Cacti is a free and open-source web-based network monitoring tool used to monitor network devices such as routers, switches, and servers. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to install Cacti on a Windows 11 operating system.
The first step is to download the latest version of Cacti from its official website http://www.cacti.net. Once downloaded, extract the zip file to a folder on your computer.
Cacti requires an Apache web server to run. If you haven't installed it yet, go to https://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi, and download the latest version of Apache. Run the installer and follow the instructions to complete the installation.
Cacti requires PHP in order to function properly. You can download the latest version of PHP from its official website: https://www.php.net/downloads. After downloading, run the installer and follow the instructions to complete the installation.
Next, you need to install MySQL, which is the database management system Cacti uses to store its data. Go to https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/, download the latest version of MySQL and run the installer. Follow the installation instructions until the installation is complete.
After installing MySQL, you need to create a new database for Cacti. Open the MySQL Command Line Interface and enter your login credentials. Then, enter the following commands to create a new database and user for Cacti:
mysql> CREATE DATABASE cacti;
mysql> CREATE USER 'cactiuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cactiuser'@'localhost';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Note: Replace 'password' with a strong password that you have chosen for the cactiuser account.
Find the file “cacti\include\config.php.dist” and rename it to “cacti\include\config.php”. Open the file with a text editor, and modify the following lines:
$database_type = 'mysql';
$database_default = 'cacti';
$database_hostname = 'localhost';
$database_username = 'cactiuser';
$database_password = 'password';
Note: Replace 'password' with the password for the cactiuser account defined in step 5.
Next, you need to import the Cacti database. Open the command prompt and navigate to the Cacti root directory. Then, run the following command to import the database:
mysql -u cactiuser -p cacti < cacti.sql
Note: If you have installed MySQL in a non-standard directory, you will need to provide the full path to the MySQL executable.
To configure Apache to run Cacti, you need to create a new virtual host. Open the file “C:\Apache24\conf\httpd.conf” with a text editor and add the following lines:
NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "C:\cacti"
ServerName cacti.local
<Directory "C:\cacti">
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Note: Modify the DocumentRoot and ServerName according to your local setup.
Finally, start Apache and open your web browser. Navigate to http://cacti.local/ to access the Cacti web interface. You will be prompted to enter the default login credentials:
Username: admin Password: admin
After logging in, you can start configuring Cacti and adding network devices to monitor.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed Cacti on Windows 11!
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