Install and Configure Cacti

1. Extract the distribution tarball.

   shell> tar xzvf cacti-version.tar.gz

2. Create the MySQL database:

   shell> mysqladmin --user=root create cacti

3. Import the default cacti database:

   shell> mysql cacti < cacti.sql

4. Optional: Create a MySQL username and password for Cacti.

   shell> mysql --user=root mysql
   mysql> GRANT ALL ON cacti.* TO cactiuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'somepassword';
   mysql> flush privileges;

5. Edit include/config.php and specify the database type, name, host, user and password for your Cacti configuration.

   $database_type = "mysql";
   $database_default = "cacti";
   $database_hostname = "localhost";
   $database_username = "cactiuser";
   $database_password = "cacti";

6. Set the appropriate permissions on cacti's directories for graph/log generation. You should execute these commands from inside cacti's directory to change the permissions.

   shell> chown -R cactiuser rra/ log/

   (Enter a valid username for cactiuser, this user will also be used in the next step for data gathering.)

7. Add a line to your /etc/crontab file similar to:

   */5 * * * * cactiuser php /var/www/html/cacti/poller.php > /dev/null 2>&1

   Replace cactiuser with the valid user specified in the previous step.

   Replace /var/www/html/cacti/ with your full Cacti path.

8. Point your web browser to:

   http://your-server/cacti/

   Log in the with a username/password of admin. You will be required to change this password immediately. Make sure to fill in all of the path variables carefully and correctly on the following screen.