perfSONAR Network Performance Toolkit Cacti Configuration

TOC

• Locate Cacti GUI and Login
• Create Network Device
• Add New Device
• Enter Device Info
• Create Graphs
• Select Graph Info
• Load Graph Data
• Edit Graph Tree
• Select Tree
• Add Graphs to Tree
• Select Graphs for Tree
• View Graphs
• Select Other Graphs
• Restart SNMP MA
• View perfSONAR Graphs

Cacti is used to poll SNMP on network devices, and is a natural extension of the SNMP Measurement Archive. The following steps will explain the basic setup of Cacti (e.g. to poll a network device). A user wishing to do more with the software should consult the documentation.

Cacti Config Step 1

Visit the Cacti instance. If you are using the XWindows environment of the disk this can be as simple as viewing https://localhost/admin/cacti. If you are configuring this remotely you will need to know the name of the host.

Cacti Config Step 2

After logging in you will see the home screen. In the middle there will be an option to Create devices. This is where we will begin.

Cacti Config Step 3

The next screen shows the currently known devices. The basic setup will always include localhost. The example below shows a previously configured switch. On the right side there is an Add button (although it doesn't appear to be so). Click this to add a new device.

Cacti Config Step 4

The next screen features many places to add information about your new network device. Note that the red circles are representative of the most common places to make changes. When you are finished press Create.

Cacti Config Step 5

By default Cacti will only poll the System information of the SNMP enabled host at this stage, just to see if it is alive. To poll information such as network statistics it is necessary to create Graphs. We will proceed by clicking on Create graphs for this Host.

Cacti Config Step 6

The next screen displays the possible interfaces that are available for data display. Note that this may be a large number. In general it is efficient to simply click the all checkbox at the top unless there are certain interfaces you wish you only poll or perhaps leave out. After checking this, scroll to the bottom.

Cacti Config Step 7

At the bottom of the page is a drop down for the format of the data. It is common to use the 64 bit counters (especially for backbone networks) and display the information as bytes as shown here. Other options are of course available. When done click Create.

Cacti Config Step 8

The resulting page should show the success or failure of each interface. At this point the following actions have happened:

• RRD Files have been created for the interfaces in question
• A Poller has been notified that these are values of interest (polling will occur by default every 5 minutes)
• Graph templates have been established

We now can organize this set into a graph tree for later display. Select Graph Trees on the left hand side.

Cacti Config Step 9

Select Default Tree. It is also possible to create your own tree at this stage if desired.

Cacti Config Step 10

As in Step 3 there is another Add button to click because we wish to add a new host to the tree.

Cacti Config Step 11

Select Host from the drop down. This will automatically populate the next drop down with the network device you have set up. When you are set click Create.

Cacti Config Step 12

The next menu shows that the device has been added. To see the graphs click on Graphs on the top.

Cacti Config Step 13

By default you can view the localhost statistics, but below this the new network device is present.

Cacti Config Step 14

Back on the NPTookit, it is necessary to (Re-)start the perfSONAR-PS SNMP MA daemon by entering sudo /etc/init.d/snmpMA.sh restart

Cacti Config Step 15

Finally from either the NPToolkit or some other machine, visit a perfSONAR testing instance described in Disk Verification - Cacti.

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