Adding devices to Cacti

A device in Cacti can be anything which can be monitored remotely or locally. This can include storage devices, Windows or UNIX servers, and of course network devices. For Cacti to be able to monitor a device, it needs to be reachable by ping or SNMP, but the actual data retrieval can also be done using scripts and commands, or a set of SNMP queries.

Creating a device

Creating a device in Cacti can be achieved by using the Cacti web interface. You are going to add your first device here. While looking at the different steps it takes to add a device, you are not going too much into the details of every field, as most of the user interface is self-explanatory and provides a detailed description of each field.

Tip

Before you start: Create a naming standard

If you have not already done so, you should now think about a naming standard for your devices. Creating and keeping to a naming standard is the first step to automation. Later in this book you will go through some...