[mrtg] Forks Option Information

[Tobias Oetiker]

Hi Brad,

Today Brad Lodgen wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm looking to find some information on the forking option and exactly how
> it works. What I've been able to find is Tobi's information in changelogs
> suggesting a fork for every router if you have a large config.
>
> -Can anyone explain exactly how the forking option effects MRTG from start
> to finish, especially when running MRTG in daemon mode with hundreds of
> included configs?

the forks option causes mrtg to fork itself into multiple instances
while gathering information from its targets (via snmp mostly).

Once the data is in, it gets fed back to the master process which
does all the post processing

> -If you specify the forking option with 40, is 40 the minimum or maximum
> forks...or does it always start 40 no matter what?

mrtg will divide the snmp query tasks into 40 parts and go for it
... best is to run a few trial runs to find the optimal number for
your setup ... it is not necessarily the more the merrier.

> -How many targets go into each fork?

see above

> -Any additional information about forking would be much appreciated. I want
> to fully understand forking so I can confidently leverage that power for
> very large configs.

well you have to ask ... :-)

tobi

>
>
> Thanks for any help,
> Brad
>

-- 
Tobi Oetiker, OETIKER+PARTNER AG, Aarweg 15 CH-4600 Olten
http://it.oetiker.ch tobi at oetiker.ch ++41 62 213 9902