Product Version: Colasoft nChronos 5.2
In last tutorial we’ve already learnt:
- How to get the Serial Number
- What are the system requirements for Colasoft nChronos
- On which device should we connect nChronos Server to capture network packets on the network
Before heading into this lesson, please make sure you fully understand these questions. If not, you are recommended to go back to take a look at last lesson again, or you can email us for help with your specific need.
Install nChronos Server & Console Software
We are glad to see that you've finally come to the decision to implement nChronos on your network. As you know nChronos consists of two components - nChronos Server and nChronos Console, and please make sure that your server machine meet the system requirements before the installation. You could follow the guidance to install the CentOS 6.6. After installation the CentOS 6.6, please follow the steps below to finish the nChronos Server installation.
- Use SSH tool to remotely connect to the server, put the installation file in the file folder "root", as shown below:
- Login to the system as the root user
- Modify the privilege with the command: chmod +x nchronoss-xxxx.rpm
- Add a new file folder named data with the command: mkdir /data
- Execute the installation command: rpm -ivh nchronoss-xxxx.rpm
Initialize nChronos Server
The server doesn’t have a software interface; it can only be accessed and managed with a web browser. Next step is to initialize the server program. To initialize the server software, double-click the server icon on the desktop and it opens the web browser. If it leads to an error page on your web browser, please find the answer on FAQ #1. You need to take three steps to initialize the server software.
Step 1 Create Administrator Account
This is to setup an administrator account for the server. In case you lose your password and someone else uses your password to make changes on your server, please make sure you keep your password securely.
Step 2 Basic Settings
First part is to set two port numbers. nChronos Server not only runs a web service to allow you use a web browser to manage it but also to interact with nChronos Console. So it has two individual ports, a web browser goes through server management port to manage and configure the service, and nChronos Console talks to server with Console communication port. If no special requirements, you’d better to keep these port numbers by default.
And the second part is to choose the hard drive disk to store the packet data and also the stats data. When we start a link monitoring in nChronos Server, it saves the packets and also analyzes them simultaneously and finally saves the analysis stats to hard disk. The packet data file requires more free space than the statistic data, and in a heavy-loaded network, it’s suggested to use RAID to store the packets. The statistic data requires at least 5GB of free space and the packet data requires 10GB minimal.
Important notice: these two types of data are suggested not to store on a same physical hard drive (not just logical volumes). It’s because nChronos server writes two types of data to your hard disk at the same time, if you keep the data on a same hard drive, it’ll dramatically reduce the write performance and it results in packet lose and insufficient analysis performance.
Step 3 Finish
Well, this step in fact doesn’t require you do anything. Just check the previous settings and click Done button if all are correct. The server program will automatically restart when you click the Done button.
Activate nChronos Server
Since this is the first installation, we should activate the system first. All editions of nChronos server are required to be activated before we can use them to monitor network traffic. Only the server program requires activation but we need use the console to activate the server. Please follow the instructions below to activate the server.
- Run nChronos console; add a server connection on the Server Explorer.
- Double-click on the connection to connect to the server. If the server hasn’t been activated, you’ll be prompted to activation.
- Read the license agreements, and then enter your serial number. Here you have two choices to activate nChronos server through Internet or manual offline activation.
- Activate product over the Internet (recommend): It is very quick and easy, the activation process will only take a few seconds with a couple of clicks. You are recommended to use this method if you have Internet access.
- Activate by fax or email: If you select to activate product manually, it will need more time to finish. Please send us via email or fax the Serial Number and Machine Number. After receiving your request, we will get back to you with an Activation Number. Enter the Activation Number into the textbox as required; your product will be activated immediately.
Activation Errors
If you meet any errors when activating nChronos Server, you get an error code. You can contact our support by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
