Visualizing OpenWRT Router Data with Grafana and InfluxDB

Overview/
├── System Environment Setup/
│   ├── Debian 10 VM Configuration
│   │   ├── InfluxDB Installation
│   │   └── Grafana Installation
│   └── OpenWRT Network Device Configuration
├── Installation and Configuration of InfluxDB on the VM/
│   ├── Package Installation and Dependencies
│   │   ├── Install InfluxDB and Dependencies
│   │   ├── Configuration of InfluxDB
│   │   └── Setting Up Database and Retention Policy
│   └── Starting InfluxDB Service
├── Grafana Installation and Setup on the VM/
│   ├── Grafana Package Installation
│   │   ├── Install Grafana
│   │   ├── Configuring Grafana for Port 80
│   │   └── Setting Grafana to Run as Non-Root
│   └── Enabling Grafana Service on Startup
├── Installing and Configuring Collectd on OpenWRT/
│   ├── Collectd Package Installation
│   │   ├── Install Collectd and Modules
│   │   └── Configuring Collectd Service
│   └── Starting Collectd Service
├── Verifying the Configuration/
│   ├── Checking OpenWRT Configuration
│   └── Verifying Data Update in InfluxDB
└── Setting Up the Grafana Dashboard/
    ├── Creating a New Data Source
    └── Importing an Existing Dashboard
        └── Note on Dashboard Functionality

1. System Environment Setup

• Debian 10 Virtual Machine (VM) equipped with InfluxDB (v1.7.10 or higher) and Grafana (v6.7.2 or higher)
• Network device operating with OpenWRT (version 18.06 or above)

2. Configuration of InfluxDB

Proceed with the installation of necessary packages and dependencies:

sudo wget -qO- <https://repos.influxdata.com/influxdb.key> | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb <https://repos.influxdata.com/debian> buster stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/influxdb.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y influxdb

Important Note: If you encounter an error such as: E: gnupg, gnupg2, and gnupg1 are not installed, but one of them is required for this operation, you should install the ‘gpg’ package:

sudo apt install gpg

Post-installation of InfluxDB, configure the /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf file to activate the Collectd plugin (find and uncomment the lines below):

[[collectd]]
   enabled = true
   bind-address = ":25826"
   database = "${YOUR_DB_NAME}"
   retention-policy = ""
   typesdb = "/usr/local/share/collectd/types.db"
   security-level = "none"
   batch-size = 5000
   batch-pending = 10
   batch-timeout = "10s"
   read-buffer = 0

Creation of the ‘types.db’ file:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/share/collectd/
sudo wget -O /usr/local/share/collectd/types.db <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CactusProjects/openwrt_influxdb/master/types.db>

Initiate and enable the InfluxDB service to start on boot:

sudo systemctl enable --now influxdb

Generating a new Influx database: