Sign In Start Free Trial

Book Overview & Buying
Table Of Contents

Cacti Beginner's Guide - Second Edition

By : Thomas Urban

3.5 (2)

Cacti Beginner's Guide

3.5 (2)

By: Thomas Urban

Overview of this book

Cacti is a performance measurement tool that provides easy methods and functions for gathering and graphing system data. You can use Cacti to develop a robust event management system that can alert on just about anything you would like it to. But to do that, you need to gain a solid understanding of the basics of Cacti, its plugin architecture, and automation concepts. Cacti Beginner's Guide will introduce you to the wide variety of features of Cacti and will guide you on how to use them for maximum effectiveness. Advanced topics such as the plugin architecture and Cacti automation using the command-line interface will help you build a professional performance measurement system. Designed as a beginner's guide, the book starts off with the basics of installing and using Cacti, and also covers the advanced topics that will show you how to customize and extend the core Cacti functionalities. The book offers essential tutorials for creating advanced graphs and using plugins to create enterprise-class reports to show your customers and colleagues. From data templates to input methods and plugin installation to creating your own customized plugins, this book provides you with a rich selection of step-by-step instructions to reach your goals. It covers all you need to know to implement professional performance measurement techniques with Cacti and ways to fully customize Cacti to fit your needs. You will also learn how to migrate Cacti to new servers. Lastly you will also be introduced to the latest feature of building a scalable remote poller environment. By the end of the book, you will be able to implement and extend Cacti to monitor, display, and report the performance of your network exactly the way you want.

Preface

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

Installing Cacti

Installing Cacti

Preparing the system - basic prerequisites

Installing Cacti on a CentOS 7 system

Installing Cacti on a Windows system

Upgrading Cacti

Using Cacti for the first time

The Cacti web interface explained

Before we continue

Summary

Using Graphs to Monitor Networks and Devices

Using Graphs to Monitor Networks and Devices

An introduction to Cacti graphs and RRDtool

Adding devices to Cacti

Adding devices to the Cacti tree

Before we continue

Summary

Creating and Using Templates

Creating and Using Templates

An introduction to templates

Defining a data source template

Defining a graph template

Defining a device template

Importing/exporting templates

The template repository

Before we continue

Summary

User Management

User Management

An introduction to Cacti user management

Creating a user

General User Settings

Permissions tabs

User Groups

The template user

Integrate LDAP/Active Directory authentication

Managing users with the Cacti CLI

Before we continue

Summary

Data Management

Data Management

An introduction to Cacti data management

Creating data input methods

Creating data queries

Creating a remote SSH data input method

Before we continue

Summary

Cacti Maintenance

Cacti Maintenance

An introduction to Cacti maintenance

The Cacti directory structure

Backup and restore procedures

Log file management

Cacti maintenance

A short overview of the Cacti CLI functionality

Pop quiz - a few questions about Chapter 6

Summary

Network and Server Monitoring

Network and Server Monitoring

An introduction to network and server monitoring

Monitoring a network device

Monitoring VMware ESX servers

Windows monitoring

Linux monitoring

Pop quiz - a few questions about Chapter 7

Summary

Plugin Architecture

Plugin Architecture

Introduction to the plugin architecture

Configuring the plugin architecture

Downloading and installing plugins

Updating a plugin

Adding plugin permissions

Pop quiz - a few questions about Chapter 8

Summary

Plugins

Plugins

Plugin design

Commonly used plugins

Creating a new plugin

Summary

Threshold Monitoring with Thold

Threshold Monitoring with Thold

Threshold monitoring

Installing Thold

Configuring Thold

Using Thold

Pop quiz - a few questions about Chapter 10

Summary

Enterprise Reporting

Enterprise Reporting

Overview of Nectar and CereusReporting

Nectar

CereusReporting

Report scheduling and polling performance

Advanced reporting features of CereusReporting

Pop quiz - a few questions about Chapter 11

Summary

Cacti Automation for NOC

Cacti Automation for NOC

Overview of Cacti automation

Using the Cacti CLI

Automation - true Cacti automation

Summary

Migrating Cacti to a New Server

Migrating Cacti to a New Server

Overview of a Cacti migration

Cacti files

The RRD files

Creating the initial cacti backup

What just happened?

Preparing the target system

Further information

Summary

Multiple Poller with Cacti

Multiple Poller with Cacti

Overview of the remote poller architecture

Setting up the master system

Setting up the remote poller system

Prepare the remote poller

Final configuration of the master poller

Adding devices to the remote poller

Further information

Summary

Online Resources

Online Resources

Cacti website

Further Information

Further Information

The Round Robin database tool

SNMP - the Simple Network Management Protocol

Where to get support?

Pop Quiz Answers

Pop Quiz Answers

Chapter 1 — Installing Cacti

Chapter 2 — Using Graphs to Monitor Networks and Devices

Chapter 3 — Creating and Using Templates

Chapter 4 — User Management

Chapter 5 — Data Management

Chapter 6 — Cacti Maintenance

Chapter 7 — Network and Server Monitoring

Chapter 8 — Plugin Architecture

Chapter 9 — Plugins

Chapter 10 — Threshold Monitoring with Thold

Chapter 11 — Enterprise Reporting

Chapter 12 — Cacti Automation for NOC

Chapter 13 — Migrating Cacti to a New Server

Chapter 14 — Multiple Poller with Cacti

Installing Cacti

So, you have decided to install the Cacti tool. Throughout this book you will learn how to use Cacti and learn new things about it. This book will build up your knowledge, from chapter to chapter, as you complete the tasks. As you go through the book, you will see different information boxes and tips, and I encourage you to read through them as they provide valuable information. At the end of each chapter you will see a summary of what has been covered in the chapter and what you will learn in the chapter to follow.

Let's get on with setting up Cacti 1.x. Take a look at what we will do next. In this chapter we are going to cover:

Installing the prerequisites for Cacti on a CentOS 7 system
Installing Cacti on a CentOS 7 system and Windows 2012 R2 system
Compiling and installing the Spine poller
Upgrading an existing Cacti installation
Running Cacti for the first time
A quick overview of the Cacti web frontend

Here we go...

Visually different images

CONTINUE READING

83

Tech Concepts

36

Programming languages

73

Tech Tools

Unlimited access to the largest independent learning library in tech of over 8,000 expert-authored tech books and videos.

Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.

50+ new titles added per month and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.

Cacti Beginner's Guide

Search

Your notes and bookmarks