rrdtool-1.2.11-3 + cacti-0.8.6f-2 (Monitoring)

Tested on 08/Nov/2005 by SuSE 10.0

RRDTool (Round Robin Database Tool) is a tool to generate graph from any kind of data sources. This tool can replace MRTG.

This tool, perhaps, does not have a data gathering function. It needs some front-end tool to gather data such as, HotSaNIC, and Cacti.

Cacti can be configured on Web by PHP/MySQL.

Install SNMP

Make sure net-snmp is installed, configured, and running.

On Linux, net-snmp-5.2.1-10.i586.rpm should be installed, and configuration would look like this (/etc/snmp/snmp.conf).

#
# First, map the community name "public" into a "security name"
#	sec.name source	community
com2sec	public	default	public

# Second, map the security name into a group name.
#	groupName	securityModel	securityName
group	public		v1		public
group	public		v2c		public
group	public		usm		public

# Third, create a view for us to let the group have rights to:
#	name	incl/excl	subtree	mask(optional)
view	all	included	.1

# Finally, grant the group read-only access to the systemview view.
#	group	context	sec.model	  sec.level prefix	read	write	notif
access	public	""	any		noauth	exact	all	all	all

# System contact information
#
syslocation	xxxxxxxx
syscontact	foo@host

On Windows 2000, XP, and 2003, SNMP Service should be installed, and configured like this,

On CISCO products, SNMP configuration would look like this,

gw(config)#snmp-server community public RO

Make sure the snmp service is running and accessible. If necessary, open 161 tcp, udp ports on the target device.

# snmpwalk -v 1 192.168.1.100 -c public | less
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = STRING: Hardware: x86 Family 6 Model 9 Stepping 5 AT/AT CO
MPATIBLE - Software: Windows 2000 Version 5.1 (Build 2600 Uniprocessor Free)
SNMPv2-MIB::sysObjectID.0 = OID: SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.311.1.1.3.1.1
DISMAN-EVENT-MIB::sysUpTimeInstance = Timeticks: (80732) 0:1
SNMPv2-MIB::sysContact.0 = STRING:
SNMPv2-MIB::sysName.0 = STRING: TS-NEC
SNMPv2-MIB::sysLocation.0 = STRING:
SNMPv2-MIB::sysServices.0 = INTEGER: 76
IF-MIB::ifNumber.0 = INTEGER: 4
....

Install Cacti

rrdtool must be installed in default. If not, install

# rpm -ihv rrdtool-1.2.11-3.i586.rpm

You need MySQL, apache, php...etc, and also running. Make sure you have a session module for the php.

# rpm -qa | grep php4-session
php4-session-4.4.0-6

Install cacti.

# rpm -ihv cacti-0.8.6f-2.noarch.rpm

Create database in mysql. If you did not yet set the password, just press enter.

# cd /usr/share/cacti
# mysqladmin -u root -p create cacti
Enter password:
# mysql -p cacti < cacti.sql
Enter password:

Create a password and access permission to cactiuser.

# mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 87 to server version: 4.1.10a
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
mysql> GRANT ALL ON cacti.* TO cactiuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> \q
Bye

Verify the database

mysql> show databases;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| cacti              |
| mysql              |
| test               |
| tmp                |
+--------------------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> use cacti
Database changed
mysql> show tables;
+---------------------------+
| Tables_in_cacti           |
+---------------------------+
| cdef                      |
| cdef_items                |
| colors                    |
| data_input                |
| data_input_data           |
| data_input_fields         |
| data_local                |
...

Edit /usr/share/cacti/include/config.php

...
$database_type = "mysql";
$database_default = "cacti";
$database_hostname = "localhost";
$database_username = "cactiuser";
$database_password = "password";
...

You may give access permission to your LAN. Edit /etc/apache2/conf.d/cacti.conf

Alias /cacti/ /usr/share/cacti/
<Directory /usr/share/cacti/>
   Options None
   order deny,allow
   deny from all
   allow from 127.0.0.1 192.168.0.0/24
</Directory>

Restart apache

# /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

Open http://localhost/cacti/ and click [Next]

Select [New Install], and click [Next]

This screen must show all [FOUND] if you installed by rpm. Click [Next]

Type username: admin, password: admin

Type a user password twice. After this, you will see a main screen

Using default templates

To use Cacti's default templates, click [Devices], and select [localhost]

Type [public] at Community text box.

Click [Save]. You will see [Save Successful].

Click [localhost] again. If the configuration is correct, you can see the snmp information.

Next, you can add new graph. Click [New Graphs] from the menu. Gray items are already added. Click [create]. You can monitor HDD in default.

Click [Data Sources] from the menu to view added items

Click [Graphs], and [Preview View]

Add traffic graph

From the menu, click [Devices], and click [localhost] at the right.

Change [Add Data Query] combo box at [Associated Data Queries] to [SNMP - Interface Statistics], and click [Add]

Verify the added item, and click [Save]

From the menu, click [New Graphs]. From [Data Query], check interface(s) you want to monitor, and click [Create]. If you success to add, the item will be grey.

From the menu, click [Data Sources], and review the added items.

From the [Graph Management], you can add items to show the graph.

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