## Overview
In this section, we look at the programs that are required for Opsview Monitor. The first part of this document covers required software and versions for any installation of Opsview Monitor, while the second part covers requirements for running the automatic installation script.
## Database Software
Opsview Monitor uses MariaDB for both RHEL7 and CentOS 7 distributions, and MySQL is used for all other distributions. Opsview Monitor supports MySQL v5.5 and v5.7, and MariaDB v5.5, using either MySQL Community or MySQL Enterprise. Amazon RDS (when using a MySQL compatible version based on this list) is also supported.
**Note:** MySQL v5.6 is not supported.
**Note:** If you use a remote database server, Opsview Monitor will only support the database server if it is based on one of our supported platforms and runs a supported MySQL version.
### Ubuntu 16.04
In Ubuntu 16.04 MySQL has strict mode enabled by default which can cause issues with your Opsview Monitor installation. In order to resolve this, you need to disable MySQL strict mode; this can be done by running the following commands as a root user:
Start by editing the file: /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf and add the following line
Save the changes and restart mysql:
You can now continue your Opsview Monitor installation.
### cron
Opsview relies on the availability of cron to undertake several jobs for the _opsview_ user. In the example below, we use the command here (for the Ubuntu platform) to determine the status of cron.
#### Checking cron is running
Use the following command to see if cron is running on the system, if it is it will return the _Process Identifier_ (PID). In the example below, we can see that cron is running and has PID 857.
If cron is not running on your system you can start it using the command below
## Automated Installation
Some packages are required to be able to run the automated install script; these are listed below and must be installed before running the script.
Once called, the automated installation process will ensure that your system has the most up-to-date packages for your given platform.
### Java
Opsview Monitor Reporting Module requires Java version 8 To install this specific version, run the following commands as the root user:
#### RHEL/CentOS
and then select JDK 1.8.
### sudo
Opsview Monitor relies on the availability of sudo to allow users to execute programs with the security privileges of another user.
#### cURL
The _Curl URL Request Library_ (cURL) is free and open software that compiles and runs across many operating systems. It's a command line tool and library that allows the transfer of data with a _Uniform Resource Locator_ (URL) syntax and library; see [curl.haxx.se](🔗).
### lsb-release
Opsview Monitor relies on the availability of lsb-release to determine the Operating System and version when running the automatic install script.
## Installing Packages
Packages can easily be installed on any of our supported Operating Systems using a package manager.
For Debian and Ubuntu apt-get can be used to install any of the above packages, for example:
For Red Hat, Oracle Linux and CentOS, yum can be used to install any of the above packages, for example: