TL;DR:

Xerox phaser 3020 black ink percentage remaining – SNMP cacti data and graph template at the bottom of this post.

 

With some tweaks this method should also works for other brand printers.

With the help of this article: https://thwack.solarwinds.com/docs/DOC-171511 I could set up a cacti template for my Xerox 3020 printer. Some printers return ink level value in percents but in my case I got only the raw value.

1. Get SNMP toner max capacity value, OID for that is 1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.8.1.1

root@cacti: snmpget -v2c -c public 192.168.0.251 1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.8.1.1
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.8.1.1 = INTEGER: 700

700 is the raw value for 100% toner capacity.

2. Get SNMP toner current levels value, OID for that is 1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.9.1.1

root@cacti: snmpget -v2c -c public 192.168.0.251 1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.9.1.1
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.9.1.1 = INTEGER: 686

686 is the current raw value of my toner levels. To calculate toner ink percentage remaining we need to divide current raw value (686) with max raw value (700) and multiply it by 100. 686 / 700 * 100 = 98 (percentage of ink remaining). Since the max raw value is a nice number (700), we can just divide current raw value with 7, 686/7 = 98. We can use this formula for our CDEF definitions in cacti later. Remember, this is only for Xerox 3020, other brand printers can output different raw values and you need to correct this formula accordingly.

Xerox 3020 ink remaining percentage formula: raw_current_ink_level / 7

3. Login to cacti and go to Console -> Presets -> CDEFs

Click plus sign and create new CDEF and name it Xerox toner percentage

Click plus at CDEF Items.

CDEF Item Type: Special Data Source

CDEF Item Value: Current Graph Item Data Source

Click Save

Click plus at CDEF Items.

CDEF Item Type: Custom String

CDEF Item Value: 7 (this is the value cacti will use to divide raw data)

Click Save

Click plus at CDEF Items.

CDEF Item Type: Operator

CDEF Item Value: / (this will tell cacti to use a divide operation with the custom string we defined in a previous step).

Click Save

4. Go to Console -> Templates -> Data Source

Click plus to create new data source template and name it Printer – black toner current

Name: |host_description| – black toner current

Data Input Method: Get SNMP Data

Data Source Active: tick the right box

Internal Data Source Name: toner_current

Click Create

New Custom Data field will appear.

OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.9.1.1

Click Save

5.1 Go to Console -> Templates -> Graph

Click plus sign

Name: Printer – black toner levels

Title: Printer – black toner levels

Vertical Label: percent

Tick Rigid Boundaries Mode

Upper Limit: 100

Click Create

5.2 Now click plus sign at Graph Template Items

Graph Item Type: AREA

Data Source: Printer – black toner current

Color: select what you like

Consolidation Function: AVERAGE

CDEF Function: Xerox toner percentage

Text Format: Available

Click save

Add another Graph template item

Graph Item Type: GPRINT

Data Source: Printer – black toner current

Consolidation Function: LAST

CDEF Function: Xerox toner percentage

GPRINT Type: Percent(Round down to the nearest decimal)

Text format: Current:

Click Save

Add another Graph template item

Graph Item Type: LINE1

Data Source: Printer – black toner current

Consolidation function: AVERAGE

CDEF function: Xeror toner percentage

Save

Your graph is now ready to device assignment.

Final result:

Download data and graph templates for xerox phaser 3020:

xerox_3020_cacti_toner_level_template