How to Install and Configure Cacti on Linux

How To Install and Configure Cacti on Linux
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Contents
Overview.......................................................................................................................................................1
Applies To......................................................................................................................................................1
Slideshare Documentation – Screenshots ....................................................................................................1
Cacti NNM – Pre-requisites...........................................................................................................................1
Query – Packages Installed ...........................................................................................................................1
Step 1: Install Packages.................................................................................................................................2
Install Apache2..........................................................................................................................................2
Install MySQL ............................................................................................................................................3
Install Net-SNMP.......................................................................................................................................4
Install PHP .................................................................................................................................................5
Install PHP SNMP ..................................................................................................................................6
List PHP – Configuration Files Loaded.......................................................................................................7
Install RRDTool..........................................................................................................................................7
Step 2: Configure Apache Service (HTTPD)...................................................................................................7
Apache Service - Status.............................................................................................................................7
Apache Service - OS Startup Status...........................................................................................................8
Apache Service – Modify OS Startup Status .............................................................................................8
Starting Apache Webserver......................................................................................................................8
Configure Apache - ServerName...............................................................................................................8
Step 3: Configure MySQL Service (mysqld)...................................................................................................9
MySQL Service - Status .............................................................................................................................9
MySQL Service - OS Startup Status ...........................................................................................................9
MySQL Service – Modify OS Startup Status..............................................................................................9
Setup MySQL Database Server .................................................................................................................9
Connect MySQL Database...................................................................................................................10
Set MySQL root password...................................................................................................................10
MySQL Login – Root User....................................................................................................................10
Step 4: Configure SNMP Service .................................................................................................................11
Default SNMP Configuration...................................................................................................................11
Counting SNMP Line – Default Config.................................................................................................11
Minimal SNMP Configuration .................................................................................................................11

How To Install and Configure Cacti on Linux
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Create SNMP Configuration File .........................................................................................................11
Test SNMP Configuration....................................................................................................................11
Counting SNMP Line – Customized Config..........................................................................................11
SNMP Service - Status.............................................................................................................................12
SNMP Service - OS Startup Status...........................................................................................................12
SNMP Service – Modify OS Startup Status..............................................................................................12
Starting SNMP service.............................................................................................................................12
Step 4: Install RRDTool Package..................................................................................................................12
Step 5: Install Cacti Package........................................................................................................................13
Configure MySQL for Cacti......................................................................................................................13
Create and Configure cacti User .........................................................................................................13
Test MySQL connection – Cacti User ..................................................................................................13
Find Cacti SQL Script ...........................................................................................................................14
Import Cacti Database Table Script.....................................................................................................14
Verify Cacti Database Import Status...................................................................................................14
Configure cacti DB Connection Parameters........................................................................................14
Edit DB Connection Parameters..........................................................................................................14
Configure Apache for Cacti .................................................................................................................15
Restart httpd Service ..........................................................................................................................15
Set Cron job for cacti pooling..............................................................................................................16
Step 6: Cacti Monitoring Setup...................................................................................................................16
Tool Information.....................................................................................................................................16
Identify SNMP & RRDTool Versions....................................................................................................17
Launch Cacti Application.........................................................................................................................17
App Step 1 – Welcome screen ............................................................................................................17
App Step 2 – Installation Type ............................................................................................................17
App Step 3 – Executables Path............................................................................................................18
App Step 4 – First Login.......................................................................................................................19
App Step 5 – Reset Password (admin) ................................................................................................19
App Step 6 – Create Graphs................................................................................................................19

