring Business Intelligence > General options > Reporting Widgets.

@MYSQLROOTPASSWORD@: The root password of the MariaDB monitoring database. If there is no password for the "root" user, do not specify the root-password option.

If you use MariaDB replication for your monitoring databases, some views are created during the installation of Centreon MBI. You must exclude them from replication by adding the following line to the my.cnf file of the slave server or mariadb.cnf on Debian 13.

replicate-wild-ignore-table=centreon.mod_bi_%v01,centreon.mod_bi_%V01

Then, create the views manually on the slave server:

  1. Download the following file to a temporary folder (in our example, /tmp), for instance using wget.
  2. Run the following command (change the name of your temporary folder if necessary):
mysql centreon < /tmp/view_creation.sql

Debian 13 specific configuration​

MariaDB must listen on all interfaces instead of listening on localhost/127.0.0.1 (default value). Edit the following file:

/etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf

Set bind-address to 0.0.0.0 and restart mariadb.

systemctl restart mariadb

Give rights to the cbis user​

When you install Centreon MBI, a user named cbis is automatically created. It allows the report generation engine to extract data from Centreon (using the APIs) in order to insert them in the report. This user must have access to all resources monitored by Centreon in order to extract the performance graphs for the following reports:

  • Host-Graph-v2
  • Hostgroup-Graph-v2.

To test the connection between the MBI reporting server and the Centreon API, use the following command to download a graph. Replace the graph parameters and timestamps, and replace XXXXXXXXX with the user's autologin token cbis:

curl -XGET 'https://IP_CENTRAL/centreon/include/views/graphs/generateGraphs/generateImage.php?akey=XXXXXXXXX&username=CBIS&hostname=<host_name>&service=<service_description>&start=<start_date>&end=<end_date>' --output /tmp/image.png

Example:

curl -XGET 'https://10.1.1.1/centreon/include/views/graphs/generateGraphs/generateImage.php?akey=otmw3n1hu03bvt9e0caphuf50ph8sdthcsk8ofdk&username=CBIS&hostname=my-poller&service=Cpu&start=1623016800&end=1623621600' --output /tmp/image.png

The result should look like the code below, and the desired graph image must have been uploaded to the /tmp directory:

  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100 18311  100 18311    0     0  30569      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 30569

Step 3: Install the reporting server​

Install the packages​

This step is performed on the machine that will become your MBI server.

Prerequisites​

You must have the following information before proceeding with the installation:

  • IP/DNS of the monitoring database
  • IP/DNS of the Centreon web interface
  • IP/DNS of the reporting database (localhost strongly recommended)

Define and retrieve the SSH password for the centreonBI user on the central server (to make the reports generated on the interface available).

During database installation, note the password for the database's root account.

Install the Centreon repositories​

  1. Install the standard repository:
dnf install -y dnf-plugins-core
dnf config-manager --add-repo https://packages.centreon.com/rpm-standard/26.10/el9/centreon-26.10.repo
dnf clean all --enablerepo=*
dnf update
  1. Install the Business repository. You can find its address on the support portal.

Install the database repository​

curl -LsS https://r.mariadb.com/downloads/mariadb_repo_setup | bash -s -- --os-type=rhel --os-version=9 --mariadb-server-version=mariadb-11.8 --skip-maxscale

Install dependencies​

Install the epel repository:

dnf install -y https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm

Enable the codeready-builder repositories:

subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms

Install the MBI server's database​

dnf install MariaDB-server MariaDB-client

Install the MBI module on the MBI server​

dnf install centreon-bi-reporting-server

When installing the MBI packages, java (OpenJDK 25) is automatically installed as a dependency, if needed. The cbis service always uses /usr/lib/jvm/java-25-openjdk on Alma / RHEL / Oracle Linux and /usr/lib/jvm/java-25-openjdk-amd64 on Debian 13.

