[INFO] Remote Poller Setup (Cacti 1.1.6)

[Piratos]

Unfortunately, there isn't much info on how to set up Remote Poller. Hopefully, this will help.

Please replace the {main_IP} etc. with your own parameters.


Main Cacti
Cacti Version: 1.1.6 (upgraded from CactiEZ 0.7)
Spine Version: 1.1.6
IP-address: main_IP
MySQL User : cactiuser
MySQL Database: cacti
MySQL PW: main_PW

Spare Cacti
Cacti Version: 1.1.6 (upgraded from CactiEZ 0.7)
Spine Version: 1.1.6
IP-address: spare_IP
MySQL User: cactiuser
MySQL Database: cacti
MySQL PW: spare_PW


On Main Cacti

Comment bind-address=127.0.0.1 in /etc/my.cnf.d/server.cnf:

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shell> vi /etc/my.cnf.d/server.cnf

#bind-address=127.0.0.1

Add user login from Spare Cacti:

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shell> mysql -u root -p

mysql> GRANT ALL ON cacti.* TO cactiuser@{spare_IP} IDENTIFIED BY '{main_PW}';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> exit;

Restart MySQL:

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shell> service mysql restart
			Shutting down MySQL... SUCCESS!
			Starting MySQL.170519 16:34:25 mysqld_safe Logging to '/var/log/mysqld.log'.
			170519 16:34:25 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
			. SUCCESS!

Set up iptables (if needed):

Open port 3306 (MySQL) for Spare Cacti:

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shell> iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p tcp -s {spare_IP} -m tcp --dport 3306 -j ACCEPT

Set up /usr/local/spine/etc/spine.conf:

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shell> vi /usr/local/spine/etc/spine.conf

DB_Host			localhost
DB_Database		cacti
DB_User			cactiuser
DB_Pass			{main_PW}
DB_Port			3306

RDB_Host			{spare_IP}
RDB_Database		cacti
RDB_User			cactiuser
RDB_Pass			{spare_PW}
RDB_Port			3306

On Spare Cacti

Test MySQL from spare to main:

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shell> mysql -u cactiuser --password={main_PW} -h {main_IP}

Comment bind-address=127.0.0.1 in /etc/my.cnf.d/server.cnf:

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shell> vi /etc/my.cnf.d/server.cnf

#bind-address=127.0.0.1

Add user login from Main Cacti:

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shell> mysql -u root -p

mysql> GRANT ALL ON cacti.* TO cactiuser@{main_IP} IDENTIFIED BY '{spare_PW}';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> exit;

Restart MySQL:

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shell> service mysql restart
			Shutting down MySQL... SUCCESS!
			Starting MySQL.170519 16:34:25 mysqld_safe Logging to '/var/log/mysqld.log'.
			170519 16:34:25 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
			. SUCCESS!

Set up iptables (if needed):

Open port 3306 (MySQL) for Main Cacti:

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shell> iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT -p tcp -s {main_IP} -m tcp --dport 3306 -j ACCEPT

Set up /usr/main/spine/etc/spine.conf:

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shell> vi /usr/local/spine/etc/spine.conf

DB_Host			localhost
DB_Database		cacti
DB_User			cactiuser
DB_Pass			{spare_PW}
DB_Port			3306

RDB_Host			{main_IP}
RDB_Database		cacti
RDB_User			cactiuser
RDB_Pass			{main_PW}
RDB_Port			3306

Set up /var/www/html/include/config.php:

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shell> vi /var/www/html/include/config.php

$rdatabase_type     = 'mysql';
$rdatabase_default  = 'cacti';
$rdatabase_hostname = '{main_IP}';
$rdatabase_username = 'cactiuser';
$rdatabase_password = '{main_PW}';
$rdatabase_port     = '3306';
$rdatabase_ssl      = false;

#$poller_id = 1;
$poller_id = 2;

On Main Cacti

Test MySQL from main to spare:

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shell> mysql -u cactiuser --password={spare_PW} -h {spare_IP}

Browser interface

Data Collection >> Data Collectors

Possibly a collector has no name and thus no link to edit it. It can be reached on:

http://{main_IP}/pollers.php?action=edit&id={poller_id}

[tertius]

Small typo: In the box after "Set up /usr/local/spine/etc/spine.conf:" you wrote "shell> vi /etc/my.cnf.d/server.cnf", but should be "shell> vi /usr/local/spine/etc/spine.conf".
Happens 2 times.

[Piratos]

Thanks tertius. I have edited the post.

[Piratos]

I made two typing errors and wrote "uncomment" while I meant "comment".

Corrected.

[Piratos]

Dear stormonts,

Please note that you have to put a # in front of bind-address=127.0.0.1 so the bind-address is ignored:

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#bind-address=127.0.0.1

To be honest, I gave up on the new Cacti 1+ version (for now). I was hoping the Remote Poller Setup would make two redundant Cacti systems with two cloned databases, combining the poller process over both systems. So that is a normal situation each poller would do halve of the poller requests and in case one Cacti system would go down the other system would take over all poller requests. I do not believe that is the case here.

Currently I run a setup with two Cacti 0.8.8a systems, where I have set up one system to have a master MySQL datebase and the other system runs a slave MySQL database. Each system runs all poller tasks. I was hoping that Remote Poller Setup would do something similar, but with splitting the poller process over both systems (so not all devices are polled by both Cacti systems).

[cigamit]

The current Remote Poller isn't built for HA purposes, but for scaling purposes. While we may incorporate HA functionality in the future, its not currently high on my priority list.

Just thinking about it for a minute, you could easily make an HA setup with the current Remote Poller setup by adding a few things to it. You would have to be rsyncing the RRDs over to the 2nd host (or shared storage backend for them), and then you just setup a small plugin that checks the heartbeat on the Main Poller, and if it isn't responding, you swap the config.php to make it the Main Poller (or instead just do a single DB query that assigns all the devices to the 2nd Poller).

[rvk]

Hi all, how do i configure spine for multiple remote pollers?

[Spansgberg]

Hi

I'm running a Cacti 0.8.8h instance, and it is working fine, I don't think I dare to upgrade at the moment.

Is it possible to use some of the steps in this post to create a remote poller for my environment?

I don't need the two to be identical copies, I just want to monitor servers in our HQ from a remote site, to keep an eye on user performance from the remote site, so the remote poller just needs to be able to hand of it's metrics to the main poller.