The poller hangs

[noisesinmyhead]

Hello!

I have the following configuration:
Cacti 0.8.6i
RRDTool 1.2.15
PHP 5.2.0 (4.4.4 is the default one, but it has serios problems with MySQL + UTF8)
Windows XP SP2

I'm a new user of Cacti, but I think I've done everything all right. When I try do run poller.php:

Code: Select all

F:\httpd\cacti>c:\php5\php f:/httpd/cacti/poller.php
01/04/2007 11:19:15 PM - POLLER: Poller[0] DEBUG: About to Spawn a Remote Process [CMD: c:/cacti/cactid.exe, ARGS:  0 3]
Waiting on 1/1 pollers.

[CUT]

^C
F:\httpd\cacti>

It shows these messages until the maximum execution time is reached. No data is written in the "rra" directory. I tried switching the poller form "cmd.php" to "cactid", but the problem remained. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

[BSOD2600]

1) there is a serious bug with cacti and php 5.2.0 http://bugs.cacti.net/view.php?id=877 Go back to 5.1.6 or use the svn version.

2) read http://forums.cacti.net/viewtopic.php?t=11747

[noisesinmyhead]

Hello!

I've applied poller_output_remainder.patch and tried using PHP 5.1.6 (and it seems that the poller was patched successfully). The result is the same:

Code: Select all

F:\httpd\cacti>c:\php-5.1.6-Win32\php.exe -c c:\php-5.1.6-Win32\ poller.php
01/05/2007 10:05:02 AM - POLLER: Poller[0] DEBUG: About to Spawn a Remote Process [CMD: c:/cacti/cactid.exe, ARGS:  0 3]
Waiting on 1/1 pollers.
[CUT]
^C
F:\httpd\cacti>

I've missed the Cygwin1.dll version - it's 1005.21.0.0.

[danmac]

Some things you might wanna try ... I warn you tho I'm a bit of a n00b myself with Cacti so take it or leave it

Change poller back to cmd.php (less to worry about that way, although I've found cactid is better at not hanging)

Disable all data sources except the ones you know work, or maybe only one on localhost ie. the one most likely to be successful (to make sure a data source isn't the problem)

If you changed the poller to cmd.php - also set the maximum concurrent poller processes (same page you pick cmd.php or cactid) to 2. When you retry polling, if you get "Waiting on 2/2 pollers" something is fundamentally broken with the poller. If you get "Waiting on 1/2 pollers" then it's more likely to be a data source problem. Set it back to 1 when you're done testing, particularly if you intend switching back to cactid.

Check your filesystem permissions with filemon or procmon ( http://www.sysinternals.com ) if you get access denied anywhere on the cacti processes, fix these. (there is an automated script somewhere that sets the permissions but I had to modify it so check the script first)

HTH

[noisesinmyhead]

I've already tried with both cmd.php and cactid and tried increasing the poller processes. The result was the same - it still hangs. I switched all the data sources to "None", although I'm using MRTG without any problems, the same. I'll monitor the files ASAP to see if there's an error with the permissions, but I think it's less possible.

[danmac]

Sorry dude it sounds like there's something really wrong with your cacti install ...

Another thing you can try is opening Task Manager and seeing what new processes appear when you run the poller. Whichever process doesn't go away indicates your problem. For example I found that snmpwalk was hanging my poller this way. (due to a data source that wasn't playing properly)

I'm sure there are much smarter ways to diagnose this but in the meantime it's worth a try.

Is there anything interesting in your cacti logs? If you don't know, maybe post the results of your last poll?

[BSOD2600]

1) stick with the cmd.php poller until things are working.

2) re-enable your data sources

3) clear the poller cache

4) re-read the installation guide in my signature, paying special attention to the various NTFS settings one must set.

5) Manually run: php <path_cacti>\poller.php from YOUR command prompt -- does it work? paste the output

6) Change the logging level in cacti to debug for a cycles. Run the cacti scheduled task again. Paste the log file.

[danmac]

3) clear the poller cache

Can't believe I forgot that one ... doh ...

Anyway I'm done wasting time at work, have a good weekend y'all

Good luck!

[noisesinmyhead]

I did all the steps and ran the script (Cacti-Security). The output of the poller:

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F:\>c:\php-5.1.6-Win32\php.exe -c c:\php-5.1.6-Win32\ f:\httpd\cacti\poller.php
01/05/2007 08:27:09 PM - POLLER: Poller[0] DEBUG: About to Spawn a Remote Process [CMD: c:/cacti/cactid.exe, ARGS:  0 3]
Waiting on 1/1 pollers.
Waiting on 1/1 pollers.
Waiting on 1/1 pollers.

...

^C
F:\>

Here is the logfile.

[BSOD2600]

1) why are you still using cactid, when I said to use cmd.php?

2) Please read in my FAQ (near the bottom) about enabling debug mode -- yours is not in it.

[noisesinmyhead]

I selected DEBUG logging level in the Cacti settings. All the checkboxes below it are checked. I quite can't understand why there isn't any information about SNMP etc. in the log file and I think it's the bug mentioned in the end of your document.

I switched to cmd.php and here is the result:

Code: Select all

F:\>c:\php-5.1.6-Win32\php.exe -c c:\php-5.1.6-Win32\ f:\httpd\cacti\poller.php

01/05/2007 10:40:12 PM - POLLER: Poller[0] DEBUG: About to Spawn a Remote Process [CMD: c:/php/php.exe, ARGS: -q f:/httpd/cacti/cmd.php 0 3]
Waiting on 1/1 pollers.
Waiting on 1/1 pollers.

[CUT]

^C
F:\>

Here is the logfile. It's nearly the same, but I can't understand the whole thing with the DEBUG mode...

[BSOD2600]

I selected DEBUG logging level in the Cacti settings. All the checkboxes below it are checked. I quite can't understand why there isn't any information about SNMP etc. in the log file and I think it's the bug mentioned in the end of your document.

Some times cacti doesnt seem to get into debugging mode properly. often enabling/disabling and then reenabling it works.

Fire up Sysinternals FileMon when you run the poller and post the log.

[noisesinmyhead]

I tried enabling the DEBUG mode like this, but it still doesn't report all the information. I ran poller.php again and here's the log. Here are only a few cycles with the "Waiting on 1/1 pollers." message, because every time it showed, the log was filled with many identical entires.

[BSOD2600]

You appear to have limited Filemon to only show php.exe. please re-run with nothing filtered.

[TheWitness]

Well the problem here is BSOD that you should also be having them turn logging to MEDIUM and then having them run the following from a command line:

"php <path_cacti>/cmd.php"

and post the reponse. When we run Cactid and it's not setup properly, we should also run the following from the command line:

"./cactid"

and then post the results as well. If the command returns data, then it's either rrdtool, paths or permissions.

TheWitness