[Cacti](https://www.cacti.net/) is a web-based system monitoring and graphing solution. ## Contents * [1 Server setup](#Server_setup) * [2 Cacti setup](#Cacti_setup) * [3 MySQL setup](#MySQL_setup) * [4 Spine](#Spine) * [5 Systemd](#Systemd) * [6 Web configuration](#Web_configuration) * [7 External links](#External_links) ## Server setup This article assumes that you already have a working [LAMP](/index.php/LAMP "LAMP") (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server. ## Cacti setup [Install](/index.php/Install "Install") the [cacti](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=cacti), [php-snmp](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=php-snmp) and [net-snmp](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=net-snmp) packages. Ensure LAMP services (`httpd`, `mysqld`) are [started](/index.php/Start "Start") and [enabled](/index.php/Enable "Enable"). If it is necessary for Cacti to monitor the machine that it is running on, configure [snmpd](/index.php/Snmpd "Snmpd"). Cacti uses PHP, an SQL database (MySQL or MariaDB) and SNMP, so enable the required PHP modules: `/etc/php/php.ini` ``` extension=mysqli extension=sockets extension=pdo_mysql extension=snmp ``` PHP scripts are, by default, permitted only to open files in specific directories. Configure (or comment out) `open_basedir` in `/etc/php/php.ini`. When misconfigured, errors such as `PHP Warning: include(): open_basedir restriction in effect.` will appear in the webserver log file. In order to display dates and times in the correct timezone, configure `date.timezone` in `/etc/php/php.ini`. Values are in "Continent/City" notation, for example "America/New_York", "Asia/Tokyo". Configure Apache to point to Cacti by adding the following in a `/etc/httpd/conf/extra/cacti.conf` (or in a vhost's config file): ``` Alias /cacti /usr/share/webapps/cacti # PHP options AddType application/x-httpd-php .php DirectoryIndex index.php Require all granted Options +FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All # The following may be useful. # # php_flag magic_quotes_gpc Off # php_flag short_open_tag On # php_flag register_globals Off # php_flag register_argc_argv On # php_flag track_vars On # # This setting is necessary for some locales. # php_value mbstring.func_overload 0 # php_value include_path . # ``` If the Cacti config is in a separate file, remember to add `Include conf/extra/cacti.conf` to `/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf`. The file `/usr/share/webapps/cacti/.htaccess` also controls access. Configure or remove it. Cacti needs to have permission to write its gathered data and log messages to disk: `# chown -R http:http /usr/share/webapps/cacti/{rra,log}` ## MySQL setup Cacti needs its own database in which to store its data, and a database user account to access the database. Run the following commands as root: ``` # mysqladmin -u root -p create cactidb # mysql -u root -p cactidb GRANT ALL ON cactidb.* TO cactiuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'some_password'; mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES; mysql> exit ``` Alternatively, use [PhpMyAdmin](/index.php/PhpMyAdmin "PhpMyAdmin") to achieve the same results: * Create an empty database called `cactidb`. * Import the file `/usr/share/webapps/cacti/cacti.sql` into the `cactidb` database. * Create a user `cactiuser`, and grant this user privileges to access the `cactidb` database. Add the database access details to `/usr/share/webapps/cacti/include/config.php`: ``` $database_type = "mysqli"; $database_default = "cactidb"; $database_username = "cactiuser"; $database_password = "some_password"; ``` ## Spine Optionally, install [cacti-spine](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/cacti-spine/), a faster poller for cacti, from the [AUR](/index.php/AUR "AUR"). configure it with database access details: `/etc/spine.conf` ``` DB_User cactiuser DB_Pass some_password ``` ## Systemd Cacti uses a poller to collect data, so create a [Systemd](/index.php/Systemd "Systemd") service to run poller.php, and a timer to run the service every 5 minutes: `/etc/systemd/system/cacti_poller.service` ``` [Unit] Description=Cacti Poller [Service] User=http Type=simple ExecStart=/usr/bin/php /usr/share/webapps/cacti/poller.php ``` `/etc/systemd/system/cacti_poller.timer` ``` [Unit] Description=Cacti Poller Timer [Timer] OnCalendar=*:0/5:0 Unit=cacti_poller.service AccuracySec=1 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target ``` **Note:** Do not start or enable `cacti_poller.service`. Instead, [start](/index.php/Start "Start") and enable `cacti_poller.timer` only, which calls the service every 5 minutes. **Tip:** [journalctl](/index.php/Journalctl "Journalctl") can be used to watch for the poller's log messages, which will resemble the following: ``` Sep 27 15:50:00 hoom php[4072]: OK u:0.00 s:0.01 r:0.35 Sep 27 15:50:00 hoom php[4072]: OK u:0.00 s:0.01 r:0.38 Sep 27 15:50:00 hoom php[4072]: OK u:0.00 s:0.01 r:0.40 Sep 27 15:50:01 hoom php[4072]: 09/27/2015 03:50:01 PM - SYSTEM STATS: Time:0.6176 Method:cmd.php Processes:1 Threads:N/A Hosts:5 HostsPerProcess:5 DataSources:169 RRDsProcessed:15 ``` ## Web configuration Open a browser and go to http://your_server/cacti/. You should be welcomed with the cacti installer. * Click Next * Select New Install and click Next * Ensure that all paths are ok. You need to specify versions of RRDTool and NET-SNMP. Get RRDTool Utility Version using 'rrdtool -v', and'net-snmp-config --version' for NET-SNMP. Click Finish. * If any paths are invalid, you'll need to figure out why. Check the apache error logs for hints. * Login with username "admin" and password "admin". * Change the password as requested, click Save. * (Optional) If you chose to install spine, follow these instructions to set it up. * Click on Settings, on the left panel of the Console tab. * Select the Poller tab. * Change Poller Type to spine. * Adjust any other settings on the page as desired, then click Save. * Select the Paths tab. * Set Spine Poller File Path to /usr/bin/spine and click Save. ## External links * [https://cacti.net](https://cacti.net)