How to install and configure Cacti on CentOS 7

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Cacti is an open source network and system monitoring graphing tool. It is used to get a graph for network bandwidth utilization, CPU /Load, RAM, and as such. In addition to that, it monitors the network traffic by polling a router or switch via SNMP.

This tutorial is about how to install Cacti and configure it so that you have it up and running.

Install and configure Cacti on CentOS

Here we use root login for this installation and configuration. Before doing anything else, we should disable SELinux.

Step 1 –  Disable SELinux

Open and edit SELinux configuration file.

vim /etc/sysconfig/selinux

Change  SELINUX=enforcing to SELINUX=disabled. Save and exit. Reboot system

reboot

Step 2 – Enable Repos

Head over to the Fedora page and copy the latest download link of the latest file.

Setup the EPEL repository:

rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm

Similarly, copy the link of Remi and install the Remi repository.

wget http://rpms.famillecollet.com/enterprise/remi-release-7.rpm

Install repository.

rpm -Uvh remi-release-7.rpm

List repositories.

yum repolist

Step 3 – Install Apache

Let’s install Apache and start the service.

yum install httpd httpd-devel

systemctl start httpd

Step 4 – Install SNMP and RRDTool

To install SNMP and RRD Tool, enter the following command:

yum  install net-snmp net-snmp-utils net-snmp-libs rrdtool

Accept typing “Y” to confirm installation.

Start SNMP.

systemctl start snmpd

Step 5 – Install MariaDB Server

Use the following command to install the MariaDB server and start the service.

yum install mariadb-server

systemctl start mariadb

Complete MariaDB Secure Installation.

mysql_secure_installation

Step 6 – Install PHP and needed packages

Fire up the following command to install a bunch of PHP related packages.

yum --enablerepo=remi install php-mysql php-pear php-common php-gd php-devel php php-mbstring php-cli php-intl php-snmp

Step 7 – Create a Cacti Database

Now you can log in to the database server with the previously configured password.

mysql -u root -p

Create a Database and user.

MariaDB [(none)]> create database fosslinuxcacti;

MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER 'fosslinuxuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'C345gDvfr@#231';

Grant permission and flush privileges.

 MariaDB [(none)]> grant all privileges on fosslinuxcacti.* to fosslinuxuser@localhost ;

MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Create database user should have access to the mysql.time_zone_name Table. So we should import the mysql_test_data_timezone.sql to MySQL database first.

mysql -u root -p mysql < /usr/share/mysql/mysql_test_data_timezone.sql

Login to MariaDB.

mysql -u root -p

Grant access to the cacti database user and flush privileges.

MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT SELECT ON mysql.time_zone_name TO fosslinuxuser@localhost;

MariaDB [(none)]> flush privileges;

Step 8 – Optimize Database

We need to modify database parameters for better performance. Use the following command.

vim /etc/my.cnf.d/server.cnf

Add the following lines to the [mysqld] section.

collation-server = utf8_general_ci
init-connect='SET NAMES utf8'
character-set-server = utf8
max_heap_table_size = 128M
max_allowed_packet = 16777216
tmp_table_size = 64M
join_buffer_size = 64M
innodb_file_per_table = on
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 512M
innodb_doublewrite = off
innodb_additional_mem_pool_size = 80M
innodb_lock_wait_timeout = 50
innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit = 2

When done, restart the MariaDB service using the restart command:

systemctl restart mariadb.service

Step 9 – Install and configure Cacti

Time to install Cacti now using YUM.

yum -y install cacti

Import default cacti database file to the created database.

cd /usr/share/doc/cacti-1.1.38

Import the SQL file.

mysql -u root -p  fosslinuxcacti < cacti.sql

Edit the Cacti configuration file which includes a database, password details etc.

vim /usr/share/cacti/include/config.php

Modify database details.

$database_type     = 'mysql';
$database_default  = 'fosslinuxcacti';
$database_hostname = 'localhost';
$database_username = 'fosslinuxuser';
$database_password = 'C345gDvfr@#231';
$database_port     = '3306';
$database_ssl      = false;

Step 10 – Set Cron for Cacti

Open cacti cron file.

vim /etc/cron.d/cacti

Uncomment the following line.

*/5 * * * *     apache  /usr/bin/php /usr/share/cacti/poller.php > /dev/null 2>&1

Save and exit the file.

Step 11 – Configure Apache for Cacti

This will help us to do a remote installation. Edit the cacti config file.

 vim  /etc/httpd/conf.d/cacti.conf

Change  “Require host localhost” to “Require all granted” and “Allow from localhost” to “Allow from all.”

Change Time Zone.

vim /etc/php.ini

date.timezone = your time Zone

E.g.:- date.timezone = Australia/Sydney

Restart apache, MariaDB, and SNMP.

systemctl restart httpd.service

systemctl restart mariadb.service

systemctl restart snmpd.service

Step 12 – Configure the Firewall

Use these commands:

firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http

firewall-cmd --reload

Step 13 – Start Cacti installation

Open a web browser and use the following URL to access Cacti web interface.

http://Your-Server-IP/cacti

You will see the Licence Agreement page Then accept it and click Begin.

You should see Pre-installation checks. Click next if there are no issues.

Next window is Installation Type. It will show Database connection details. Click Next to continue.

Verify Critical Binary Locations and Versions and then click next.

Verify Directory Permissions and continue.

In the Template Setup window, you can select all templates, and click finish to the complete installation.

After the installation, it will redirect to Login Page.

Using default user name “admin” and default password “admin” you can log in to Cacti server. You should be asked to change the password after that.

Change PasswordChange password and click save. Then you should see the Cacti Dashboard.

You can add new devices from Managemnt-> Devices Then click plus mark “+” on top of the right-hand corner.

Graphs

That’s it! You have successfully configured Cacti on CentOS 7!