2. Installation

Stork can be installed from pre-built packages or from sources. The following sections describe both methods. Unless there’s a good reason to compile from sources, installing from native deb or RPM packages is easier and faster.

2.1. Supported Systems

Stork is tested on the following systems:

  • Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04
  • Fedora 31 and 32
  • CentOS 7
  • MacOS 10.15*

Note that MacOS is not and will not be officially supported. Many developers on ISC’s team use Macs, so the goal is to keep Stork buildable on this platform.

The Stork server and agents are written in the Go language; the server uses a PostgreSQL database. In principle, the software can be run on any POSIX system that has a Go compiler and PostgreSQL. It is likely the software can also be built on other modern systems, but for the time being ISC’s testing capabilities are modest. We encourage users to try running Stork on other OSes not on this list and report their findings to ISC.

2.2. Installation Prerequisites

The Stork Agent does not require any specific dependencies to run. It can be run immediately after installation.

Stork uses the status-get command to communicate with Kea, and therefore only works with a version of Kea that supports status-get, which was introduced in Kea 1.7.3 and backported to 1.6.3.

Stork requires the premium Host Commands (host_cmds) hooks library to be loaded by the Kea instance to retrieve host reservations stored in an external database. Stork does work without the Host Commands hooks library, but will not be able to display host reservations. Stork can retrieve host reservations stored locally in the Kea configuration without any additional hooks libraries.

Stork requires the open source Stat Commands (stat_cmds) hooks library to be loaded by the Kea instance to retrieve lease statistics. Stork does work without the Stat Commands hooks library, but will not be able to show pool utilization and other statistics.

For the Stork Server, a PostgreSQL database (https://www.postgresql.org/) version 11 or later is required. It may work with PostgreSQL 10, but this has not been tested. The general installation procedure for PostgreSQL is OS-specific and is not included here. However, please note that Stork uses pgcrypto extensions, which often come in a separate package. For example, a postgresql-crypto package is required on Fedora and postgresql12-contrib is needed on RHEL and CentOS.

These instructions prepare a database for use with the Stork Server, with the stork database user and stork password. Next, a database called stork is created and the pgcrypto extension is enabled in the database.

First, connect to PostgreSQL using psql and the postgres administration user. Depending on the system’s configuration, this may require switching to the user postgres first, using the su postgres command.

$ psql postgres
psql (11.5)
Type "help" for help.
postgres=#

Then, prepare the database:

postgres=# CREATE USER stork WITH PASSWORD 'stork';
CREATE ROLE
postgres=# CREATE DATABASE stork;
CREATE DATABASE
postgres=# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE stork TO stork;
GRANT
postgres=# \c stork
You are now connected to database "stork" as user "thomson".
stork=# create extension pgcrypto;
CREATE EXTENSION

Note

Make sure the actual password is stronger than ‘stork’, which is trivial to guess. Using default passwords is a security risk. Stork puts no restrictions on the characters used in the database passwords nor on their length. In particular, it accepts passwords containing spaces, quotes, double quotes, and other special characters.

2.3. Installing from Packages

Stork packages are stored in repositories located on the Cloudsmith service: https://cloudsmith.io/~isc/repos/stork/packages/. Both Debian/Ubuntu and RPM packages may be found there.

Detailed instructions for setting up the operating system to use this repository are available under the Set Me Up button on the Cloudsmith repository page.

It is possible to install both Stork Agent and Stork Server on the same machine. It is useful in small deployments with a single monitored machine to avoid setting up a dedicated system for the Stork Server. In those cases, however, an operator must consider the possible impact of the Stork Server service on other services running on the same machine.

2.3.1. Installing the Stork Server

2.3.1.1. Debian/Ubuntu

The first step for both Debian and Ubuntu is:

$ curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/isc/stork/cfg/setup/bash.deb.sh' | sudo bash

Next, install the Stork Server package:

$ sudo apt install isc-stork-server

2.3.1.2. Installing on CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

The first step for RPM-based distributions is:

$ curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/isc/stork/cfg/setup/bash.rpm.sh' | sudo bash

Next, install the Stork Server package:

$ sudo dnf install isc-stork-server

If dnf is not available, yum can be used instead:

$ sudo yum install isc-stork-server

2.3.1.3. Setup

The following steps are common for Debian-based and RPM-based distributions using systemd.

Configure Stork Server settings in /etc/stork/server.env. The following settings are required for the database connection:

  • STORK_DATABASE_HOST - the address of a PostgreSQL database; default is localhost
  • STORK_DATABASE_PORT - the port of a PostgreSQL database; default is 5432
  • STORK_DATABASE_NAME - the name of a database; default is stork
  • STORK_DATABASE_USER_NAME - the username for connecting to the database; default is stork
  • STORK_DATABASE_PASSWORD - the password for the username connecting to the database

Note

All of the database connection settings have default values, but we strongly recommend protecting the database with a non-default and hard-to-guess password in the production environment. The STORK_DATABASE_PASSWORD setting must be adjusted accordingly.

The remaining settings pertain to the server’s REST API configuration:

  • STORK_REST_HOST - IP address on which the server listens
  • STORK_REST_PORT - port number on which the server listens; default is 8080
  • STORK_REST_TLS_CERTIFICATE - a file with a certificate to use for secure connections
  • STORK_REST_TLS_PRIVATE_KEY - a file with a private key to use for secure connections
  • STORK_REST_TLS_CA_CERTIFICATE - a certificate authority file used for mutual TLS authentication
  • STORK_REST_STATIC_FILES_DIR - a directory with static files served in the UI

With the settings in place, the Stork Server service can now be enabled and started:

$ sudo systemctl enable isc-stork-server
$ sudo systemctl start isc-stork-server

To check the status:

$ sudo systemctl status isc-stork-server

By default, the Stork Server web service is exposed on port 8080 and can be tested using web browser at http://localhost:8080.

The Stork Server can be configured to run behind an HTTP reverse proxy using Nginx or Apache. The Stork Server package contains an example configuration file for Nginx, in /usr/share/stork/examples/nginx-stork.conf.

2.3.2. Installing the Stork Agent

There are two ways to install packaged Stork Agent on a monitored machine. The first method is to use the Cloudsmith repository like in the case of the Stork Server installation. The second method is to use an installation script provided by the Stork Server which downloads the agent packages embedded in the server package. The second installation method is supported since the Stork 0.15.0 release. The preferred installation method depends on the selected agent registration type. Supported registration methods are described in the Securing Connections Between Stork Server and Stork Agents.

2.3.2.1. Agent Configuration Settings

The following are the Stork Agent configuration settings available in the /etc/stork/agent.env after installing the package.

The general settings:

  • STORK_AGENT_ADDRESS - the IP address of the network interface which Stork Agent should use to receive the connections from the server; default is 0.0.0.0 (i.e. listen on all interfaces)
  • STORK_AGENT_PORT - the port number the agent should use to receive the connections from the server; default is 8080
  • STORK_AGENT_LISTEN_STORK_ONLY - enable Stork functionality only, i.e. disable Prometheus exporters; default is false
  • STORK_AGENT_LISTEN_PROMETHEUS_ONLY - enable Prometheus exporters only, i.e. disable Stork functionality; default is false

The following settings are specific to the Prometheus exporters:

  • STORK_AGENT_PROMETHEUS_KEA_EXPORTER_ADDRESS - the IP address or hostname the agent should use to receive the connections from Prometheus fetching Kea statistics; default is 0.0.0.0
  • STORK_AGENT_PROMETHEUS_KEA_EXPORTER_PORT - the port the agent should use to receive the connections from Prometheus fetching Kea statistics; default is 9547
  • STORK_AGENT_PROMETHEUS_KEA_EXPORTER_INTERVAL - specifies how often the agent collects stats from Kea, in seconds; default is 10
  • STORK_AGENT_PROMETHEUS_BIND9_EXPORTER_ADDRESS - the IP address or hostname the agent should use to receive the connections from Prometheus fetching BIND9 statistics; default is 0.0.0.0 to listen on for incoming Prometheus connection; default is 0.0.0.0
  • STORK_AGENT_PROMETHEUS_BIND9_EXPORTER_PORT - the port the agent should use to receive the connections from Prometheus fetching BIND9 statistics; default is 9119
  • STORK_AGENT_PROMETHEUS_BIND9_EXPORTER_INTERVAL - specifies how often the agent collects stats from BIND9, in seconds; default is 10