Enable services​

Enable the cbis service:

systemctl enable cbis

Start and enable gorgoned:

systemctl start gorgoned && systemctl enable gorgoned

Optimize the database​

Copy the optimized configuration file provided in the prerequisites to /etc/my.cnf.d/85-centreon-bi.cnf, then restart the MariaDB service:

systemctl restart mariadb

It is necessary to change the LimitNOFILE limitation. Changing this option in /etc/my.cnf will NOT work.

mkdir -p  /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/
echo -ne "[Service]\nLimitNOFILE=32000\n" | tee /etc/systemd/system/mariadb.service.d/limits.conf
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart mariadb

If the MariaDB service fails to start, remove the ib_logfile files (MariaDB must absolutely be stopped) and then restart MariaDB again:

rm -f /var/lib/mysql/ib_logfile*
systemctl start mariadb

If you are using a specific socket file for MariaDB, modify the file /etc/my.cnf and in the [client] section, add :

socket=$PATH_TO_SOCKET$

Secure the database​

It is mandatory to secure the root access of the database before installing Centreon. Execute the following commands on the reporting server:

mariadb-secure-installation

Answer yes to all questions except "Disallow root login remotely?"

  • It is mandatory to define a password for the root user of the database. You will need this password during the web-installation.

See advanced procedures to Secure your MBI platform.

For more information, please see the official MariaDB documentation.

Start configuring​

Make sure the MariaDB reporting system is started and then run the commands below and answer the questions. For the "database type for reporting databse" select MySQL or MariaDB, do not leave the default option "Automatic Discovery" as this will result in an error.

/usr/share/centreon-bi/config/install.sh

The script manages the exchange of SSH keys between the monitoring server and the reporting server, and configures the default SFTP publishing rule in order to publish the reports on the Centreon web interface. Finally, it enables the backup and starts the CBIS service.

Once the installation is complete, continue to the next chapter to configure the ETL.

Problem with the SSH exchange key​

In some cases, SSH key exchange fails, for example when password authentication is disabled on the monitoring server (PasswordAuthentication no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config). To solve the problem, do the following manually:

Switch to the centreonBI user:

su - centreonBI

Generate the SSH key:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -a 100 -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 -P "" -q

And print the centreonBI public key (in order to authorize it then on Centreon):

su - centreonBI
cat /home/centreonBI/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Now, on the monitoring server:

Create a .ssh folder that centreonBI will own, restrict permissions on this folder and on the authorized_keys file, and paste into the authorized_keys file the contents of its public key on the reporting server (shown earlier):

mkdir -p /home/centreonBI/.ssh/ && chown centreonBI: /home/centreonBI/.ssh/ && chmod 700 /home/centreonBI/.ssh/ && echo "@reporting pub key content@" > /home/centreonBI/.ssh/authorized_keys && chown centreonBI: /home/centreonBI/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 /home/centreonBI/.ssh/authorized_keys

The key exchange must then be validated by a first connection that will accept the SSH server signature. As the centreonBI user from the reporting server:

ssh centreonBI@@MONITORING_SERVER@

Then exit the centreonBI session with exit or Ctrl-D on both servers.

To continue, run the installation script (/usr/share/centreon-bi/config/install.sh) as above and answer Yes when asked to proceed with the SSH key exchange.

Step 4: Configure the ETL​

Centreon MBI integrates an ETL that allows you to:

  • Synchronize the raw data from the monitoring to the reporting server
  • Feed statistical data to the reporting server databases
  • Control the retention of data on the reporting server

General configuration of the ETL​

Go to Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > General Options, ETL Options tab, and specify the following options:

OptionsValues
General options
Reporting engine uses a dedicated dedicated MySQL serverThe only appropriate option is Yes.
Temporary file storage directory on reporting serverFolder where dumps will be stored on the reporting server
Use large memory tweaks (store MariaDB temporary tables in memory)Creates temporary tables using RAM rather than creating them on disk. Not recommended if you have databases with less than 64GB of RAM.
Centile parameters
Calculating centile aggregation bySelect the desired aggregation level. The standard percentile report provided with BI 2.1 uses Month data.
Select service categories to aggregate centile onFilter on relevant service categories for centile statistics (e.g., Traffic).
First day of the weekSelect the first day of the week for Week aggregation.
Centile / Timeperiod combinationCreate a new centile/timeperiod combination on which to perform the calculation.

