Creating Scripts using Cacti Virtual Appliance

[Proco]

Forgive me if this has been asked before. I searched but couldn't find an answer.

We are investigating using Cacti to replace our existing network graphing system. As a basic proof-of-concept, I am running Cacti as a virtual appliance in the VMware Player.

So far I've been able to successfully get bandwidth graphs for a number of our switches. That was the easy part.

I'd like to be able to get stats on mail traffic (# of messages, users, etc) , but will need to write a script to do that. The problem I'm having is I can't access the internal Linux that the Cacti Appliance loads up.

Is there a way to do this? Can I access the internal Linux or at least write scripts and have them loaded by the appliance? Or will we need to have Cacti running on its own server?

Thanks.

[mcutting]

Could you provide some more info ? For example, is this the rPath or CactiEZ version, or one you've created on your own ?

Once we have this, more help can be provided.

[Proco]

I downloaded the virtual appliance from www.virtualappliances.net. I didn't see anything that says what version it is. The version of the appliance is 1.0.075. The VMware player version is 1.0.3

I am running the Player & appliance on RHEL 3 (for now).

I'm sorry I don't have more information. This project has gone from 0 to 60 very quickly here and we're still trying to figure things out.

[mcutting]

Not a problem. The files from www.virtualappliances.net aren't the best (you would have been better off with Cigamit's CactiEZCD, which can be found at http://cactiusers.org.)

However, I recommend you do the following (if you are accessing from Windows)

1. Download and install WinSCP. This gives you an explorer style interface, but direct access to the Linux file system
2. Download and install WebMin for your Linux VM machine
3. Search the forums for what you are looking for in terms of scripts. Pay particular attention to NSClient, as this is the easiest way to monitor a windows host from *nix.

[EmmEff]

I'd like to be able to get stats on mail traffic (# of messages, users, etc) , but will need to write a script to do that. The problem I'm having is I can't access the internal Linux that the Cacti Appliance loads up.

Is there a way to do this? Can I access the internal Linux or at least write scripts and have them loaded by the appliance? Or will we need to have Cacti running on its own server?

Thanks.

We (Virtual Appliances) are working on an updated version of the Cacti Virtual Appliance that will allow users to add resources and scripts. It should be available before the end of the month. Please email us directly if you'd like to be included on the annoucement mailing list.

mcutting, the Cacti VA is not intended to be a full (bloated) Linux distribution. It is a true software appliance with an easy-to-use web admin interface and a dedicated purpose.