The last setting is used only when Stork Agents register in the Stork Server using agent token:

  • STORK_AGENT_SERVER_URL - Stork Server URL used by the agent to send REST commands to the server during agent registration

2.3.2.2. Securing Connections Between Stork Server and Stork Agents

Connections between the server and the agents are secured using standard cryptography solutions, i.e. PKI and TLS.

The server generates the required keys and certificates during its first startup. They are used to establish safe, encrypted connections between the server and the agents with authentication of both ends of these connections. The agents use the keys and certificates generated by the server to create agent-side keys and certificates during the agents’ registration procedure described in the next sections. The private key and CSR certificate generated by an agent and signed by the server are used for authentication and connection encryption.

An agent can be registered in the server using one of the two supported methods:

  1. using agent token,
  2. using server token.

In the first case, an agent generates a token and passes it to the server requesting registration. The server associates the token with the particular agent. A Stork super admin must approve the registration request in the web UI, ensuring that the token displayed in the UI matches the agent’s token in the logs. The Stork Agent is typically installed from the Cloudsmith repository when this registration method is used.

In the second registration method, a server generates a token common for all new registrations. The super admin must copy the token from the UI and paste it into the agent’s terminal during the interactive agent registration procedure. This registration method does not require any additional approval of the agent’s registration request in the web UI. If the pasted server token is correct, the agent should be authorized in the UI when the interactive registration completes. The Stork Agent is typically installed using a script that downloads the agent packages embedded in the server when this registration method is used.

The applicability of the two methods is described in Registration Methods Summary.

The installation and registration process using both methods are described in the subsequent sections.

2.3.2.3. Installation from Cloudsmith and Registration with an Agent Token

This section describes installing an agent from the Cloudsmith repository and performing the agent’s registration using an agent token.

The Stork Agent installation steps are similar to the Stork Server installation steps described in Debian/Ubuntu and Installing on CentOS/RHEL/Fedora. Use one of the following commands depending on your Linux distribution:

$ sudo apt install isc-stork-agent
$ sudo dnf install isc-stork-agent

in place of the commands installing the server.

Next, specify the required settings in the /etc/stork/agent.env file. The STORK_SERVER_URL should be the URL on which the server receives the REST connections, e.g. http://stork-server.example.org:8080. The STORK_AGENT_ADDRESS should point to the agent’s address (or name), e.g. stork-agent.example.org. Finally, a non-default agent port can be specified with the STORK_AGENT_PORT.

Note

Even though the examples provided in this documentation use the http scheme, we highly recommend using secure protocols in the production environments. We use http in the examples because it usually makes it easier to start testing the software and eliminate all issues unrelated to the use of https before it is enabled.

Start the agent service:

$ sudo systemctl enable isc-stork-agent
$ sudo systemctl start isc-stork-agent

To check the status:

$ sudo systemctl status isc-stork-agent

You should expect the following log messages when the agent successfully sends the registration request to the server:

machine registered
stored agent signed cert and CA cert
registration completed successfully

A server administrator must approve the registration request via the web UI before the machine can be monitored. Visit the Services -> Machines page. Click the Unauthorized button located above the list of machines on the right side. This list contains all machines pending registration approval. Before authorizing the machine, ensure that the agent token displayed on this list is the same as the agent token in the agent’s logs or the /var/lib/stork-agent/tokens/agent-token.txt file. If they match, click on the Action button and select Authorize. The machine should now be visible on the list of authorized machines.

2.3.2.4. Installation with a Script and Registration with a Server Token

This section describes installing an agent using a script and packages downloaded from the Stork Server and performing the agent’s registration using a server token.

