Cacti RRDtool Proxy Server is a standalone proxy interface to Tobi Oetiker's great RRDtool.

The main focus of this project is to allow the relocation of RRD files, data replication, support of Cacti Boost and, if needed, the RRDcached daemon. It allows system administrators to split Cacti's access resources across machines without the need for NFS.

Due the fact that updates to files may contain sensitive data and to prevent undesired updates, RRDtool proxy utilizes high encrypted connections (RSA2048 and AES192) with continuously changing keys. This ensures a secured connection between the proxy and registered clients and/or other proxies.

A local service port is provided to allow administrators are able to access a separate command line interface which provides easy access to configure and debug the proxy.

Get involved in development by participating in active development on GitHub.

RRDtool Proxy Server runs on any Unix-based operating system that can meet the minimum requirements, though it will perform better with the recommended (or higher). The most recent version of RRDProxy requires composer

• PHP Version 8.1 or higher

  Installation must include and enable the following modules:

  • Sockets
  • Posix
  • PCntl
  • GMP
  • ZLIB

• RRDtool Version 1.5 or higher

• Cacti Version 1.2.31 or higher

All minimum requirements must be met, though the following are more optional:

• PHP Version 8.1 or higher

  Include all minimum recommendation modules

• RRDtool 1.7 or higher

• Cacti 1.2.7

Before using the RRDtool Proxy Server, you must install the system using the setup wizard which can be run at any point using the -w parameter.

 composer install --no-dev

 php rrdtool-proxy.php --help

 RRDtool Proxy v1.2.17
 Copyright (C) 2004-2026 The Cacti Group
 usage: rrdtool-proxy.php [--wizard] [-w] [--version] [-v]
 Optional:
 -v --version   - Display this help message
 -w --wizard    - Start Configuration Wizard

When running through the wizard, the status of items will appear on the right hand side of the screen. When an item is successfully completed, the status of [OK] will be shown in green (when color is supported) as seen below:

Checking System Requirements...
[0.00001] test: operation system supported                                  [OK]
[0.00007] test: php module 'sockets'                                        [OK]
[0.00011] test: php module 'posix'                                          [OK]

Should any item have an issue, the status will be displayed as something other than [OK] such as [FAILED]:

[0.40270] read: RRDproxy configuration file                             [FAILED]

Status Color | Description : --- | : --- Green | Success and without issue Yellow | Warnings and will be ignored, correct the problem if needed Red | Errors and will not be ignored, may prevent continuation

When the wizard prompts for the various settings that are available, you can accept the default value simply by pressing return to accept it. Below are a few of these settings and the default values that can be accepted:

Setting | Default | Comment : --- | : --- | : --- CLI System Prompt | rrdp | Max 8 chars IPv4 Listen Addr | 0.0.0.0 | Listen all addr Client Proxy Port | 40301 | Connections from a client Proxy Proxy port | 40302 | Connections from another proxy Dedicated CLI port | 40303 | Connections to the proxy cli

If the wizard displays a prompt that requires a response and it has no default, you will be prompted again until a valid response has been entered.

Use '?' or 'help' to get a list of all commands being supported by the proxy or hints about missing parameters. The following shows an example of using the CLI to list the available commands to find the version of RRDtool Proxy Server.

Note: that most commands require that the CLI is in privileged mode and this password is encrypted in the configuration so cannot be guessed. If the password has been forgotten, it can be reset using the RRDtool Proxy Server Wizard but the background process will need to be manually terminated.

telnet localhost 40303
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
rrdp>?
  enable          Turn on privileged commands
  help            Display help
  show            Show running system information
  quit            Close terminal session

rrdp>ena Tester12

rrdp# help
  clear           Clear functions for internal buffers
  disable         Turn off privileged commands
  reset           Reset terminal screen
  set             Configure proxy settings
  show            Show running system information
  shutdown        Close all connections and shut down proxy
  quit            Close terminal session

rrdp# show ?
  clients         List all trusted client connections
  counters        Return all system counters
  cluster         List all trusted cluster peers
  logging         Display state of logging
  msr             Display replication state
  processes       Display running child processes
  rsa             Show Encryption setup
  threads         Display currently open connections
  variables       Show Current Operating configuration
  version         System software status

rrdp#sh version

#     ___           _   _     __    __    ___     ___
#    / __\__ _  ___| |_(_)   /__\  /__\  /   \   / _ \_ __ _____  ___   _
#   / /  / _` |/ __| __| |  / \// / \// / /\ /  / /_)/ '__/ _ \ \/ / | | |
#  / /__| (_| | (__| |_| | / _  \/ _  \/ /_//  / ___/| | | (_) >  <| |_| |
#  \____/\__,_|\___|\__|_| \/ \_/\/ \_/___,'   \/    |_|  \___/_/\_\__, |
#                                                                   |___/

 RRDtool Proxy v1.2.17
 Copyright (C) 2004-2026 The Cacti Group
 rrdp uptime is 14 days, 0 hours, 4 minutes, 14 seconds
 Memory usage 0.18872917 % (2026464/1073741824 in bytes)
 a8:29:6a:b7:5d:be:c3:8a:be:13:7a:61:ee:0c:8b:d3
 Process ID: 13996
 Session usage (1/399)

 Server IP [192.168.10.10]
 Administration: [localhost       :40303]
 Replication:    [192.168.10.10   :40302]
 Clients:        [192.168.10.10   :40301]

rrdp#

• Data replication

  This is currently being written and has been mostly completed, but it is still being tested and so hasn't been made available yet.

• Proxy stats via SNMP

  A NET-SNMP persistent daemon and MIB needs to written to enabled support of proxy stats via SNMP. This could lead to an interesting loop of Cacti storing stats for RRDproxy within RRDproxy.

• International language support

  Currently, the RRDproxy wizard and command line interface port are both offering only english as the default language.