Chapter 4. Creating and Using Templates

Cacti stores all collected information via RRDTool into files called rra. The RRDTool requires some parameters in order to create these rra files. Whenever we want to add a new device or create a new graph, we have to input these parameters. Inputting these parameters manually is flexible, but not very user friendly, and there is always a chance of error. Using templates, we can easily overcome this problem.

For example, let's say we have a network of four Linux servers, two Unix servers, and one Cisco router. Here, if we use a template, we will need to make only three different templates: one for the Linux servers, one for the Unix servers, and one for the Cisco router. You may ask why we have to make a template for the Cisco router? We will make it so that we can use it later.

Cacti templates can be imported and exported via the Console under Import/Export. You can only import templates that have been created on a system that is at the same, or an...