[mrtg] MRTG front-end: Suggestions/which one to choose - pros & cons

[Eric Brander]

On 6/11/07, Thomas Olsen <thomas_olsen44 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi All
>
>  I have been running MRTG for a few months now, and it is working great.
>  However, it would be nice with the possibility to customize more.
>
>  I have started looking at installing a front-end solution and using RRD
> logging.
>  >From what I have seen so far there are a few different solutions out
> there:
>
>  - 14all.cgi
>  - routers2.cgi (I have seen various mailing list threads etc regarding this
> and Steve is pretty active on this mailing list providing very good
> information)
>  - mrtg-rrd
>  - Cacti (I haven't seen a lot of questions on this mailing list about this,
> but they have a forum where there is a bit of activity)
>  - And maybe there are more solutions as well?
>
>  Does anyone have experience from using more than one of these and if you
> can give your recommendation (pros & cons) based on your experience it would
> be very valuable.
>
>  Thanks.
>

I've tried them all. Here's my breakdown:

14all: Works. Makes MRTG with RRDTool look mostly like original MRTG
without RRDtool. Customization is a pain if you don't know perl.

mrtg-rrd: never got it to work right. Gave up.(This was a long time ago)

Routers2: Excellent documentation, lots of options, great support
(THANKS STEVE) and very customizable. I have been using Routers2 now
for a few of years.

Cacti: Very nice system, though not an MRTG front-end but a
replacement that includes RRDTool integration. More point-and-click if
that's your style. I prefer command line and config files so I can
more easily automate tasks. But if you're not a scripter then Cacti is
hard to beat. Lots of options and a very nice layout.

HTH,

Eric Brander