How to monitor Window Servers Client with Cacti using SNMP

Would you like to learn how to do a Cacti Windows network monitoring installation? In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to install SNMP on Windows and how to configure Cacti to monitor a computer running Windows using Cacti.

Prerequisites

• Cacti server has been installed: How to install and Configure Cacti on Ubuntu 20.04
• SNMP has been installed and configured on the Windows server client: How to Install and Configure SNMP Service on Windows Server 2022.

1. Cacti Monitor Windows using SNMP

Now, we need to access the Cacti server dashboard and add the Windows computer as a Device.

Open your browser and enter the IP address of your web server plus /cacti.

In our example, the following URL was entered in the Browser:

• http://yourserver/cacti

On the login screen, use the default username and default password.

• Default Username: admin
• Default Password: admin

After a successful login, you will be sent to the Cacti Dashboard.

On the Cacti dashboard screen, access the Management menu and select the Devices option.

Click on the plus sign on the top right part of the screen to add a new device.

Perform the following configuration and click on the Create button.

• Description - Enter a description
• Hostname - Enter the IP address of your Windows server
• Device Template - Windows
• SNMP Version - 2
• SNMP Community - Enter your SNMP Community
• Downed Device Detection - SNMP Uptime

After clicking on the Create button, the top of the page will show the result of an SNMP communication test.

On the top of the screen, Click on the following option: Create Graphs for this device

Select the template that meets your network monitoring needs

Select the desired disk partitions.

Select the desired network interfaces.

Important! On the bottom right part of the screen, select the option named: In/Out Bits (64-bit)

Click on the Create button located on the bottom-right part of the screen.

Go to the Management menu and select the Devices options.

Wait 5 minutes and check if your Windows server device was added to the list.

2. Configure Cacti Graph Tree

Go to the Management menu and select the Trees options.

Click on the plus sign on the top right part of the screen to add a new tree.

Add a description and click on the Create button.

On the Tree Properties screen, click on the Edit Tree Properties button.

Enable the Publish option.

Drag the desired device or specific graph to the left part of the screen.

Click on the Save button.

Click on the finish editing the tree button.

The Cacti tree configuration was finished.

3. Cacti Monitoring Windows Server

Select the Graphs tab on the top left part of the screen.

Locate the desired Cacti tree where the Windows server was included.

Click on the device name that you configured to the Windows server.

You are now able to use Cacti as a network monitor solution to monitor Windows servers using SNMP.

Good Luck!