Open Stork in the web browser and log in as a user from the super admin group. Select Services and then Machines from the menu. Click on the How to Install Agent on New Machine button to display the agent installation instructions. Copy-paste the commands from the displayed window into the terminal on the machine where the agent is installed. These commands are also provided here for convenience:

$ wget http://stork.example.org:8080/stork-install-agent.sh
$ chmod a+x stork-install-agent.sh
$ sudo ./stork-install-agent.sh

Please note that this document provides an example URL of the Stork Server and it must be replaced with a server URL used in the particular deployment.

The script downloads an OS specific agent package from the Stork Server (deb or RPM), installs the package, and starts the agent’s registration procedure.

In the agent machine’s terminal, a prompt for a server token is presented:

>>>> Server access token (optional):

The server token is available for a super admin user after clicking on the How to Install Agent on New Machine button in the Services -> Machines. Copy the server token from the dialog box and paste it in the prompt displayed on the agent machine.

The following prompt appears next:

>>>> IP address or FQDN of the host with Stork Agent (the Stork Server will use it to connect to the Stork Agent):

Specify an IP address or FQDN which the server should use to reach out to an agent via the secure gRPC channel.

When asked for the port:

>>>> Port number that Stork Agent will use to listen on [8080]:

specify the port number for the gRPC connections, or hit Enter if the default port 8080 matches your settings.

If the registration is successful, the following messages are displayed:

machine ping over TLS: OK
registration completed successfully

Unlike the Installation from Cloudsmith and Registration with an Agent Token, this registration method does not require approval via the web UI. The machine should be already listed among the authorized machines.

2.3.2.5. Installation with a Script and Registration with an Agent Token

This section describes installing an agent using a script and packages downloaded from the Stork Server and performing the agent’s registration using an agent token. It is an interactive procedure alternative to the procedure described in Installation from Cloudsmith and Registration with an Agent Token.

Start the interactive registration procedure following the steps in the Installation with a Script and Registration with a Server Token.

In the agent machine’s terminal, a prompt for a server token is presented:

>>>> Server access token (optional):

Because this registration method does not use the server token, do not type anything in this prompt. Hit Enter to move on.

The following prompt appears next:

>>>> IP address or FQDN of the host with Stork Agent (the Stork Server will use it to connect to the Stork Agent):

Specify an IP address or FQDN which the server should use to reach out to an agent via the secure gRPC channel.

When asked for the port:

>>>> Port number that Stork Agent will use to listen on [8080]:

specify the port number for the gRPC connections, or hit Enter if the default port 8080 matches your settings.

You should expect the following log messages when the agent successfully sends the registration request to the server:

machine registered
stored agent signed cert and CA cert
registration completed successfully

Similar to Installation from Cloudsmith and Registration with an Agent Token, the agent’s registration request must be approved in the UI to start monitoring the newly registered machine.

2.3.2.6. Installation from Cloudsmith and Registration with a Server Token

This section describes installing an agent from the Cloudsmith repository and performing the agent’s registration using a server token. It is an alternative to the procedure described in Installation with a Script and Registration with a Server Token.

The Stork Agent installation steps are similar to the Stork Server installation steps described in Debian/Ubuntu and Installing on CentOS/RHEL/Fedora. Use one of the following commands depending on your Linux distribution:

$ sudo apt install isc-stork-agent
$ sudo dnf install isc-stork-agent

in place of the commands installing the server.

Start the agent service:

$ sudo systemctl enable isc-stork-agent
$ sudo systemctl start isc-stork-agent

To check the status:

$ sudo systemctl status isc-stork-agent

Start the interactive registration procedure with the following command:

$ su stork-agent -s /bin/sh -c 'stork-agent register -u http://stork.example.org'

where the last parameter should be the appropriate Stork server’s URL.

Follow the same registration steps as described in the Installation with a Script and Registration with a Server Token.

2.3.2.7. Registration Methods Summary

Stork supports two different agents’ registration methods described above. Both methods can be used interchangeably, and it is often a matter of preference which one the administrator selects. However, it is worth mentioning that the agent token registration may be more suitable in some situations. This method requires a server URL, agent address (or name), and agent port as registration settings. If they are known upfront, it is possible to prepare a system (or container) image with the agent offline. After starting the image, the agent will send the registration request to the server and await authorization in the web UI.

