# [SOLVED]mrtg vs rrdtool

## cz0

Whell, I have mrtg configured and running on my Gentoo server, but it jast couple of grafics. So, I would like to know what is better mrtg or rrdtool. I need to monitor such parameters like CPU, MEM and SWAP usage (already done in current mrtg config), traffic through some ifaces like eth0, traffic through ports/srvices (like ftp, irc, samba..), disk space and disk usage (activity), some values from lm_sensors. All that can be done through snmpd (like I have now) or localy through spesial scripts. Also some HOWTOs will be grate.Last edited by cz0 on Sat Jul 14, 2007 7:55 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## kashani

The question is not MRTG or RRDTool, but which front end do you want for your RRD data?

MRTG, Cacti, and a few others query SNMP or other services and then insert the data into RRD format. MRTG used to use it's own format, but I think that was finally taken out and if it hasn't been the author of MRTG recommends RRD especially since he wrote it. 

I found MRTG easy to use for large networks of switches and routers, but for servers Cacti, a PHP based webapp, displayed a bit better and made adding things like Mysql stats easier as well.

kashani

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## cz0

I dont want mysql on me server only for poller. So, looks like I will try to setup RRDtool while MRTG is running and see what suits me more. I tried cacti some time ago, but I think it too bulky for poller (php + mysql.. I have p3 and 256 ram). So, I whant to know what is a main difference between mrtg and rrdtool? Frontend and how graphics/pictures looks?

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## kashani

RRD is a data format. Nothing more, nothing less.

MRTG is a poller and collector of data that it can store in it's lame .log format or into nice RRD formats. You want both. Strangely MRTG used to pull in rrdtool as dependency in Gentoo, but doesn't seem to do that anymore. In case this might explain things better.

http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/doc/mrtg-rrd.en.html

kashani

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## cz0

O-o-o.. OK, I got it. Thanx a lot.

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