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I just installed CactiEZ - Brilliant! I'd like to use it's WMI capabilities - i've looked around and searched the forums but I can't find a howto or thread that discusses this. Can someone point me in the right direction? Is there a list of commonly monitored WMI classes somewhere? Thanks.

Anyone? thanks

I generally run Scriptomatic2 (made by Microsoft) on the Windows Server I want to monitor, and just see what returns the results I want. That will then give you all the information you need to setup the WMI query in Cacti.

Thanks Jimmy - I'll try that. Can you also tell me how to connect the query to a host? I understand how to setup data input methods and graph them - but I don't see how to connect the WMI into RDD, into host, etc.

Ok, what you will need to do is first get your normal WMI query (using scriptomatic if you like.

In this example, your query may look something like this

Now we will goto the WMI Plugin in Cacti, and click on the Query tab, and click the Add button at the bottom. You will now have 5 fields to fill in

Description
This is just a display name, put anything here (ex: Exchange Messages

Query Name
This is important, it will be the query name used to pull this query. It can be anything as long as it has no spaces or special characters in the name, and is unique from all other queries you have added. (ex: exchangemessages)

Index
In most WMI queries, this will always be "Name".

Keys
This will be a comma separated list of fields you want. Do not include the index field from above as it always pulls the index field. (ex:MessagesDelivered,MessagesSent)

Class
This is the class you want to query (ex:Win32_PerfRawData_MSExchangeIS_MSExchangeISMailbox)

Now that your query is setup, stop over at the authenication tab and enter a username / password that can access the server (I generally setup a separate account for this on the server for security sakes). You will then want to goto the Device you will be querying, and select account in the list (when editting a device, you should see a "WMI Authenication Account" option).

From there, if you import the XML file that comes with the plugin (its the one I used in this example) then you will see exactly how you need to make the Data Query (and resource XML file) to use this query.

I am trying to work on the plugin to make it create all these for you, but that will take some work.

Jimmy, awesome info thanks for that - I see the "WMI Authenication Account" option - it's selected.

Now where do I import the XML file?

Jimmy - Ok - wait I see it. Import a data query:

XML Path <path_cacti>/resource/script_server/exchange_messages.xml
Data Input Method: Get Script Server Data

On the console, there is an Import Templates menu link. The other file (in the resource directory) must be copied to the server manually into the appropriate resource directory.

Thanks for your help Jimmy. Let me see if I understand this. To get the wmi plug-in to work:

#1 - install CactiEZ
#2 - copy:
<path_cacti>/plugins/wmi/templates/resource/script_server/exchange_messages.xml
to
<path_cacti>/resource/script_server
#3 - create new data query with:
XML Path <path_cacti>/resource/script_server/exchange_messages.xml
Data Input Method: Get Script Server Data
#4 - ?

I don't understand the relationship between the manual XML files and the query. How do I create a monitor for say pages/s?