FAQs

Table of Contents

General

Why might I want to use pmGraph?

It can be really hard to understand and manage the network data stored in a database because the data can grow to hundreds of thousands of rows within a few days. To simplify this process we have created pmgraph which allows the user to view the data in a visual form. Additionally you can select a particular IP or port by clicking on it. This allows you to investigate the traffic for a particular IP or port and so better understand your network usage.

On what systems does pmGraph run?

pmGraph is platform independent software. It has been developed in Java and is designed to work in a servlet container. However, pmGraph relies upon pmacct, which runs only on Linux systems, so there must be at least one Linux system in the network.

How can I contribute to pmGraph development?

Contribute as an user: You don't have to be a programmer to contribute to pmGraph. In fact, the most common and valuable way of contributing is through other means:

1) Be sure that you report all the bugs you find.

2) If you think pmGraph is missing some features or it can be improved in some way, let us know contact us.

3) Help improve pmGraph documentation, for example by making suggestions, or telling us what you found lacking contact us.

4) Contribute as a developer: we are eager to have new people collaborating with us. Please contact us if you are interested.

What are the system requirements?

PmGraph is quite lightweight, and requires only 8MB of hard disk to run. However, it relies on other, bulkier programs. If you don't already have Tomcat, Java6, mySQL server, and pmacct, you will need a total of 300 MB to get pmGraph running successfully.

I tried to install pmGraph but it didn't work, what can I do?

Check the installation steps to make sure you have done everything. If you still have no joy, try the common errors page.

How can I limit access to pmgraph on my network?

One way is by specifying the IPs allowed to access it, by adding the following lines to the Tomcat file context.xml with your choice of IP address.

<Context path="/pmgraph"...>
<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteAddrValve"
    allow="127.0.0.1" deny =""/>
</Context>

I found a bug, where can I report it?

Please tell us about any bug you find. To report them you can use the sourceforge pmgraph project bug tracker

My database is growing too fast, can I change the amount of data I am storing?

Yes, using the pmacct config file.

Is there some way to make pmGraph run faster?

Reducing the amount of data you are collecting will change the speed of graph generation.

Third party software

Can I use other databases?

Besides mySQL, you can you use a PostgreSQL database.

Can I use other web servers?

pmGraph is tested with Tomcat 5.5. We are investigating running the program on Jetty which should to reduce the amount of memory needed by the server. If you want to try another server, please do it and let us know how you got on so we can update these instructions contact us.

Can I use other program instead of pmacct?

No, pmGraph is dependent on pmacct.

What other programs can I use that have a smaller memory footprint?

We are currently working on it. The main idea is using another web server (perhaps Jetty) and trying not to use the last version of Java. If you have some ideas, please contact us.

Intellectual properties and rights

What kind of license does pmGraph have?

PmGraph is registered under the GNU General Public License.


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