Defining which data will be used by MBI​

Use the options on the Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > General Options page, ETL Options tab to determine which data will be imported from your central server to the MBI database. Make sure you only import the data you want to see in reports: all unnecessary data will take space and use computation time for nothing.

OptionsValues
General options
Type of statistics to build
Reporting perimeter selection
Host groupsSelect only host groups on which you want to create reports.
Host categoriesSelect only host categories on which you want to create reports.
Service categoriesSelect only service categories on which you want to create reports.
Availability statistic calculation
Live services for availability statistics calculationYour availability reports will only include data from these time periods.
Performance and capacity statistic calculation
Granularity required for performance data statisticsSelect the level of granularity required to run the desired performance reports (1).
Live services for performance data statistics calculationSelect the required time periods.
Capacity statistic aggregated by month (reports in the storage category). Data is only aggregated by month.
Live services for capacity statistics calculationSelect 24x7, as this is the only relevant time period to calculate disk space.
Service categories related to capacity data monitoringSelect the service categories that have been associated with capacity-type services.
Exclude metrics from service categories that do not return capacity USAGE informationConcerns the metrics linked to services which return capacity data. Select the metrics that do not return capacity usage information. but a maximum or total value. (e.g., the metric “size”).

(1) Reports requiring data granularity by the hour are listed below. If you do not wish to use these reports, disable the calculation of hourly statistics:

  • Hostgroup-Host-details-1
  • Host-detail-v2
  • Hostgroup-traffic-Average-Usage-By-Interface
  • Hostgroup-traffic-by-Interface-And-Bandwith-Ranges

ETL: Data retention​

The reporting server contains tables of statistics specific to Centreon MBI in the "centreon_storage" database. The storage space used by these tables is increasing every day. It is possible to control the size of these tables by defining data retention rules.

Under Reports > Monitoring Business Intelligence > General Options > Data Retention Options menu, data retention can be managed by:

  • Type of data (availability, performance).
  • Data granularity (raw data, hourly, daily or monthly values)

Before enabling the data retention options, make sure that the reporting engine uses a dedicated MariaDB server, and the corresponding option is set to Yes in the Reporting > Business Intelligence > General Options ETL Options menu.

Enable data retention management by selecting Yes, then set the configuration options (example below).

image

To enable automatic purging of old data, edit the cron file /etc/cron.d/centreon-bi-purge on the reporting server, then uncomment the following line:

#0 20 * * * root @CENTREON_BI_HOME@/*etl*/dataRetentionManager.pl >> @CENTREON_BI_LOG@/dataRetentionManager.log 2>&1

Avoid scheduled periods for statistical calculations with Centreon MBI ETL and report generation. You can run this cron daily or weekly, depending on the batch execution time and the load generated on the server.

Restart the cron service:

systemctl restart crond

BEST PRACTICES: Select different retention periods depending on the granularity of the statistical data:

  • Aggregated values per hour are used to analyze a metric over a short period of time. They take up a lot of disk space. You may not need to keep these statistics for more than two or three months.

  • Beyond five or six months, you may only need to view the trend for availability or performance statistics. You could then retain daily aggregate data for up to six months, for example, and set up retention of monthly aggregate data for a period of several dozen months.

Step 5: Build the MBI database​

Prerequisites​

  • Before continuing, make sure you have installed the MariaDB configuration file as described above in the prerequisites.

  • Configure the ETL and enable data retention so that only the required data is imported and calculated.

  • Make sure that the data on the central server is ready.

