Cacti (software)

Cacti is an open-source, web-based network monitoring and graphing tool designed as a front-end application for the open-source, industry-standard data logging tool RRDtool.[3] Cacti allows a user to poll services at predetermined intervals and graph the resulting data. It is generally used to graph time-series data of metrics such as CPU load and network bandwidth utilization.[4] A common usage is to monitor network traffic by polling a network switch or router interface via Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

Cacti
Developer(s)The Cacti Group, Inc.
Initial releaseSeptember 23, 2001 (2001-09-23)[1]
Stable release
1.2.12[2] (May 3, 2020 (2020-05-03)) [±]
Repository
Written inPHP, MySQL
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeNetwork monitoring
LicenseGNU General Public License
Websitewww.cacti.net

The front end can handle multiple users, each with their own graph sets,[4] so it is sometimes used by web hosting providers[5] (especially dedicated server,[6] virtual private server, and colocation providers) to display bandwidth statistics for their customers. It can be used to configure the data collection itself, allowing certain setups to be monitored without any manual configuration of RRDtool.[7] Cacti can be extended to monitor any source via shell scripts and executables.[8]

Cacti can use one of two back ends: "cmd.php", a PHP script suitable for smaller installations, or "Spine" (formerly Cactid), a C-based poller which can scale to thousands of hosts.[9][10]

History

The Cacti project was first started by Ian Berry on September 2, 2001.[11][12] Berry was inspired to start the project while working for a small ISP while also still in high school, learning PHP and MySQL. His central aim in creating Cacti "was to offer more ease of use than RRDtool and more flexibility than MRTG".[11]

On September 13, 2004, version 0.8.6 was released,[13] and with it came more developers and, later on, greater program speed and scalability.[11]

Version 0.8.7 was released for use in October 2007.[14] In June 2012, a roadmap on the website indicated that version 1.0.0 was scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2013,[15] but by August 2013 it was replaced by a notice that "This roadmap is out of date. We are reorganizing to improve the development cycle of Cacti. More information coming before the end of 2013!".[16]

Version 0.8.8c was released in August 2014[17] with numerous bug and security issues patched, and a few new features.

Version 0.8.8d was released in June 2015[18] with numerous bugs patched.

Version 0.8.8e was released in July 2015[19] with numerous bug and security issues patched.

Version 0.8.8f was released in July 2015[20] with some bugs patched.

Version 0.8.8g was released in February 2016[21] with numerous bugs patched.

Version 0.8.8h was released in May 2016[22] with some bugs patched.

Version 1.0.0 was released in January 2017.[23]

Version 1.2.0 was released in January 2019.[24]

The year of 2017 has been an active one for the Cacti Group. They have released over 30 versions of Cacti since the initial 1.0.0 release in January 2017. The GitHub community has grown and there are now several dozen developers working on perfecting the 1.x release for use in homes, small companies and enterprises throughout the globe.

Features

The primary features of Cacti include:[8]

  • unlimited graph items
  • auto-padding support for graphs
  • graph data manipulation
  • flexible data sources
  • data gathering on a non-standard timespan
  • custom data-gathering scripts
  • built-in SNMP support
  • graph templates
  • data source templates
  • device templates
  • tree, list, and preview views of graph data
  • user and user group based management and security
  • remote data collection
  • graph aggregation
  • device, graph and tree automation
  • network discovery

See also

References
  1. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.5". SourceForge.net. 23 September 2001. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  2. "Release Notes - 1.2.12". 3 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  3. "Cacti : un serveur de supervision" [Cacti: a supervision server]. Wiki ubuntu-fr (in French). 5 April 2019. Archived from the original (html) on 12 June 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020. Cacti est un logiciel de supervision basé sur RRDtool permettant de surveiller l’activité de son architecture informatique à partir de graphiques quotidiens, hebdomadaires, mensuels et annuels.
  4. "Cacti - What is Cacti?". The Cacti Group, Inc. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  5. "Cacti Bandwidth Graphing". 3DPixel Ltd. Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  6. Morley, Simon (21 January 2011). "Cacti Server Monitoring". Simon Morley. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  7. "RedHat / CentOS Install and Configure Cacti Network Graphing Tool". Linux Magazine. 12 January 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  8. "Cacti - Features". The Cacti Group, Inc. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  9. Adams, Larry (31 May 2009). "How to install poller cactid or spine on linux". alinux.web.id. Archived from the original on 2012-01-24. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  10. "Cacti - Spine Information". The Cacti Group, Inc. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  11. Goldman, George (17 January 2007). "The network graphing solution Cacti was designed to provide more ease of use than RRDtool and more flexibility than MRTG". ISP-Planet. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  12. "Cacti". SourceForge.net. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  13. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.8.6". SourceForge.net. 13 September 2004. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  14. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.8.7". SourceForge.net. 23 October 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  15. "Cacti - Development Road Map". The Cacti Group, Inc. 11 September 2011. Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  16. "Cacti - Development Road Map". The Cacti Group, Inc. 14 August 2013. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  17. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.8.8c". Cacti.net. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  18. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.8.8d". Cacti.net. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  19. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.8.8e". Cacti.net. 12 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  20. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.8.8f". Cacti.net. 19 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  21. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.8.8g". Cacti.net. 21 February 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  22. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-0.8.8h". Cacti.net. 8 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  23. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-1.0.0". Cacti.net. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  24. "Cacti - Browse / cacti / cacti-1.2.0". Cacti.net. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.

Further reading
  • Lavlu, S. M. (2009). Cacti 0.8 Network Monitoring. Packt Publishing. p. 132. ISBN 1-84719-596-2.
  • Urban, Thomas (2011). Cacti 0.8 Beginner's Guide. Packt Publishing. p. 348. ISBN 1-84951-392-9.
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