How To Install and Configure Cacti
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Overview
Cacti tool is an open source web based network monitoring and system monitoring graphing solution for
IT business.
Cacti enables a user to poll services status, performance of different devices viz., system, network,
processes, etc. At regular intervals to create graphs on resulting data using RRDtool. By default data is
pooled every 5 minutes.
Applies To
CentOS 6.x / RHEL 6.x
Slideshare Documentation – Screenshots
This documentation is available with screenshots at http://slideshare.net
Cacti NNM – Pre-requisites
Few of the major pre-requisites are;
Apache A Web server to display network graphs created by PHP and RRDTool.
MySQL A Database server to store cacti information.
PHP A script module to create graphs using RRDTool.
PHP-SNMP A PHP extension for SNMP to access data.
NET-SNMP A SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is used to manage
network.
RRDTool A database tool to manage and retrieve time series data like CPU load,
Network Bandwidth etc.
Query – Packages Installed
rpm -qa | grep ^httpd*
rpm -qa | grep ^mysql*
rpm -qa | grep ^net*
rpm -qa | grep ^php-*
rpm -qa | grep ^rrd*

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Step 1: Install Packages
Apache2 yum install httpd httpd-devel
MySQL yum install mysql mysql-server
PHP yum install php-mysql php-pear php-common php-gd php-devel php php-mbstring php-cli
SNMP yum install net-snmp-utils php-snmp net-snmp-libs php-pear-Net-SMTP
RRD yum install rrdtool
Install Apache2
Install the Apache2 package using yum and dependent packages.
yum install httpd httpd-devel

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Install MySQL
Install the MySQL package using yum and dependent packages.
yum install mysql mysql-server

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Install Net-SNMP
Install the Net-SNMP package using yum and dependent packages.
yum install net-snmp-utils php-snmp net-snmp-libs php-pear-NET-SMTP

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Install PHP
Install the PHP package using yum and dependent packages.
yum install php-mysql php-pear php-common php-gd php-devel php php-mbstring php-cli

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Install PHP SNMP
To install php snmp packages using yum and dependent packages.
yum install net-snmp-utils php-snmp net-snmp-libs php-pear-NET-SMTP

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List PHP – Configuration Files Loaded
After installation, you can list the php configurations loaded, execute the command “php --ini”"
Output:
Install RRDTool
Install the RRDTool package using yum and dependent packages.
yum install rrdtool
Step 2: Configure Apache Service (HTTPD)
Apache Service - Status
Check the status of httpd, execute the command
service httpd status
Output:
httpdd service status:
httpd is stopped

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Apache Service - OS Startup Status
Check the OS startup status of apache web server service, execute the command
chkconfig httpd --list
Output:
httpd service start-up setting:
httpd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:off 6:off
Apache Service – Modify OS Startup Status
Modify OS startup status of apache web server; service to auto-start at levels (3, 4, 5) execute the
command
chkconfig httpd on
Output:
httpd service start-up setting:
httpd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
Starting Apache Webserver
service httpd start
Output:
Starting httpd: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using
192.168.2.92 for ServerName
[ OK ]
Configure Apache - ServerName
vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Find and replace attribute value of “ServerName” to respective hostname or FQDN of the host and restart
httpd service.
Example:
ServerName etpl01nm01pr.ftech.com
service httpd restart
Output:
Stopping httpd: [ OK ]
Starting httpd: [ OK ]
After restarting httpd service, access in browser access the URL http://vcp01tst02pr.ftech.com/ or
http://<IP Address> default apache page should be displayed.

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Step 3: Configure MySQL Service (mysqld)
MySQL Service - Status
Check the status of mysql database, execute the command
service mysqld status
Output:
mysqld service status:
mysqld is stopped
MySQL Service - OS Startup Status
Check the OS startup status of mysql database service, execute the command
chkconfig mysqld --list
Output:
mysqld service start-up setting:
mysqld 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:off 6:off
MySQL Service – Modify OS Startup Status
Modify OS startup of MySQL Database server; service to auto-start at levels (3, 4, 5) execute the command
chkconfig --levels 345 mysqld on
Output:
mysqld service start-up setting:
mysqld 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
Setup MySQL Database Server
When you start the mysqld daemon for the first time, default database would be created and further
hardening can be considered later on.
service mysqld start
Output:
mysqld service starting:
Initializing MySQL database: Installing MySQL system tables...
OK
Filling help tables...
OK
To start mysqld at boot time you have to copy
support-files/mysql.server to the right place for your system