The agent registration with the server token is always manual. It requires copying the token from the web UI, logging into the agent, and pasting the token. Therefore, the registration using the server token is not appropriate when it is impossible or awkward to access the machine’s terminal, e.g. in Docker. On the other hand, the registration using the server token is more straightforward because it does not require unauthorized agents’ approval via the web UI.

If the server token leaks, it poses a risk that rogue agents register. In that case, the administrator should regenerate the token to prevent the uncontrolled registration of new agents. Regeneration of the token does not affect already registered agents. The new token must be used for the new registrations.

The server token can be regenerated in the How to Install Agent on New Machine dialog box available after entering the Services -> Machines page.

2.3.2.8. Agent Setup Summary

After successful agent setup, the agent periodically tries to detect installed Kea DHCP or BIND 9 services on the system. If it finds them, they are reported to the Stork Server when it connects to the agent.

Further configuration and usage of the Stork Server and the Stork Agent are described in the Using Stork chapter.

2.3.3. Upgrading

Due to the new security model introduced with TLS in Stork 0.15.0 release, upgrades from versions 0.14.0 and earlier require registering the agents from scratch.

Server upgrade procedure looks the same as the installation procedure.

First, install the new packages on the server. Installation scripts in deb/RPM package will perform the required database and other migrations.

2.4. Installing From Sources

2.4.1. Compilation Prerequisites

Usually, it is more convenient to install Stork using native packages. See Supported Systems and Installing from Packages for details regarding supported systems. However, the sources can also be built separately.

The dependencies that need to be installed to build Stork sources are:

  • Rake
  • Java Runtime Environment (only if building natively, not using Docker)
  • Docker (only if running in containers; this is needed to build the demo)

Other dependencies are installed automatically in a local directory by Rake tasks. This does not require root privileges. If the demo environment will be run, Docker is needed but not Java (Docker will install Java within a container).

For details about the environment, please see the Stork wiki at https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/stork/-/wikis/Install .

2.4.2. Download Sources

The Stork sources are available on the ISC GitLab instance: https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/stork.

To get the latest sources invoke:

$ git clone https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/stork

2.4.3. Building

There are several components of Stork:

  • Stork Agent - this is the binary stork-agent, written in Go
  • Stork Server - this is comprised of two parts: - backend service - written in Go - frontend - an Angular application written in Typescript

All components can be built using the following command:

$ rake build_all

The agent component is installed using this command:

$ rake install_agent

and the server component with this command:

$ rake install_server

By default, all components are installed to the root folder in the current directory; however, this is not useful for installation in a production environment. It can be customized via the DESTDIR variable, e.g.:

$ sudo rake install_server DESTDIR=/usr

2.5. Database Migration Tool (optional)

Optional step: to initialize the database directly, the migrations tool must be built and used to initialize and upgrade the database to the latest schema. However, this is completely optional, as the database migration is triggered automatically upon server startup. This is only useful if for some reason it is desirable to set up the database but not yet run the server. In most cases this step can be skipped.

$ rake build_migrations
$ backend/cmd/stork-db-migrate/stork-db-migrate init
$ backend/cmd/stork-db-migrate/stork-db-migrate up

The up and down commands have an optional -t parameter that specifies the desired schema version. This is only useful when debugging database migrations.

$ # migrate up version 25
$ backend/cmd/stork-db-migrate/stork-db-migrate up -t 25
$ # migrate down back to version 17
$ backend/cmd/stork-db-migrate/stork-db-migrate down -t 17

Note that the server requires the latest database version to run, always runs the migration on its own, and will refuse to start if the migration fails for any reason. The migration tool is mostly useful for debugging problems with migration or migrating the database without actually running the service. For complete reference, see the manual page here: stork-db-migrate - Stork database migration tool.

