NFSEN rrd in Cacti (i.e. "External RRD") problem

[vbox]

I am trying to display in Cacti graphs generated from .rrd files produced by nfsen (a netflow tool)

I went trough several post including :

http://forums.cacti.net/viewtopic.php?t ... ternal+rrd

But so far I didn't succeeded to have a content in my graph ;-(

Below some info on the file I want to graph ... and further down the steps I went trough.

[root@expresso live]# rrdtool info flows.rrd
filename = "flows.rrd"
rrd_version = "0001"
step = 300
last_update = 1139411100
ds[xxx].type = "ABSOLUTE"
ds[xxx].minimal_heartbeat = 600
ds[xxx].min = NaN
ds[xxx].max = NaN
ds[xxx].last_ds = "UNKN"
ds[xxx].value = 0.0000000000e+00
ds[xxx].unknown_sec = 0
rra[0].cf = "AVERAGE"
rra[0].rows = 8640
rra[0].pdp_per_row = 1
rra[0].xff = 5.0000000000e-01
rra[0].cdp_prep[0].value = NaN
rra[0].cdp_prep[0].unknown_datapoints = 0
rra[1].cf = "AVERAGE"
rra[1].rows = 1440
rra[1].pdp_per_row = 6
rra[1].xff = 5.0000000000e-01
rra[1].cdp_prep[0].value = 3.8000000000e-01
rra[1].cdp_prep[0].unknown_datapoints = 0
rra[2].cf = "AVERAGE"
rra[2].rows = 360
rra[2].pdp_per_row = 24
rra[2].xff = 5.0000000000e-01
rra[2].cdp_prep[0].value = 4.6566666667e+00
rra[2].cdp_prep[0].unknown_datapoints = 0
rra[3].cf = "AVERAGE"
rra[3].rows = 700
rra[3].pdp_per_row = 288
rra[3].xff = 5.0000000000e-01
rra[3].cdp_prep[0].value = 6.1850000000e+01
rra[3].cdp_prep[0].unknown_datapoints = 0
rra[4].cf = "MAX"
rra[4].rows = 8640
rra[4].pdp_per_row = 1
rra[4].xff = 5.0000000000e-01
rra[4].cdp_prep[0].value = NaN
rra[4].cdp_prep[0].unknown_datapoints = 0
rra[5].cf = "MAX"
rra[5].rows = 1440
rra[5].pdp_per_row = 6
rra[5].xff = 5.0000000000e-01
rra[5].cdp_prep[0].value = 3.8000000000e-01
rra[5].cdp_prep[0].unknown_datapoints = 0
rra[6].cf = "MAX"
rra[6].rows = 360
rra[6].pdp_per_row = 24
rra[6].xff = 5.0000000000e-01
rra[6].cdp_prep[0].value = 4.3666666667e-01
rra[6].cdp_prep[0].unknown_datapoints = 0
rra[7].cf = "MAX"
rra[7].rows = 700
rra[7].pdp_per_row = 288
rra[7].xff = 5.0000000000e-01
rra[7].cdp_prep[0].value = 5.3333333333e-01
rra[7].cdp_prep[0].unknown_datapoints = 0


I went trought the process of :

1) Creating Data Template mainly with a Internal Data Source Name = xxx - Data Source Name ignored
2) Creating Graph Template refering to my previously defined Data Source Template
3) Creating a Data Source linking Data Template & Host where I specify the .rrd files I want to see (file permissions are OK)

The graph produced is empty.

I read as well a post that I think could be related ... http://forums.cacti.net/viewtopic.php?t ... ternal+rrd

This ends saying

In Cacti, you must first define an RRA that is in line with the RRA's within the specific RRD files. Then, the Data Source that references those RRD files must be setup to use it. Once you have done this, as long as your data within the RRD files is accurate, you should be Ok

I saw checking the rra of my files that they were not existing in my default cacti installation ... I created and linked new equivalent RRAs to my Data Template ... still no success.

Is there a way to debug something with External RRD files ... ?

Any new direction for my research will be very helpfull and much appreciated !

Olivier

[gandalf]

Tha data sources externally updated must be the same (have same name) as defined in cacti. When making changes to cacti's data templates, remember that this does not affect existing files!
Reinhard

[vbox]

Thx for your info ... altough I already paid attention to that I realized this was not OK by turning Data Source Debug on, I saw DS name generated by Cacti was not what I expected ...

/usr/bin/rrdtool create \
/data/nfsen/profiles/live/traffic_tcp.rrd \
--step 300 \
DS:

I re-create all templates and now this is fine.

Regards,

Olivier