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PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER !
To do so, start the server, then issue the following commands:
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h vcp01tst02pr password 'new-password'
Alternatively you can run:
/usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
which will also give you the option of removing the test
databases and anonymous user created by default. This is
strongly recommended for production servers.
See the manual for more instructions.
You can start the MySQL daemon with:
cd /usr ; /usr/bin/mysqld_safe &
You can test the MySQL daemon with mysql-test-run.pl
cd /usr/mysql-test ; perl mysql-test-run.pl
Please report any problems with the /usr/bin/mysqlbug script!
[ OK ]
Starting mysqld: [ OK ]
Connect MySQL Database
By default no password is set, you will be logged into mysql prompt. You can test by executing command;
since we have already configured with root password. Without passing password to mysql command it
will fail to connect.
mysql
mysql> q
Set MySQL root password
To set MySQL root user password; execute the command
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h localhost password 'your-new-password'
or
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h vcp01tst02pr password 'your-new-password'
MySQL Login – Root User
mysql -uroot -proot123$
mysql> q

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Step 4: Configure SNMP Service
Default SNMP Configuration
No configuration changes are needed “/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf” file; to test execute the command
snmpwalk -v 1 -c public -O e 127.0.0.1 | head -1
Output:
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = STRING: Linux vcp01tst02pr 2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed
Oct 16 18:37:12 UTC 2013 x86_64
Counting SNMP Line – Default Config
snmpwalk -v 1 -c public -O e 127.0.0.1 | wc -l
Output:
33
Minimal SNMP Configuration
Optionally, if you would like to customize or minimal configuration;
mv /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf.original
Create SNMP Configuration File
vi /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf
Add the below lines;
rocommunity public
syslocation "VCP, Bangalore"
syscontact mvcp@domain.com
Test SNMP Configuration
snmpwalk -v 1 -c public -O e 127.0.0.1 | head -1
Output:
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = STRING: Linux vcp01tst02pr 2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed
Oct 16 18:37:12 UTC 2013 x86_64
Counting SNMP Line – Customized Config
snmpwalk -v 1 -c public -O e 127.0.0.1 | wc -l
Output:
3304

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SNMP Service - Status
Check the status of snmp service, execute the command
service snmpd status
Output:
snmpd service status:
snmpd is stopped
SNMP Service - OS Startup Status
Check the OS startup status of apache web server service, execute the command
chkconfig snmpd --list
Output:
snmpd service start-up setting:
snmpd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:off 6:off
SNMP Service – Modify OS Startup Status
Modify OS startup status of snmp; service to auto-start at levels (3, 4, 5) execute the command
chkconfig --levels 345 snmpd on
Output:
snmpd service start-up setting:
snmpd 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
Starting SNMP service
service snmpd start
Output:
snmpd service starting:
Starting snmpd: [ OK ]
Step 4: Install RRDTool Package
yum install rrdtool

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Step 5: Install Cacti Package
yum install cacti
Configure MySQL for Cacti
In order to cacti to work, configuration have to be done, the steps are listed below.
Create and Configure cacti User
mysql -uroot -proot123$
mysql> create database cacti;
mysql> use cacti;
mysql> grant all privileges on *.* to cacti@localhost identified by 'cacti123$';
mysql> grant all privileges on *.* to cacti@vcp01tst02pr identified by 'cacti123$';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> q
Test MySQL connection – Cacti User
mysql -ucacti -pcacti123$
mysql>
mysql> q

