Emanuele Pasqualucci Extending AppManager Monitoring with the SNMP Toolkit

Today’s Agenda AppManager SNMP Toolkit Overview –SNMP Basics –Network Devices module or SNMP Toolkit? –Device Management through SNMP Toolkit Walk thru –Managing devices with SNMP Q&A Discussion –Open phone lines

SNMP Infrastructure Three layers of abstraction: SNMP protocol –Network-management protocol designed to facilitate the exchange of management information. Management Information Base ( MIB) –Logical collection that defines the structure of the management information (MIB Objects) of a device subsystem, accessed using SNMP. ASN.1 encoding –MIB objects are described using a precise set of definitions based on a data description language called the ISO Abstract Syntax Notation 1 (ASN.1) standard. This ensure a universal data representation for all management information.

SNMP Components SNMP management systems and agents –An agent runs on each managed system and reports information via SNMP to the managing systems. Agents expose management data on the managed systems as variables which describe the system configuration. These variables are defined by management information bases (MIBs).management information bases SNMP Messages –System variables can be queried (and sometimes set) by managing applications: GET, SET, TRAP messages types SNMP Communities –Security scheme for the SNMP service.

MIB Tree

MIB Object Each object actually has two names : –a textual name called an Object Descriptor, formed by following the labels from the top of the tree down to the place where the object is located, and separating them with “dots”. –a numeric Object Identifier (OID) that indicates the object's place in the MIB object name hierarchy. Each OID identifies a variable that can be read or set via SNMP.

Header of Netware MIB...

Netware MIB, System Up Time

AppManager for Network Devices Function: Ensure health, performance and availability of network switches, routers and voice gateways from… Benefits: –Improved uptime and performance of network devices –“Single pane of glass” for UNIX, Windows, response times and network health data

What AM for Network Devices Doesn’t Do… Generic SNMP monitoring for servers Firewall or VPN monitoring Network topology mapping Network device monitoring for all equipment vendors – only “MIB2” support is available for other devices

How Does the SNMP Toolkit Fit? SNMP Toolkit used for monitoring elements (Sun hardware, Tru64, etc) where there are currently no native AppManager agents. Windows proxy agent queries device. Get MIB from Vendor for element. No MIB compiling necessary on proxy agent just add the ASN.1 MIB text file to the proxy agent. Support for MIB2 elements already in toolkit.

Toolkit Communications AppManager AM Agents Windows PROXY Devices Unix SNMP QDBMS

Module Management KSs Discovery_SNMP Discovers SNMP devices utilizing an SNMP Proxy installed on a host with an AppManager Agent. The user has multiple options for supplying host names and IP addresses, and an attempt is made to discover an SNMP device at each address. AddMIBs Copies the specified list of MIB files to the AppManager Agent Host where the SNMP Module resides. Reloads the MIB tree for the module so that the new MIBs are recognized. RemoveMIBs Removes the specified list of MIB files from the AppManager Agent Host where the SNMP Module resides. Reloads the MIB tree for the module so that the removed MIBs are no longer accessible.

Core Data KSs General SNMP operations SyncGet Attempts an SNMP Get or GetNext for the specified SNMP attributes(s). Thresholds can be checked, and mathematical conversion(s) can be performed. SyncSet Attempts an SNMP Set for the specified SNMP attribute(s) to the specified value(s). SyncGetTable Retrieves a specified set of SNMP Table columns, and reports results for each row retrieved. Thresholds can be checked, and mathematical conversion(s) can be performed SyncPoll Polls the specified SNMP attribute(s) at the prescribed time interval and number of polling attempts. Thresholds can be checked, and mathematical conversion(s) can be performed. SyncPollTable Polls the specified set of SNMP Table columns at the prescribed time interval and number of polling attempts, and reports summary results for each row polled. Thresholds can be checked, and mathematical conversion(s) can beperformed.

Core Data KSs Specific SNMP Semantics DeviceReboot Monitors the Device Uptime from an SNMP Device and generates an event if the device has restarted or rebooted since the last Knowledge Script iteration. InterfaceState Monitors the contents of the Interface MIB from an SNMP Device and generates an event when an interface changes state.

Knowledge Prerequisites Successful users of the Toolkit will have the following skills… –Good knowledge of SNMP operations –Good knowledge of MIB structure –Insight into the meaning of the specific MIB of interest, whatever the device supports. –Plus basic AM operator skills

Install the module Install the Managed object on all Proxy SNMP Agents Run setup on AM Repository Server to check in the new Knowledge Scripts Run Setup on Operator Console computer to install Help Files

Discover SNMP Devices Only one computer should act as a proxy for any given SNMP device Enable SNMP on each device to be monitored Add community string in AM Security Manager, for each device on each Proxy machine Run Discover_SNMP on the Proxy Server Supplied Mib Files stored in AppManager\bin\AMSnmpMIBs

How to Proceed? Get MIB File for DeviceBrowse and Read the MIB File Load the MIB into the ToolKit (AddMIBs KS) Create the Job on Proxy Server

Load Balancer – header example

Load Balancer MIB - continued

MIB Tree You can traverse the MIB tree from the root to find the specific object you need. PRIVATE is the branch that contains “ENTERPRISE” MIBs, which are those defined by a vendor for its own equipment. Under that, we find “F5” and under that the MIB and objects we want = F5 Enterprise Number

You Can “Walk” the MIB Clicking on the Walk Button retrieves the current values from the actual device.

Load the MIB Into the Toolkit Start by loading the MIB you want to work with into the Toolkit

MIB Successfully Loaded

Create a Job This is the SynchPoll KS, modified to reuse with the F5 Load Balancer MIB

Events Triggered by Threshold The SynchPolling KS we started will trigger an event if Kbytes / second exceeds 4K.

Running Job Graph Data

Graph Data Detail Has the Values The detail shows the row of the table and the values of the data point sample

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