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Cacti provides the tools necessary to create and manage very sophisticated graphs. Part of this includes user management functionality which enables the creation of different users, each with unique permissions. Out of the box, Cacti has two users, 'admin' and 'guest'. The 'admin' user has rights to all areas of Cacti including the ability to make new users. The 'guest' user is the user that is inherited if a user views 'graph_view.php' without first logging in to Cacti.
To create a new user, select the "User Management" item under the "Utilities" heading. Once at the user management screen, click "Add" towards the right. Depending on your configured view, you will initially see either two or four boxes. Each are described in more detail below:
[box] User Management
User Name | This field contains the actual login name for the user. There are no character limits this field, but it would make sense to keep it to alphanumeric characters to maintain simplicity. |
Full Name | (Optional) You can use this field as a more descriptive identifier for the user. It is currently only used for display on the user management page. |
Password | Enter the password for the user twice, once in each text box. Keep in mind that passwords are case sensitive and the password will remain unchanged if the boxes are both left empty. |
Account Options | There are currently two account related options that can be set for each user. The first, 'User Must Change Password at Next Login', forces a password change immediately after the user logs in. The second option, 'Allow this User to Keep Custom Graph Settings', dictates whether the user can maintain their own custom graph viewing settings which includes expanding and collapsing trees. |
Graph Options | There are three permission related options that can be set for each user here. The 'User Has Rights to {Tree,List,Preview} View' checkboxes dictate which graph viewing areas the user can see. |
Login Options | These options dictate what occurs immediately after the user logs in. The first option, 'Show the page that user pointed their browser to.' will point the user to whatever page they were heading to before being interrupted by the login page. The 'Show the default console screen.' option will always point the user to 'index.php' after a successful login. The last option, 'Show the default graph screen.' will point the user to 'graph_view.php' after a successful login. |
[box] Realm Permissions
These settings dictate what a user has permissions to do within Cacti. If a user is to only look at graphs, they only need rights to the 'View Graphs' realm. If the user is to be able to access any part of the console, they need rights to the 'Console Access' realm. The remaining realms can be granted or revoked on a per-user basis, and will take effect immediately after a save.
[box] Graph Permissions
Default Policy | This field specifies the default policy to use when viewing graphs for the user. An 'ALLOW' policy means that the user automatically has rights to view all graphs unless specifically stated otherwise. A 'DENY' policy means that the user cannot view any graphs unless specifically stated otherwise. |
Based on the default policy you select for the user, choose the graphs that you want to allow or deny from the user by checking the box next to the graph title.
[box] Graph Settings
There are certain graph settings that can be manipulated on a per-user basis. These settings can either be changed on the user management screen, or by the actual user in the graph view section if they are granted permission to do so. Each setting is described in more detail below:
Default RRA | When no round robin archive is specified, give Cacti a default one to use. This is primarily used in graph preview mode. |
Height | The height of the graph area (in pixels) of the thumbnail graphs |
Width | The width of the graph area (in pixels) of the thumbnail graphs |
Default View Mode | When the user visits 'graph_view.php', this is the mode that is selected. |
Timespan | The timespan in seconds that is passed to RRDTool when rendering thumbnail graphs. The default, 60000 is less then a full a day, while 86400 is a full day. |
Columns | The number of columns to display on both the graph tree and graph preview modes. |
Graphs Per-Page | The number of single graphs to show on one page while in preview mode. |
Page Refresh | Auto-refresh the graph pages after the number of seconds specified here. |
Default Graph Hierarchy | When in graph tree view, you can choose the default tree that will be selected. |
When you are finished filling in all necessary fields, click the "Create" button to create your new user. You will be redirected back to the "User Management" page where you can add additional users if necessary.