cacti in Tiger Server

[dreness]

Greetings,

I've written some cacti build intructions for Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. For this writeup, I used 10.4.3.

The only nonstandard bits are:

-Using darwinports to get rrdtool + dependencies
UPDATE 1/10/06: The next two items are no longer required as of 10.4.4 server (disclaimed instructions still included provided below for older versions)
-Working around the php / mysql authentication problem by launching mysql with --old-passwords.
-Configuring php to find the mysql sock file which has moved since Panther.

Please let me know of any problems with the document, either here, there, or via dre at mac dot com.

Here are the revised build notes for Tiger.

Cacti in Tiger Server

Requires Mac OS X Server 10.4 (tested on 10.4.3)

Install XCode

Install and configure darwinports

Download from http://darwinports.opendarwin.org/getdp/

Add the darwinports paths to your shell config file. e.g.


Code:

PATH="/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH"


Update the ports collection


Code:

sudo port -d selfupdate

Install rrdtool from darwinports

Code:

sudo port install rrdtool


This will install rrdtool and all of its dependencies for you.

Local user setup

Create a local cacti user with workgroup manager or the Accounts system preference pane. If you use workgroup manager, make sure you also create a home directory for the user.

In your Terminal window, su to this new user and then move to the cacti home directory

Code:

andre@casa[~]su cacti Password: casa:/Network/Servers/casa.dreness.com/Volumes/Server/andre cacti$ cd ~ casa:~ cacti$

Download cacti from http://www.cacti.net/download_cacti.php and decompress the archive

Code:

casa:~ cacti$ curl -O http://www.cacti.net/downloads/cacti-0.8.6g.tar.gz   % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current                                  Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed 100 1051k  100 1051k    0     0   184k      0  0:00:05  0:00:05 --:--:--  216k casa:~ cacti$ gunzip cacti-0.8.6g.tar.gz casa:~ cacti$ tar -xf cacti-0.8.6g.tar casa:~ cacti$ cd cacti-0.8.6g casa:~/cacti-0.8.6g cacti$


Create a symlink to the cacti directory from the web document root (do this as an admin user)

Code:

andre@casa[~]ln -s ~cacti/cacti-0.8.6g /Library/WebServer/Documents/cacti

Inititalize MySQL

Use the MySQL Manager application to install and enable mysql. You do not need to enable network connections.



As an alternative to the MySQL Manager, do the following as an admin user:



Code:

sudo mysql_install_db sudo chown -R mysql /var/mysql sudo chmod +rx /var/mysql


Edit /etc/hostconfig, adding

Code:

MYSQL=-YES-

This next bit is only required prior to 10.4.4 server!

Configure MySQL to use old-style passwords by editing /System/Library/StartupItems/MySQL/MySQL. Change the mysqld_safe invocation in the StartService function to appear as follows

Code:

/usr/bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql ${OPTIONS} --old-passwords &


The is required because the php libraries in Tiger don't know how to authenticate to mysql using the new style passwords. Reference: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301456 and the fix in 10.4.4: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302977

MySQL Configuration

Start MySQL

Code:

sudo SystemStarter start MySQL


Set the mysql root password

Code:

sudo mysqladmin -u root password <new password>


Create the cacti database

Code:

mysqladmin --user=root -p create cacti


Import the cacti database (as the cacti user while inside the cacti source folder)

Code:

casa:~/cacti-0.8.6g cacti$ mysql -u root -p cacti < cacti.sql


Create the cacti mysql user

Code:

mysql -u root -p mysql GRANT ALL ON cacti.* TO cacti@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Configure Apache and PHP

Enable the php module in Apache. This can be done either in the "Modules" portion of the Web settings in Server Admin, or by editing the /etc/httpd/httpd.conf file and uncommenting these two lines:

Code:

LoadModule php4_module           libexec/httpd/libphp4.so

and

Code:

AddModule mod_php4.c



Perform the following indented section prior to 10.4.4 Server only!

Configure php to find the mysql socket in Tiger. First copy in the default config file:

Code:

sudo cp /etc/php.ini.default / etc/php.ini



Now edit it to include a value for mysql.default_socket:

Code:

mysql.default_socket = /var/mysql/mysql.sock



Reference: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301457 and the fix for 10.4.4: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302977


Start the Web service using Server Admin, which will start Apache and configure it to start at system boot time.

As an alternative to Server Admin for enabling Apache:

start or restart apache using apachectl:

Code:

sudo apachectl graceful


Verify that apache will start at system boot time by editing /etc/hostconfig to include:

Code:

WEBSERVER=-YES-

Cacti configuration

As your cacti user, while inside the cacti source directory, edit include/config.php to include the apporiate details for making mysql connections. e.g.

Code:

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



Configure the cacti user's crontab, as the cacti user.

Code:

echo "*/5 * * * * php /Library/WebServer/Documents/cacti/poller.php > /dev/null 2>&1" | crontab



Hit the cacti page and proceed with the web-based setup, e.g. http://casa.dreness.com/cacti/

Advance through the first screen, and at the next, choose "new install"

Change the binary location for rrdtool if necessary. It should be at /opt/local/bin/rrdtool

Once the setup is complete, log in as admin / admin and change password

Be sure to change the rrd tool version to 1.2.x in the Configuration --> Settings menu

[Linegod]

Just adding a note so I can find this when I'm redoing the documentation.

Good work....

[dreness]

[justdelegard]

I have followed your instructions, but still cannot get it to work on my mac os x 10.4.4 server box. The rra files just don't appear and I don't know why.

I have posted about this previously here, but no one answered me!