BBCacti—the BlackBerry client

BlackBerry devices are widely used in business environments and are usually able to connect to internal systems without the need to create separate VPN connections. The BBCacti client allows end users to view graphs or manage reports using the familiar BlackBerry interface.

Requirements

The BlackBerry client requires the installation of the nmidWebService plugin on the Cacti server. The plugin provides various functions to the BBCacti client, such as retrieving the contents of Cacti trees and authenticating users against the configured mechanisms. Changes on the Cacti system (for example, updating to a new version) do not necessarily require an update to the BlackBerry client, but just the adaption of the nmidWebService plugin to the new version.

Installing the nmidWebService plugin also allows Cacti administrators to allow or deny mobile access to Cacti by using a realm permissions setting.

The BBCacti version is currently only compatible with versions 4.x and 5.x of the BlackBerry OS, but support for 6.x is coming soon.

Advantages

The BBCacti client is able to support plugins such as Thold or CereusReporting by utilizing the built-in functionality of the nmidWebServices' SOAP interface. By using this SOAP interface, updates to Thold or other plugins does not require a client update on the BlackBerry. There's also no need for any special user access requirements for mobile users.

BlackBerry devices are usually able to connect to internal systems using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Disadvantages

The BlackBerry user interface isn't as good looking as the iPhone/iPad one. BlackBerry devices usually don't have large displays, which makes the graphs small and of lower quality. In addition, the installation of the nmidWebService plugin can be difficult as it requires a particular PHP module to be compiled and installed.