  • Make sure that the gorgoned process works fine: systemctl status gorgoned. If needed, restart it: systemctl restart gorgoned.

  • Bear in mind that if you are building the MBI database for the first time, you have to import all of the data in one go. If you have a large amount of data and/or if you start the process late in the day, it's important to be aware that the database building phase might take a significant amount of time, possibly extending into the next day. This is why the daily build is disabled by default: in the /etc/cron.d/centreon-bi-engine cronfile, the following line is commented out. It must stay commented out until the initial build is complete, so as to avoid duplicate entries or other problems. You will reenable it at the end of the procedure.

    #30 4 * * * root /usr/share/centreon-bi//bin/centreonBIETL -d >> /var/log/centreon-bi/centreonBIETL.log 2>&1

    If this line is not commented out (for example, if you are rebuilding the database), comment it out, then restart the cron service:

systemctl restart crond

Construction of statistics from historical data​

Run the following command on the reporting server. This will:

  • Delete any existing data from the reporting server.
  • Import raw monitoring data from the central server to the MBI server (depending on retention settings).
  • Fill tables containing availability statistics for hosts and services.
  • Fill tables containing performance and capacity statistics for hosts and services.
/usr/share/centreon-bi/bin/centreonBIETL -r

You may want to run it in the background and redirect the script's output to a log:

nohup /usr/share/centreon-bi//bin/centreonBIETL -r >> /var/log/centreon-bi/centreonBIETL.log 2>&1 &

The output is displayed in your terminal or, if you ran the command in the background, in the /var/log/centreon-bi/centreonBIETL.log log file (for example, use tail -f /var/log/centreon-bi/centreonBIETL.log to follow it). You should see some lines appear with 4 parts like:

2025-08-01 13:34:16 - INFO - [SCHEDULER] >>>>>>> start
2025-08-01 13:34:16 - INFO - [SCHEDULER][IMPORT] >>>>>>> start
...
2025-08-01 13:35:18 - INFO- [SCHEDULER][IMPORT] <<<<<<< end
2025-08-01 13:35:18 - INFO - [SCHEDULER][DIMENSIONS] >>>>>>> start
...
2025-08-01 13:35:52 - INFO - [SCHEDULER][DIMENSIONS] <<<<<<< end
2025-08-01 13:35:52 - INFO - [SCHEDULER][EVENT] >>>>>>> start
...
2025-08-01 13:38:37 - INFO - [SCHEDULER][EVENT] <<<<<<< end
2025-08-01 13:38:37 - INFO - [SCHEDULER][PERFDATA] >>>>>>> start
...
2025-08-01 13:48:17 - INFO - [SCHEDULER][PERFDATA] <<<<<<< end
2025-08-01 13:58:17 - INFO - [SCHEDULER] <<<<<<< end

Reenable daily script execution​

This step is mandatory. The daily calculation of statistics is disabled by default. If you skip this step, no daily statistics will be calculated, and no error will be displayed.

Once the data building process is complete, reenable the daily calculation of statistics:

  1. On the reporting server, edit the /etc/cron.d/centreon-bi-engine file and uncomment the following line (remove the leading #):

    #30 4 * * * root /usr/share/centreon-bi//bin/centreonBIETL -d >> /var/log/centreon-bi/centreonBIETL.log 2>&1

    The line should now look like this:

    30 4 * * * root /usr/share/centreon-bi//bin/centreonBIETL -d >> /var/log/centreon-bi/centreonBIETL.log 2>&1

  2. Restart the cron service on the reporting server:

systemctl restart crond

Make sure the centreonBIETL batch only starts once eventReportBuilder has ended on the monitoring server (check the cron file etc/cron.d/centreon on the monitoring server).

The installation of Centreon MBI is now complete. You can start creating jobs in order to generate reports. See the tutorial.

Monitor your MBI server with Centreon​

It is strongly advised that you monitor your MBI server using the Centreon MBI connector.