{"id":2804,"date":"2017-03-06T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T08:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.3.4\/?p=2804"},"modified":"2018-01-09T06:51:27","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T14:51:27","slug":"cacti-and-custom-data-source-monitoring-part-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cloudacm.com\/?p=2804","title":{"rendered":"Cacti and Custom Data Source Monitoring Part 1 of 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction and Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had posted about Cacti and setting up graphing from unorthodox data sources before.\u00a0 When I stepped back through those documented steps, I didn’t get the expected results.\u00a0 The inaccurate and vague information on that post prompted me to take a hard top to bottom look at the process.\u00a0 For anyone that had viewed that post and become confused by it, I do apologize.\u00a0 I dedicate this post to you as a humble attempt to right my wrong on the subject of Cacti.<\/p>\n

On the Raspberry Pi, I’ll be creating a completely new system that will start with the installation of the OS.\u00a0 The OS that I’ll be working with is MATE, but you can do the same with any other supported flavor of Linux.\u00a0 From there I’ll go on to install the dependencies required for Cacti to run.\u00a0 Next, we’ll cover the steps of installing Cacti and some basic configuration.\u00a0 Once that is done, we will have a working Cacti platform from which we can start with.<\/p>\n

The native data sources supported by Cacti will be covered and I’ll step through how to setup those.\u00a0 Next, we’ll cover how to create custom data sources.\u00a0 This will allow Cacti to be used as a tracking mechanism for any number of applications.<\/p>\n

Once we have Cacti recording our data values from various sources, I’ll cover the graphing functions.\u00a0 Next I’ll cover some additional plug ins supported by Cacti and how to install them.<\/p>\n

When all is said it done, you should have an extensive picture of Cacti.\u00a0 With that knowledge I hope you will be able to do some advanced tasks with Cacti.\u00a0 Let’s begin.<\/p>\n

Installing the MATE Operating System on the Raspberry Pi<\/strong><\/p>\n

The distro I’ll be using is Ubuntu MATE 16.04.2 LTS for Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 systems.\u00a0 The website for the OS can be found here, https:\/\/ubuntu-mate.org\/raspberry-pi\/.\u00a0 I suggest reading the details about the distro as it points out some items that will make your experience a better one.\u00a0 Speaking of making things better, consider making a donation to the development team.\u00a0 In their words, “If everyone who downloaded Ubuntu MATE donated $2.50 it would fund the full-time development of Ubuntu MATE and MATE Desktop.”<\/p>\n

It’s good practice to checksum your download.\u00a0 The Ubuntu MATE site provides a hash for the download.\u00a0 Mine happens to be this string “dc3afcad68a5de3ba683dc30d2093a3b5b3cd6b2c16c0b5de8d50fede78f75c2”.\u00a0 To verify that download is valid, use this command against the downloaded file.<\/p>\n

[bash]
\nsha256sum ubuntu-mate-16.04.2-desktop-armhf-raspberry-pi.img.xz
\n[\/bash]<\/p>\n

The Raspberry Pi uses microSDHC media as its “hard drive”.\u00a0 You’ll need to take additional steps to prepare the media so the Raspberry Pi can boot MATE from it.\u00a0 The Ubuntu MATE site suggests a few different methods on how to load the distro image onto the microSDHC media.\u00a0 I’m working from a Linux system, so I’ll use steps based on that OS.\u00a0 If you have a Windows or Apple platform, choose steps in accordance to those operating systems.<\/p>\n

From the Linux terminal window, enter this command<\/p>\n

[bash]
\nunxz ubuntu-mate-16.04.2-desktop-armhf-raspberry-pi.img.xz
\n[\/bash]<\/p>\n

Then I use the GUI version of DDRescue and choose the media to work with.\u00a0 This has been a good way for me to avoid imaging a drive on my computer, versus my intended target.\u00a0 I like to pause and double check.\u00a0 Remember to measure twice and cut once.<\/p>\n

Once the image has been copied, insert it in the Raspberry Pi.\u00a0 Connect the Raspberry Pi to a network connection, a KVM (keyboard, video monitor, and mouse), and a power source.\u00a0 From there you will see the OS start to load.<\/p>\n

My system did a file system resize to take up the remaining free space on my 32GB microSD card.\u00a0 When it finished, the Raspberry Pi rebooted.<\/p>\n

Following the reboot, I got the usual prompts to finish up the installation.\u00a0 I selected the pertinent information for my system.<\/p>\n