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Find Cacti SQL Script
rpm -ql cacti | grep "cacti.sql"
Output:
/usr/share/doc/cacti-0.8.8b/cacti.sql
Import Cacti Database Table Script
mysql -ucacti -pcacti123$ cacti < /usr/share/doc/cacti-0.8.8b/cacti.sql
Verify Cacti Database Import Status
mysql -ucacti -pcacti123$ -hlocalhost cacti
mysql> show tables;
Note: show tables; query should list 52 rows (tables).
Configure cacti DB Connection Parameters
To configure cacti application database connection parameters, update MySQL database connection
parameters settings in the file
vi /etc/cacti/db.php
Edit DB Connection Parameters
/* make sure these values reflect your actual database/host/user/password */
$database_type = "mysql";
$database_default = "cacti";
$database_hostname = "localhost";
$database_username = "cacti";
$database_password = "cacti123$";
$database_port = "3306";
$database_ssl = false;

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Configure Apache for Cacti
In order to access cacti on web, edit and append below configuration lines the in file
vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/cacti.conf
Sample Configuration snippet:
#
# Add cacti alias and point the directory where cacti is installed.
#
Alias /cacti /usr/share/cacti
#
# Add cacti access restrictions from specific IP range / subnet
#
<Directory /usr/share/cacti/>
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 192.168.1.0/24
Allow from 192.168.2.0/24
</Directory>
Restart httpd Service
service httpd restart
Output:
Apache Service Restart:
Stopping httpd: [ OK ]
Starting httpd: [Fri Mar 18 21:15:23 2014] [warn] The Alias directive in
/etc/httpd/conf.d/cacti.conf at line 59 will probably never match because it overlaps an earlier
Alias.
[ OK ]
Note: In this case there are duplicate alias for “cacti”; so remove one of the aliases for defined
cacti, save and restart apache service.

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Set Cron job for cacti pooling
Cacti pools data every 5 minutes once, for pooling data cron job has be created, add the crontab entry as
per the below line.
crontab -e
*/5 * * * * cacti /usr/bin/php /usr/share/cacti/poller.php > /dev/null 2>&1
crontab -l
Note: data pooling is done via snmp; ensure SNMP is configured for the device / server that needs to be
monitored on cacti.
Step 6: Cacti Monitoring Setup
Before you launch Cacti monitoring application, make sure you have installed all the required packages
and their respective binaries exists.
For NET-SNMP & RRDTool identify the versions installed on the server, you can query for package
installed, check “App Step 3 - Executables Path” section in “Launching Cacti”.
This information is required while configuring cacti application.
Tool Information
Tool Binary Find Default Path
RRDTool Rrdtool which rrdtool /usr/bin/
PHP Php which php /usr/bin/
SNMP Walk snmpwalk which snmpwalk /usr/bin/
SNMP Get snmpget which snmpget /usr/bin/
SNMP Bulk Walk snmpbulkwalk which snmpbulkwalk /usr/bin/
SNMP Get Next snmpgetnext which snmpgetnext /usr/bin/
Cacti Logger cacti.log ls /usr/share/cacti/log /usr/share/cacti/log

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Identify SNMP & RRDTool Versions
SNMP Utility Version
rpm -qa | grep net-snmp
RRDTool Version
rpm -qa | grep rrdtool
Launch Cacti Application
To launch and configure cacti; in the browser access the URL http://<Your Cacti Host>/cacti/ or
http://<Cacti Host IP Address>/cacti/;
App Step 1 – Welcome screen
First run; initial setup screen; click on “Next” button.
App Step 2 – Installation Type
Choose the option whether the installation is a “New Install” or “upgrade”

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App Step 3 – Executables Path
From the “Tool Information” section the collated information should be validated.

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App Step 4 – First Login
In Login Screen, enter default username as “admin” and password as “admin”
App Step 5 – Reset Password (admin)
You need to reset the default password to a new password
App Step 6 – Create Graphs
Upon launching, click on “Create Graphs” and choose the host that you would like to get generate the
graphs.

How to Install and Configure Cacti on Linux

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