# Dispatcher Service > Status: Release Candidate The LibreNMS dispatcher service (`librenms-service.py`) is a new method of running the poller service at set times. It does not replace the php scripts, just the cron entries running them. ## External Requirements ### A recent version of Python The LibreNMS service requires Python 3 and some features require behaviour only found in Python3.4+. ### Python modules - PyMySQL is recommended as it requires no C compiler to install. MySQLclient can also be used, but does require compilation. - python-dotenv .env loader - redis-py 4.0+ and Redis 5.0+ server (if using distributed polling) - psutil These can be obtained from your OS package manager, or from PyPI with the below commands. ```bash pip3 install -r requirements.txt ``` ### Redis (distributed polling) If you want to use distributed polling, you'll need a Redis instance to coordinate the nodes. It's recommended that you do not share the Redis database with any other system - by default, Redis supports up to 16 databases (numbered 0-15). You can also use Redis on a single host if you want It's strongly recommended that you deploy a resilient cluster of redis systems, and use redis-sentinel. You should not rely on the password for the security of your system. See ### Memcached (distributed polling) LibreNMS can still use memcached as a locking mechanism when using distributed polling. So you can configure memcached for this purpose unless you have updates disabled. See `Locking Mechanisms` at ### MySQL You should already have this, but the pollers do need access to the SQL database. The LibreNMS service runs faster and more aggressively than the standard poller, so keep an eye on the number of open connections and other important health metrics. ## Configuration Connection settings are required in `.env`. The `.env` file is generated after composer install and `APP_KEY` and `NODE_ID` are set. Remember that the APP_KEY value must be the same on all your pollers. ```dotenv #APP_KEY= #Required, generated by composer install #NODE_ID= #Required, generated by composer install DB_HOST=localhost DB_DATABASE=librenms DB_USERNAME=librenms DB_PASSWORD= ``` ### Distributed Polling Configuration Once you have your Redis database set up, configure it in the .env file on each node. Configure the redis cache driver for distributed locking. There are a number of options - most of them are optional if your redis instance is standalone and unauthenticated (neither recommended). ```dotenv ## ## Standalone ## REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1 REDIS_PORT=6379 REDIS_DB=0 REDIS_TIMEOUT=60 # If requirepass is set in redis set everything above as well as: (recommended) REDIS_PASSWORD=PasswordGoesHere # If ACL's are in use, set everything above as well as: (highly recommended) REDIS_USERNAME=UsernameGoesHere ## ## Sentinel ## REDIS_SENTINEL=redis-001.example.org:26379,redis-002.example.org:26379,redis-003.example.org:26379 REDIS_SENTINEL_SERVICE=mymaster # If requirepass is set in sentinel, set everything above as well as: (recommended) REDIS_SENTINEL_PASSWORD=SentinelPasswordGoesHere # If ACL's are in use, set everything above as well as: (highly recommended) REDIS_SENTINEL_USERNAME=SentinelUsernameGoesHere ``` For more information on ACL's, see Note that if you use Sentinel, you may still need `REDIS_PASSWORD`, `REDIS_USERNAME`, `REDIS_DB` and `REDIS_TIMEOUT` - Sentinel just provides the address of the instance currently accepting writes and manages failover. It's possible (and recommended) to have authentication both on Sentinel and the managed Redis instances. ### Basic Configuration Additional configuration settings can be set in your config. The defaults are shown here - it's recommended that you at least tune the number of workers. !!! setting "poller/distributed" ```bash lnms config:set service_poller_workers 24 lnms config:set service_services_workers 8 lnms config:set service_discovery_workers 16 ``` Optional Settings !!! setting "poller/distributed" ```bash lnms config:set service_poller_frequency 300 lnms config:set service_services_frequency 300 lnms config:set service_discovery_frequency 21600 lnms config:set service_billing_frequency 300 lnms config:set service_billing_calculate_frequency 60 lnms config:set service_poller_down_retry 60 lnms config:set service_loglevel INFO lnms config:set service_update_frequency 86400 ``` There are also some SQL options, but these should be inherited from your LibreNMS web UI configuration. Logs are sent to the system logging service (usually `journald` or `rsyslog`) - see for the options available. ```php $config['distributed_poller'] = true; # Set to true to enable distributed polling $config['distributed_poller_name'] = php_uname('n'); # Uniquely identifies the poller instance $config['distributed_poller_group'] = 0; # Which group to poll ``` ### Tuning the number of workers See https://your_librenms_install/poller You want to keep Consumed Worker Seconds comfortably below Maximum Worker Seconds. The closer the values are to each other, the flatter the CPU graph of the poller machine. Meaning that you are utilizing your CPU resources well. As long as Consumed WS stays below Maximum WS and Devices Pending is 0, you should be ok. If Consumed WS is below Maximum WS and Devices Pending is > 0, your hardware is not up to the task. Maximum WS equals the number of workers multiplied with the number of seconds in the polling period. (default 300) ## Fast Ping The [fast ping](Fast-Ping-Check.md) scheduler is disabled by default. You can enable it by setting the following: ```php $config['service_ping_enabled'] = true; ``` ## Watchdog The watchdog scheduler is disabled by default. You can enable it by setting the following: ```php $config['service_watchdog_enabled'] = true; ``` The watchdog scheduler will check that the poller log file has been written to within the last poll period. If there is no change to the log file since, the watchdog will restart the polling service. The poller log file is set by `$config['log_file']` and defaults to `./logs/librenms.log` ## Cron Scripts Once the LibreNMS service is installed, the cron scripts used by LibreNMS to start alerting, polling, discovery and maintenance tasks are no longer required and must be disabled either by removing or commenting them out. The service handles these tasks when enabled. ## Service Installation A systemd unit file is provided - You must adapt `ExecStart` and `WorkingDirectory` if you did not install librenms in `/opt/librenms` The sysv and upstart init scripts could also be used with a little modification. ### systemd service A systemd unit file can be found in `misc/librenms.service`. To install run: ```bash cp /opt/librenms/misc/librenms.service /etc/systemd/system/librenms.service && systemctl enable --now librenms.service ``` ### systemd service with watchdog This service file is an alternative to the above service file. It uses the systemd WatchdogSec= option to restart the service if it does not receive a keep-alive from the running process. A systemd unit file can be found in `misc/librenms-watchdog.service`. To install run: ```bash cp /opt/librenms/misc/librenms-watchdog.service /etc/systemd/system/librenms.service && systemctl enable --now librenms.service ``` This requires: python3-systemd (or python-systemd on older systems) or https://pypi.org/project/systemd-python/ If you run this systemd service without python3-systemd it will restart every 30 seconds. ### OS-Specific Instructions #### RHEL/CentOS To get the LibreNMS service running under python3.4+ on RHEL-derivatives with minimal fuss, you can use the software collections build: First, enable SCL's on your system: ##### CentOS 7 ``` # yum install centos-release-scl ``` ##### RHEL 7 ``` # subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-server-rhscl-7-rpms ``` Then install and configure the runtime and service: ``` # yum install gcc rh-python36 rh-python36-python-devel epel-release # yum --enablerepo=remi install redis # vi /opt/librenms/config.php # vi /etc/redis.conf # systemctl enable --now redis.service # scl enable rh-python36 bash # change directory to librenms (default /opt/librenms) # pip3 install -r requirements.txt # cp /opt/librenms/misc/librenms.service.scl /etc/systemd/system/librenms.service # systemctl enable --now librenms.service ``` If you want to use another version of python 3, change `rh-python36` in the unit file and the commands above to match the name of the replacement scl. #### Debian/Ubuntu ##### Debian 11 (Bullseye) Warning: Bullseye provide PHP 7.4 that is too old to run LibreNMS. ##### Debian 12 (Bookworm) Install dependancies ``` apt install python3 python3-mysqldb python3-dotenv ``` Add the `python3-systemd` package for service with watchdog.