Cacti for Dummies (like me)

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kkinderen
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Cacti for Dummies (like me)

Post by kkinderen »

I hope somebody just getting started with cacti (like me) will find this useful. It is the simplest instructions I could come up with to get a small taste of cacti's power. I've only been using cacti for about a week so there may be mistakes - but, it should get you from an external script through a graph presentation and get you started in understanding what can be
done in cacti.

See attached. Comments and corrections welcome.
Last edited by kkinderen on Tue Dec 30, 2003 8:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
kkinderen
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Post by kkinderen »

I made some corrections to the steps. Hopefully this is more accurate.
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Data_Input_Instructions2.txt
(4.69 KiB) Downloaded 1601 times
aphyr
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Post by aphyr »

You, sir, are my hero.

This guide is clear, concise, and to-the-point. Excellent for those having some trouble by the newer cacti system of templates. I found it easy to use, and adaptable to my needs.

Thank you.
freez
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Post by freez »

thats cool man,
im gonna check that 8)
raX
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Post by raX »

This is pretty cool! Would you be down for me including this in the manual?

-Ian
kkinderen
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Post by kkinderen »

Absolutely. I'll try and go back over it again this evening and check for any errors.
aphyr
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Post by aphyr »

If this gets added to the manual, could you possibly explain some of the additional concepts along the way? Things like how to extract multiple results from one script, getting OID information without writing script wrappers for snmpget, etc might be useful.
kkinderen
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Post by kkinderen »

aphyr: I intended this particular example to be the simplest method of using a script to create a graph. I could try to work on others - but I'm figuring this out as I go along. Maybe someone can help expand?

rax: I've updated and simplified the HOWTO, removing things about templates. I did this keeping in mind the goal of using the simplest methods. If it makes sense, I could add template info back in along with explanations about why they are there and use it as a next step for beginners. Let me know if you'd like me to continue working on these.

Kevin
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Data_Input_Instructions3.txt
Simplest method of going from script to graph.
(5.96 KiB) Downloaded 895 times
raX
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Post by raX »

kkinderen wrote:rax: I've updated and simplified the HOWTO, removing things about templates. I did this keeping in mind the goal of using the simplest methods. If it makes sense, I could add template info back in along with explanations about why they are there and use it as a next step for beginners. Let me know if you'd like me to continue working on these.
I like your idea about sticking to the simplest methods of doing things. For most users this is good enough and the manual provides more in depth information for users that want to go beyond this. Speaking of the manual, feel free comment on the new manual I have re-written for the next version of Cacti. You can find it included with the latest 0.8.5 pre-releases.

I started porting your howto into the manual, which basically means me adding a whole bunch of SGML tags to it ;-). Feel free to check out its progress on my development box.

Also I would like to include your name on the document as to give you credit as the author. A first and last name should do. A website and/or an e-mail address would be fine too.

-Ian
kkinderen
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Post by kkinderen »

Here's the info... Kevin der Kinderen, kderkinderen@winstar.com, http://kdeuja.com/~kevin/
raX
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Post by raX »

Just letting you know that I finished porting your howto to SGML so that it can be included in the manual. It will be included in the 0.8.5 release. Also feel free to send any future updates my way so I can keep the manual up to date.

-Ian
Epx998
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Re: Cacti for Dummies (like me)

Post by Epx998 »

Just realized what an old thread, anyone know if the directions from data_input_instructions3 still works? I tried it and the script output is -nan.
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TheWitness
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Re: Cacti for Dummies (like me)

Post by TheWitness »

Follow the first link on my signature.
True understanding begins only when we realize how little we truly understand...

Life is an adventure, let yours begin with Cacti!

Author of dozens of Cacti plugins and customization's. Advocate of LAMP, MariaDB, IBM Spectrum LSF and the world of batch. Creator of IBM Spectrum RTM, author of quite a bit of unpublished work and most of Cacti's bugs.
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For those wondering, I'm still here, but lost in the shadows. Yearning for less bugs. Who want's a Cacti 1.3/2.0? Streams anyone?
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