Cacti Plugins

1.0 Cacti Aggregate Plugin

The installation of the Cacti aggregate plugin also includes a full manual, located within the GroundWork Cacti distribution: /usr/local/groundwork/cacti/htdocs/plugins/aggregate/aggregate_manual.pdf

The manual can also be viewed directly on-line: http://docs.cacti.net/_media/plugin:aggregate_manual_v075.pdf

2.0 Cacti Nectar Plugin

Useful documentation on the nectar plugin is somewhat sparse. You should start with the advice on the plugin's official page, http://docs.cacti.net/plugin:nectar. Following is practical advice for setting up and using this plugin under GroundWork Monitor.

Go to the Cacti plugins page at Advanced > Network Graphing.
Select Plugin Management.

Figure: Accessing Cacti
Install and enable the Nectar plugin by clicking on the blue-arrow button for that plugin, then the green-arrow button for that plugin.

A new blue nectar tab will show up at the top of the Cacti screen once the plugin is enabled.

Read the Installation instructions found in the /usr/local/groundwork/cacti/htdocs/plugins/nectar/GROUNDWORK_NOTES file, and complete the installation of the plugin using those notes. This is important!

Figure: Install, Enable, New Tab

Go to User Management.
Select user name.

Figure: User Management
Select Realm Permissions.
Verify that you have given access to Plugin -> Nectar Reports Admin and/or Plugin -> Nectar Reports User to the users who will be operating this plugin. Admin access encompasses everything allowed by User access, along with the ability to access the nectar tab. It's not clear what the utility of just User access is, since with just that level of permission, one cannot access anything under the nectar tab.
If you make a change, click Save.

Figure: Realm Permissions
Click on the nectar tab.
On the right side of the screen, click on Add.

Figure: Add Reports
Fill in the details for the report you desire.
For the moment, leave the Enable Report checkbox unchecked.
When you've completed selecting your choices, click the Create button at the bottom of the page.

Figure: Report Details
Click on the Items tab.
On the right side of the screen, click on Add.

Figure: Add Item
Then make your desired selections.
Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Figure: Report Item
Click on the Preview tab, to see what a sample email would look like.
Adjust the Detail and Items to your taste.
On the right side of the screen, click on Send Report. This will generate and send an email, as configured. You should see Nectar Report 'My Sample Report' Sent Successfully at the top of the screen. If you see an error message (such as Problems sending Nectar Report 'My Sample Report'), you will need to debug the problem by adjusting either your report settings or some system issue.

Figure: Report Preview
Click on the Events tab. If you don't like the set of scheduled events, go back and edit the Next Timestamp for Sending Mail Report field under Details, and Save. Check again under the Events tab.

Figure: Events

If you want this report to be sent out automatically on the schedule you see under the Events tab (above), go back under the Details tab.
Check the Enable Report checkbox, (you can experiment with the other on-screen configuration data for email reports. We won't describe any of that further here).
Click Save.

Figure: Enable Report

3.0 Cacti Realtime Plugin

Useful documentation on the realtime plugin is somewhat sparse. You should start with the advice on the plugin's official page, http://docs.cacti.net/plugin:realtime. Following is practical advice for setting up and using this plugin under GroundWork Monitor.

Go to the Cacti plugins page at Advanced > Network Graphing.
Select Plugin Management.

Figure: Accessing Cacti
Install and enable the Realtime plugin by clicking on the blue-arrow button for that plugin, then the green-arrow button for that plugin.

Figure: Install, Enable
While logged in to a terminal window as the nagios user, make a directory for the realtime plugin to use to store its RRD files (its Cache Directory). For general security, make sure the directory is created with appropriately restricted permissions. Here is a suggested location for the Cacti realtime plugin Cache Directory:
```
su - nagios
umask 22
mkdir /usr/local/groundwork/cacti/htdocs/plugins/realtime/rrd
exit
```
Go to Settings from the left side of the screen.
Select the Misc tab.
In the Realtime Graphs section, choose the setup options you desire.
Use Ajax if you can; it operates smoother than not using it.
Set the Cache Directory to the absolute pathname of the directory you just created.
Scroll down to the bottom of the screen, and click the Save button.
Scroll back up and look at the notation (e.g. OK: DIR FOUND) under the Cache Directory setting, to ensure that the path you have chosen is acceptable to the realtime plugin.

Figure: Setting, Misc
Go to User Management and select a user name, click Realm Permissions and verify that you have given access to Plugin -> Realtime to the user who will be operating this plugin.
If you make a change, Save it.

Figure: Realm Permissions
Now go to the graphs tab at the top of the Cacti screen.
For each graph, you should now see a small squiggley-line icon to the right of each graph image. If you hover your mouse pointer over that icon, you will see a Realtime tooltip show up.
Just click on that icon to see a pop-up window containing the real-time version of that graph. If this is the first time you have viewed the real-time version of a particular graph, it may take a cycle or two of the configured Interval for data to start showing up in the displayed graph. You can experiment with the other plugin-level settings and the controls for an individual graph in its pop-up window. We won't describe those further here.

Figure: Graphs (Realtime)

Cacti Plugins

Contents

1.0 Cacti Aggregate Plugin

2.0 Cacti Nectar Plugin

3.0 Cacti Realtime Plugin

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