Cacti

Cacti — Graphing with RRDTool at Scale General Information Cacti is one of those long-standing monitoring systems that many network teams still rely on. Built around RRDTool, it collects numbers over time and turns them into graphs that make sense for capacity planning and daily checks. Internet providers, data centers, and large enterprises often keep it in place because it handles big volumes of traffic data without breaking and offers consistency over years of operation.

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Cacti — Graphing with RRDTool at Scale

General Information

Cacti is one of those long-standing monitoring systems that many network teams still rely on. Built around RRDTool, it collects numbers over time and turns them into graphs that make sense for capacity planning and daily checks. Internet providers, data centers, and large enterprises often keep it in place because it handles big volumes of traffic data without breaking and offers consistency over years of operation.

How It Works

At the heart of Cacti is a polling system. It pulls data from devices over SNMP, scripts, or custom pollers, then stores the results in round-robin databases. The interface lets administrators apply templates — once you set up a template for a switch or a server, adding another device of the same type is a matter of a few clicks. Graphs are then drawn automatically, covering CPU, memory, interface throughput, or any sensor that supports SNMP. It’s not flashy, but it’s reliable and straightforward.

Core Functions

Function Description
Data collection Polls devices using SNMP or scripts, with flexible options.
Graph templates Reusable setups for routers, servers, or other equipment.
Scalability Works with thousands of devices using distributed polling.
Access control Role-based views so different teams see only their data.
Notifications Plugins allow threshold alerts, though basic compared to modern systems.
Community add-ons Shared templates and plugins broaden device coverage.

Installation Guide

To get Cacti running, a standard web stack is needed.
1. Prepare Linux with Apache or Nginx, plus PHP and MySQL/MariaDB.
2. Download the latest Cacti release and place it into the web directory.
3. Import the included SQL schema to set up the database.
4. Adjust configuration files for database connection and poller settings.
5. Access the web installer and follow the setup wizard.
6. Once installed, configure SNMP on your devices and assign the right templates.

Everyday Use

Operations teams often keep Cacti dashboards running on a big screen in a NOC to watch link utilization. Admins use it when they need to know if bandwidth spikes are temporary or part of a trend. In enterprises, it helps answer questions like “will this server run out of resources next quarter?” by looking at historical graphs instead of guessing.

Limitations

Cacti focuses heavily on graphing. It doesn’t provide advanced alert correlation, log analysis, or distributed tracing. Installation and tuning can be heavier compared to newer monitoring stacks, and managing RRD files for thousands of metrics needs careful housekeeping.

Comparison

Tool Platforms Strengths Typical Use
Cacti Linux (LAMP/LEMP) Strong SNMP support, long-term graphing, proven stability Network and capacity monitoring at scale
Grafana Multi-platform Flexible dashboards, wide datasource support Merging many systems into one view
Zabbix Linux, Windows All-in-one monitoring with strong alerting Enterprises that need integrated monitoring and alarms

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