manual install instructions.

docs/INSTALL_MANUAL.md

@@ -1 +1,148 @@
+# Manual Install
 
+While the easiest way to get started with [Scrutiny is using Docker](https://github.com/AnalogJ/scrutiny#docker),
+it is possible to run it manually without much work. You can even mix and match, using Docker for one component and
+a manual installation for the other.
+
+Scrutiny is made up of two components: a collector and a webapp/api. Here's how each component can be deployed manually.
+
+## Webapp/API
+
+### Dependencies
+
+Since the webapp is packaged as a stand alone binary, there isn't really any software you need to install other than `glibc`
+which is included by most linux OS's already.
+
+
+### Directory Structure
+
+Now let's create a directory structure to contain the Scrutiny files & binary.
+
+```
+mkdir -p /etc/scrutiny/config
+mkdir -p /etc/scrutiny/web
+mkdir -p /etc/scrutiny/bin
+```
+
+### Config file
+
+While it is possible to run the webapp/api without a config file, the defaults are designed for use in a container environment,
+and so will need to be overridden. So the first thing you'll need to do is create a config file that looks like the following:
+
+```
+# stored in /etc/scrutiny/config/scrutiny.yaml
+
+version: 1
+
+web:
+  database:
+    # The Scrutiny webapp will create a database for you, however the parent directory must exist.
+    location: /etc/scrutiny/config/scrutiny.db
+  src:
+    frontend:
+      # The path to the Scrutiny frontend files (js, css, images) must be specified.
+      # We'll populate it with files in the next section
+      path: /etc/scrutiny/web
+```
+
+> Note: for a full list of available configuration options, please check the [example.scrutiny.yaml](https://github.com/AnalogJ/scrutiny/blob/master/example.scrutiny.yaml) file.
+
+### Download Files
+
+Next, we'll download the Scrutiny API binary and frontend files from the [latest Github release](https://github.com/analogj/scrutiny/releases).
+The files you need to download are named:
+
+- **scrutiny-web-linux-amd64** - save this file to `/etc/scrutiny/bin`
+- **scrutiny-web-frontend.tar.gz** - save this file to `/etc/scrutiny/web`
+
+### Prepare Scrutiny
+
+Now that we have downloaded the required files, let's prepare the filesystem.
+
+```
+# Let's make sure the Scrutiny webapp is executable.
+chmod +x /etc/scrutiny/bin/scrutiny-web-linux-amd64
+
+# Next, lets extract the frontend files.
+cd /etc/scrutiny/web
+tar xvzf scrutiny-web-frontend.tar.gz --strip-components 1 -C .
+
+# Cleanup
+rm -rf scrutiny-web-frontend.tar.gz
+```
+
+### Start Scrutiny Webapp
+
+Finally, we start the Scrutiny webapp:
+
+```
+/etc/scrutiny/bin/scrutiny-web-linux-amd64 start --config /etc/scrutiny/config/scrutiny.yaml
+```
+
+The webapp listens for traffic on `http://0.0.0.0:8080` by default.
+
+
+## Collector
+
+### Dependencies
+
+Unlike the webapp, the collector does have some dependencies:
+
+- `smartctl`, v7+
+- `cron` (or an alternative process scheduler)
+
+Unfortunately the version of `smartmontools` (which contains `smartctl`) available in some of the base OS repositories is ancient.
+So you'll need to install the v7+ version using one of the following commands:
+
+- **Ubuntu:** `apt-get install -y smartmontools=7.0-0ubuntu1~ubuntu18.04.1`
+- **Centos8:**
+    - `dnf install https://extras.getpagespeed.com/release-el8-latest.rpm`
+    - `dnf install smartmontools`
+
+
+### Directory Structure
+
+Now let's create a directory structure to contain the Scrutiny collector binary.
+
+```
+mkdir -p /etc/scrutiny/bin
+```
+
+
+### Download Files
+
+Next, we'll download the Scrutiny collector binary from the [latest Github release](https://github.com/analogj/scrutiny/releases).
+The file you need to download is named:
+
+- **scrutiny-collector-metrics-linux-amd64** - save this file to `/etc/scrutiny/bin`
+
+
+### Prepare Scrutiny
+
+Now that we have downloaded the required files, let's prepare the filesystem.
+
+```
+# Let's make sure the Scrutiny collector is executable.
+chmod +x /etc/scrutiny/bin/scrutiny-collector-metrics-linux-amd64
+```
+
+### Start Scrutiny Collector, Populate Webapp
+
+Next, we will manually trigger the collector, to populate the Scrutiny dashboard:
+
+```
+/etc/scrutiny/bin/scrutiny-collector-metrics-linux-amd64 run --api-endpoint "http://localhost:8080"
+```
+
+### Schedule Collector with Cron
+
+Finally you need to schedule the collector to run periodically.
+This may be different depending on your OS/environment, but it may look something like this:
+
+```
+# open crontab
+crontab -e
+
+# add a line for Scrutiny
+*/15 * * * * /etc/scrutiny/bin/scrutiny-collector-metrics-linux-amd64 run --api-endpoint "http://localhost:8080"
+```