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Thomas Vincent
97b5a1d4f5
There was no root CONTRIBUTING.md and no way to run the CI gates locally in one step, so reproducing a CI failure meant reading workflow YAML. Add a 'composer check' target that chains the gates, expose the sink and hotspot guards, the changelog validator and the JavaScript tests as their own targets, and document setup and the changelog.d fragment workflow. Pin Node in .nvmrc to the version CI uses, and move the one remaining setup-node still on 20 to 22 so every workflow agrees. Signed-off-by: Thomas Vincent <thomasvincent@gmail.com>
Cacti
Overview
Cacti is an open-source network monitoring and graphing platform built on RRDtool.
It provides a scalable framework to collect, store, and visualize time-series data from network devices, servers, and applications.
Core capabilities include:
- Automated device discovery
- Local and remote data collection
- Graph, data source, and RRA templating
- SNMP polling (v1/v2/v3) and IPv6 support
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Plugin framework
- Dynamic graph viewing and export options
Release Branches
Cacti maintains two primary branches:
| Branch | Purpose |
|---|---|
1.2.x |
Stable long-lived release series |
develop |
Active development toward Cacti 1.3.x |
For the latest published version, see GitHub Releases.
System Requirements
Minimum supported dependencies by branch:
| Dependency | Cacti 1.2.x |
Cacti develop (1.3.x) |
|---|---|---|
| MariaDB | 5.6+ | 10.2.x+ |
| MySQL | 5.6+ | 8.0+ |
| PHP | 8.1+ | 8.1+ |
| RRDtool | 1.4+ | 1.8+ |
| Net-SNMP | 5.5+ | 5.8+ |
Notes:
- RRDtool 1.9+ is recommended for newer dynamic graph features in 1.3.x.
- Net-SNMP 5.9+ is recommended for broader SNMPv3 protocol coverage.
- A web server with PHP support is required.
- PHP should be available as CLI or CGI for scheduled polling and maintenance scripts.
php-snmpis optional; validate behavior carefully if you depend on IPv6 and SNMPv3.- To force the Net-SNMP binaries while
php-snmpremains installed, set$php_snmp_support = false;ininclude/config.php.
Operating system guidance:
1.2.x: RHEL/Rocky/Alma 8+ (or equivalent) is a common baseline.1.3.x: RHEL/Rocky/Alma 9+ or CentOS Stream 9+ is preferred for modern PHP packaging.- Debian and Ubuntu are also well supported.
Installation (Source Checkout)
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/Cacti/cacti.git
cd cacti
Dependency management:
- For a source checkout on both
1.2.xanddevelop, install dependencies with Composer. - On
develop,composer installuses the committed lock file resolved against Cacti's PHP 8.1 floor. - Use
composer updateonly in an intentional dependency-update change, and commit the resultingcomposer.lockupdate. - Release packages must build
include/vendorfrom the lock withcomposer install --no-devand verify the real build host withcomposer check-platform-reqs --no-dev. - Tags under
release/*build a deterministic archive, SHA-256 checksum, CycloneDX SBOM, and GitHub provenance attestation through the release-artifact workflow.
Install dependencies:
composer install
Windows users may need:
composer install --ignore-platform-req=ext-pcntl --ignore-platform-req=ext-posix
Then configure your database and web server, and complete setup using the official docs:
https://github.com/Cacti/documentation
Database Upgrades and Schema Checks
When running from source (especially develop), schema updates may be required after pulling changes.
Upgrade the database schema:
sudo -u cacti php -q cli/upgrade_database.php --forcever=`cat include/cacti_version`
If needed, force a re-upgrade from an earlier version:
php -q cli/upgrade_database.php --forcever=<older_version>
Audit schema consistency:
php cli/audit_database.php --report
Data Collection and Polling
Cacti collects data through data sources, which can use:
- SNMP
- Scripts
- Command output
- Databases
- Custom input methods
Polling engines:
| Poller | Description |
|---|---|
| PHP Poller | Built-in polling engine |
| Spine | High-performance C-based poller |
Spine supports SNMPv1/v2 and SNMPv3 with IPv6, with some advanced protocol support depending on how Net-SNMP is compiled on your platform.
Features
- Device discovery and automation workflows
- Reusable templates for graphs and data sources
- Distributed remote data collectors
- Plugin architecture for extensibility
- Dynamic graph interactions (time navigation, realtime view, CSV export)
- Fine-grained user and group permissions using RBAC
- Broad RRDtool graphing support (including VDEFs and stacked lines)
Documentation
Official documentation is maintained in a separate repository:
https://github.com/Cacti/documentation
Contributing
Contributions are welcome.
- Fork this repository.
- Create a branch for your change.
- Submit a pull request.
You can also help improve docs in:
https://github.com/Cacti/documentation
Community
Community support is available on the Cacti forums:
Contributors
Thanks go to these wonderful people (emoji key):
This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind are welcome.
License
Cacti is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0.
See LICENSE for details.
Copyright (c) 2004-2026 The Cacti Group, Inc.