To debug migrations, another useful feature is SQL tracing using the –db-trace-queries parameter. It takes either “all” (trace all SQL operations, including migrations and run-time) or “run” (just trace run-time operations, skip migrations). If specified without any parameters, “all” is assumed. With it enabled, stork-db-migrate prints out all its SQL queries on stderr. For example, these commands can be used to generate an SQL script that updates the schema. Note that for some migrations, the steps are dependent on the contents of the database, so this is not a universal Stork schema. This parameter is also supported by the Stork Server.

$ backend/cmd/stork-db-migrate/stork-db-migrate down -t 0
$ backend/cmd/stork-db-migrate/stork-db-migrate up --db-trace-queries 2> stork-schema.txt

2.6. Integration With Prometheus and Grafana

Stork can optionally be integrated with Prometheus, an open source monitoring and alerting toolkit, and Grafana, an easy-to-view analytics platform for querying, visualization, and alerting. Grafana requires external data storage. Prometheus is currently the only environment supported by both Stork and Grafana. It is possible to use Prometheus without Grafana, but using Grafana requires Prometheus.

2.6.1. Prometheus Integration

The Stork agent, by default, makes the Kea (and eventually, BIND 9) statistics available in a format understandable by Prometheus (it works as a Prometheus exporter, in Prometheus nomenclature). If Prometheus server is available, it can be configured to monitor Stork agents. To enable Stork agent monitoring, the prometheus.yml (which is typically stored in /etc/prometheus/, but this may vary depending on the installation) must be edited to add the following entries there:

# statistics from Kea
- job_name: 'kea'
  static_configs:
    - targets: ['agent-kea.example.org:9547', 'agent-kea6.example.org:9547', ... ]

# statistics from bind9
- job_name: 'bind9'
  static_configs:
    - targets: ['agent-bind9.example.org:9119', 'another-bind9.example.org:9119', ... ]

By default, the Stork agent exports Kea data on TCP port 9547 (and BIND 9 data on TCP port 9119). This can be configured using command-line parameters, or the Prometheus export can be disabled altogether. For details, see the stork-agent manual page at stork-agent - Stork agent that monitors BIND 9 and Kea services.

After restarting, the Prometheus web interface can be used to inspect whether statistics are exported properly. Kea statistics use the kea_ prefix (e.g. kea_dhcp4_addresses_assigned_total); BIND 9 statistics will eventually use the bind_ prefix (e.g. bind_incoming_queries_tcp).

2.6.2. Grafana Integration

Stork provides several Grafana templates that can easily be imported. Those are available in the grafana/ directory of the Stork source code. The currently available templates are bind9-resolver.json and kea-dhcp4.json. Grafana integration requires three steps:

1. Prometheus must be added as a data source. This can be done in several ways, including via the user interface to edit the Grafana configuration files. This is the easiest method; for details, see the Grafana documentation about Prometheus integration. Using the Grafana user interface, select Configuration, select Data Sources, click “Add data source,” and choose Prometheus, and then specify the necessary parameters to connect to the Prometheus instance. In test environments, the only really necessary parameter is the URL, but authentication is also desirable in most production deployments.

2. Import the existing dashboard. In the Grafana UI, click Dashboards, then Manage, then Import, and select one of the templates, e.g. kea-dhcp4.json. Make sure to select the Prometheus data source added in the previous step. Once imported, the dashboard can be tweaked as needed.

3. Once Grafana is configured, go to the Stork user interface, log in as super-admin, click Settings in the Configuration menu, and then add the URLs to Grafana and Prometheus that point to the installations. Once this is done, Stork will be able to show links for subnets leading to specific subnets.

Alternatively, a Prometheus data source can be added by editing datasource.yaml (typically stored in /etc/grafana, but this may vary depending on the installation) and adding entries similar to this one:

datasources:
- name: Stork-Prometheus instance
  type: prometheus
  access: proxy
  url: http://prometheus.example.org:9090
  isDefault: true
  editable: false

Also, the Grafana dashboard files can be copied to /var/lib/grafana/dashboards/ (again, this may vary depending on the installation).

Example dashboards with some live data can be seen in the Stork screenshots gallery .