docs: fix broken SQL syntax, wrong Spine build deps, wrong cron user

somethingwithproof · somethingwithproof · commit c686a9a6bd10 · 2026-03-14T22:20:26.000-07:00
Refs #211 Signed-off-by: Thomas Vincent <thomasvincent@gmail.com>
diff --git a/How-To-Setup-Remote-Pollers.md b/How-To-Setup-Remote-Pollers.md
@@ -25,27 +25,39 @@ With this setup the following layout is assumed
 
 ## Database Configuration
 
+> **Security**: The username `cacti` and password `cacti` shown in the examples
+> below are placeholders. Use a strong, randomly generated password in
+> production. Never use the literal string `cacti` as a database password on
+> any reachable system.
+
 Each server will have its own local database however the remote pollers will
 need to talk back to the main poller so we must allow the remote servers user
 account to connect back to the main pollers database via the network
 
 Main server database config
 
 ```sql
-GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cacti'@'192.168.1.10' IDENTIFIED BY 'cacti';
-GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cacti'@'192.168.1.20' IDENTIFIED BY 'cacti';
+CREATE USER 'cacti'@'192.168.1.10' IDENTIFIED BY 'strongpassword';
+GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cacti'@'192.168.1.10';
+CREATE USER 'cacti'@'192.168.1.20' IDENTIFIED BY 'strongpassword';
+GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cacti'@'192.168.1.20';
+FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 ```
 
 Remote poller 1 database configuration
 
 ```sql
-GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cacti'@'192.168.1.5' IDENTIFIED BY 'cacti';
+CREATE USER 'cacti'@'192.168.1.5' IDENTIFIED BY 'strongpassword';
+GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cacti'@'192.168.1.5';
+FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 ```
 
 Remote poller 2 database configuration
 
 ```sql
-GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cacti'@'192.168.1.5' IDENTIFIED BY 'cacti';
+CREATE USER 'cacti'@'192.168.1.5' IDENTIFIED BY 'strongpassword';
+GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON cacti.* TO 'cacti'@'192.168.1.5';
+FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 ```
 
 We have also let the main poller talk to the remote pollers to keep in sync
@@ -58,15 +70,21 @@ configure the spine.conf file to connect to the remote database as well.
 Be sure to remove the # next to the below entries
 
 ```console
-RDB_Host 192.168.1.5
+RDB_Host     192.168.1.5
 RDB_Database cacti
-RDB_User cacti
-RDB_Pass cacti
-RDB_Port 3306
-#RDB_UseSSL 0
-#RDB_SSL_Key
-#RDB_SSL_Cert
-#RDB_SSL_CA
+RDB_User     cacti
+RDB_Pass     strongpassword
+RDB_Port     3306
+```
+
+If the network between pollers and the main server is not fully trusted,
+enable SSL for the remote database connection:
+
+```console
+RDB_UseSSL 1
+RDB_SSL_Key  /etc/cacti/ssl/client.key
+RDB_SSL_Cert /etc/cacti/ssl/client.crt
+RDB_SSL_CA   /etc/cacti/ssl/ca.crt
 ```
 
 ## Spine poller and max connections
@@ -90,7 +108,7 @@ the remote poller to talk to the main server be sure to remove the hash sign (#)
 ```console
 $rdatabase_type = 'mysql';
 $rdatabase_default = 'cacti';
-$rdatabase_hostname = '192.168.1.5;
+$rdatabase_hostname = '192.168.1.5';
 $rdatabase_username = 'cacti';
 $rdatabase_password = 'cacti';
 $rdatabase_port = '3306';
diff --git a/Installing-Under-Ubuntu-Debian.md b/Installing-Under-Ubuntu-Debian.md
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ Create and edit `/etc/cron.d/cacti` file.
 Make sure to setup the correct path to poller.php
 
 ```console
-*/5 * * * * apache php /var/www/html/cacti/poller.php &>/dev/null
+*/5 * * * * www-data php /var/www/html/cacti/poller.php >/dev/null 2>&1
 ```
 
 For systemd unit's file install, you will need to modify the
diff --git a/Plugin-Development.md b/Plugin-Development.md
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 
 ## Overview
 
-Cacti Plugins allow users of Cacti to extend it's functionality into areas
+Cacti Plugins allow users of Cacti to extend its functionality into areas
 that the core Cacti developers have not.  They were written based off of
-the work of Jimmy Conner from the Squirrel Mail project years ago.  They
-allow developers to augment the Cacti Website, and it's polling processes
+the work of Jimmy Conner from the SquirrelMail project years ago.  They
+allow developers to augment the Cacti Website, and its polling processes
 to extend Cacti's reach.
 
 There are a number of popular plugins including:
@@ -191,9 +191,9 @@ plugins other than RRDtool.
 
