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Cacti vs RRDtool: What are the differences?
Data Collection and Visualization: Cacti is a network graphing solution that uses RRDtool as its backend for data storage and graphing capabilities. RRDtool, on the other hand, is a standalone tool specifically designed for efficiently storing and visualizing time-series data.
User Interface and Features: Cacti provides a user-friendly web interface for configuring data collection and creating custom graphs, while RRDtool primarily offers a command-line interface for managing and manipulating data stored in Round-Robin Databases (RRDs).
Automation and Templates: Cacti allows users to create templates for monitoring various devices and services, which simplifies the process of adding new data sources and generating consistent graphs. RRDtool does not provide built-in support for templates or automation features.
Community Support and Extensions: Cacti has a vibrant community of users and developers who regularly create plugins and extensions to enhance its functionality and integrate with other systems. RRDtool, being a standalone tool, relies on third-party applications or scripts for extended capabilities.
Integration with Monitoring Systems: Cacti can be integrated with popular network monitoring systems like Nagios or Zabbix to provide a comprehensive solution for monitoring and graphing network performance metrics. RRDtool is more commonly used as a backend tool by monitoring systems to store and display performance data.
Maintenance and Scalability: Cacti simplifies the maintenance of monitoring systems by offering a centralized interface for managing data sources and graphs. RRDtool, being more low-level, requires additional expertise to scale and maintain for larger deployments.
In Summary, Cacti and RRDtool differ in terms of their user interfaces, features, integrations, and maintenance requirements, making them suitable for different monitoring and graphing requirements.
Pros of Cacti
- Free3
- Rrdtool based3
- Fast poller2
- Graphs from snmp1
- Graphs from language independent scripts1
Pros of RRDtool
- Do one thing and do it well6