 - [Billboard.js](https://naver.github.io/billboard.js/)
 - [D3](https://d3js.org/)
-- [Chart.js](http://www.chartjs.org/)
-- [DyGraphs](http://dygraphs.com/)
-- [jQuery Sparklines](http://omnipotent.net/jquery.sparkline/)
+- [Chart.js](https://www.chartjs.org/)
+- [DyGraphs](https://dygraphs.com/)
+- [jQuery Sparklines](https://omnipotent.net/jquery.sparkline/) (note: this project appears unmaintained; evaluate before use)
 
 ## Logging
 
diff --git a/Spine.md b/Spine.md
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@ in polling time of an order of magnitude. Polling times far less than 60 seconds
 for about 20,000 data sources are achievable e.g. on a dual XEON system supplied
 with 4 GB RAM and standard local disks.
 
-When using Spine, don't change crontab or systemd settings! Always use
-poller.php with crontab or cactid.php for systemd!
+When using Spine, don't change crontab or systemd settings. The poller entry
+point is always `poller.php` — Spine is invoked by the poller, not directly
+from cron or systemd.
 
 To activate Spine instead of cmd.php, please visit
 `Console > Configuration > Settings > Poller` and select spine and save as the
@@ -68,17 +69,16 @@ be installed on below is an example of compiling on centos and Ubuntu
 Install the required system packages
 
 ```console
-apt-get install -y build-essential dos2unix dh-autoreconf libtool help2man libssl-dev libmysql++-dev librrds-perl libsnmp-dev
+apt-get install -y build-essential dos2unix dh-autoreconf libtool help2man libssl-dev default-libmysqlclient-dev librrd-dev libsnmp-dev
 ```
 
-Next, download the version of spine you are looking for Typically this should
-match the version of Cacti you are using. In this case we will download Version
-1.2.3 of Spine
+Download the version of Spine that matches your Cacti version. Replace `X.Y.Z`
+with the actual release number (e.g., `1.2.31`):
 
 ```console
-wget <https://github.com/Cacti/spine/archive/release/1.2.3.zip>
-unzip 1.2.3
-cd spine-release-1.2.3
+wget https://github.com/Cacti/spine/archive/release/X.Y.Z.zip
+unzip X.Y.Z.zip
+cd spine-release-X.Y.Z
 ```
 
 Once you are in the spine directory its time to compile the poller by issuing
@@ -135,9 +135,9 @@ chmod u+s /usr/local/spine/bin/spine
 
 ### Testing/Debugging spine via command line
 
-spine offer a a few different ways at the command line to test its
+Spine offers a few different ways at the command line to test its
 functionality. Here are a few examples of some tests you can run by executing
-spine.
+Spine.
 
 #### Test Spine without writing results to database
 
diff --git a/Upgrading-Cacti.md b/Upgrading-Cacti.md
@@ -32,43 +32,60 @@ Before you begin, ensure that both your Apache/NGINX and your Crontab or systemd
    
    You will probably have to specify the -u and -p flags for the MySQL username and password. This user must have permission to read from Cacti's database or you will end up with an empty backup.
 
-5. Backup the Old Cacti Directory:
+4. Backup the Old Cacti Directory:
 
    Backup the old Cacti directory with the exception of the RRD files, which should not need backup.
    ```shell
    shell> tar --exclude=*.rrd -zcf cacti_backup_YYYYMMDD.tgz cacti
    ```
-6. Extract the Distribution Tarball:
+5. Extract the Distribution Tarball:
    ```shell
    shell> tar -xzvf cacti-version.tar.gz
    ```
-7. Copy the Distribution Tarball Over the Existing Installation:
+6. Copy the Distribution Tarball Over the Existing Installation:
    ```shell
    shell> /bin/cp -rpf cacti-version cacti
    ```
-8. Set Appropriate Permissions:
+7. Set Appropriate Permissions:
 
    Set the appropriate permissions on Cacti's directories for graph/log generation. Execute these commands from inside Cacti's directory to change the permissions.
+
+   On RHEL/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux (Apache runs as `apache`):
    ```shell
    shell> chown -R apache:apache rra/ log/
    ```
-9. Recreate the Cache Folder (Optional):
+
+   On Ubuntu/Debian (Apache runs as `www-data`):
+   ```shell
+   shell> chown -R www-data:www-data rra/ log/
+   ```
+
+8. Recreate the Cache Folder (Optional):
 
    If you are using Performance > Image Caching or Realtime Graphing, recreate the cache folder and correct the permissions.
    ```shell
    shell> mkdir cache
+   ```
+
+   On RHEL/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux:
+   ```shell
    shell> chown -R apache:apache cache
-    ```
+   ```
+
+   On Ubuntu/Debian:
+   ```shell
+   shell> chown -R www-data:www-data cache
+   ```
    
-10. Point Your Browser:
+9. Point Your Browser:
 
    Point your web browser to http://your-server/cacti/ and follow the on-screen instructions to update your database to the new version.
 
-11. Re-enable Polling:
+10. Re-enable Polling:
 
     Go to the console and re-enable the poller. It will take two polling cycles to update the remote pollers.
 
-12. If Remote Pollers Fail to Update:
+11. If Remote Pollers Fail to Update:
 
     Try to rebuild the Resource Cache by going to Console >> Utilities and wait 2 polling cycles.
 
