Monitoring via SNMP

The Management Node and Conferencing Nodes can be monitored using SNMP, and they can also be configured to send SNMP traps to an SNMP Network Management System (NMS). This topic covers:

SNMP MIB access

Pexip Infinity supports SNMPv2c (non-secure) and SNMPv3 (secure) access to the basic RFC 1213 MIB-II tree (1.3.6.1.2.1) with read-only functionality. This includes full or partial support for:

  • system_mib
  • interfaces
  • snmp_mib
  • at
  • ip
  • icmp
  • udp
  • tcp
  • RFC 1514/RFC 2790 MIB-II host MIB

For some examples of how to use the Pexip Infinity Management API and SNMP to obtain information about the system (including how to obtain the CPU load average), see Using the management API with SNMP.

Sending trap notifications to an NMS

In addition to enabling read access to the MIB tree, you can also nominate an SNMP Network Management System (NMS) to receive trap notifications from the Management Node and from the Conferencing Nodes within a system location.

The supported SNMP traps are:

Trap OID Description
cold start 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.1 Emitted when the snmpd service running on the node starts or restarts (due to snmp being reconfigured and/or due to the Conferencing Node rebooting).
authentication failure 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.5 Generated, for example, when any attempt to query SNMP values is made using an incorrect community string.
warm start 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.2 Generated when any software component fails unexpectedly (and coincides with the generation of a Pexip Incident Report).

The SNMP support in Pexip Infinity is built on top of the popular net-snmp open source implementation and therefore inherits some of the same behaviors (for example, generating a coldstart rather than warmstart on reconfiguration). For this reason you may also see some net-snmp-specific traps, such as the nsNotifyShutdown trap (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.8072.4.0.2) when the snmpd daemon shuts down.

Pexip Infinity does not currently support traps with SNMPv3. If traps are required, use SNMPv2c.

Configuring an SNMP NMS

If you want to send SNMP notifications from a Management Node or Conferencing Node to a SNMP NMS, you need to configure the details of the NMS. To do this:

  1. Go to System > SNMP NMSs and select Add SNMP Network Management System.
  2. Complete the required fields:

    Option Description
    Name The name used to refer to this NMS.
    Description An optional description of the NMS.
    Address The IP address or FQDN of the NMS.
    Port

    The SNMP port of the NMS.

    Default: 161.

    SNMP trap community

    The SNMP trap community name.

    Default: public

  3. Select Save.

The NMS can now be selected when configuring the Management Node and system locations, as described below.

Configuring SNMP monitoring on the Management Node

To configure SNMP monitoring on the Management Node:

  1. Go to Platform > Management Node and select the Management Node.

    You are taken to the Edit Management Node page.

  2. To enable SNMP read access for the Management Node, configure the following settings:

    Option Description
    SNMP mode

    Configures the SNMP access mode for the selected node:

    Off: SNMP is disabled. You cannot use SNMP to query the node for its status.

    SNMPv2c read-only: enables insecure, read-only access.

    SNMPv3 read-only: enables secure, read-only access, using the authPriv security level with SHA1 authentication and AES 128-bit encryption.

    When enabled, access is provided to the basic RFC 1213 MIB-II tree (1.3.6.1.2.1).

    Default: Off.

    SNMP community

    The SNMP group to which this node belongs. This setting applies to SNMPv2c only.

    Default: public

    SNMPv3 username The node's SNMPv3 username, used to authenticate SNMPv3 requests.
    SNMPv3 privacy password

    The node's SNMPv3 privacy password used for encrypting messages between the node and the management station.

    AES encryption must be used; DES is not supported.

    SNMPv3 authentication password

    The node's SNMPv3 authentication password, used to authenticate the associated username.

    The SHA authentication protocol must be used; MD5 is not supported.

    SNMP system contact The contact details (for example, email address) of the person responsible for this particular node.
    SNMP system location A description of the node's location.
  3. If you want to send SNMP traps from the Management Node to an NMS, select the NMS from the SNMP NMS drop-down menu.

    If you have not already added the NMS, you can do so now by clicking .

  4. Select Save.

Configuring SNMP monitoring on Conferencing Nodes

To configure SNMP monitoring on a Conferencing Node:

  1. Go to Platform > Conferencing Nodes and select the Conferencing Node.

    You are taken to the Edit Conferencing Node page.

  2. To enable SNMP read access for the Conferencing Node, configure the following settings:

    Option Description
    SNMP mode

    Configures the SNMP access mode for the selected node:

    Off: SNMP is disabled. You cannot use SNMP to query the node for its status.

    SNMPv2c read-only: enables insecure, read-only access.

    SNMPv3 read-only: enables secure, read-only access, using the authPriv security level with SHA1 authentication and AES 128-bit encryption.

    When enabled, access is provided to the basic RFC 1213 MIB-II tree (1.3.6.1.2.1).

    Default: Off.

    SNMP community

    The SNMP group to which this node belongs. This setting applies to SNMPv2c only.

    Default: public

    SNMPv3 username The node's SNMPv3 username, used to authenticate SNMPv3 requests.
    SNMPv3 privacy password

    The node's SNMPv3 privacy password used for encrypting messages between the node and the management station.

    AES encryption must be used; DES is not supported.

    SNMPv3 authentication password

    The node's SNMPv3 authentication password, used to authenticate the associated username.

    The SHA authentication protocol must be used; MD5 is not supported.

    SNMP system contact The contact details (for example, email address) of the person responsible for this particular node.
    SNMP system location A description of the node's location.
  3. If you want to send SNMP traps from the Conferencing Node to an SNMP NMS, you must ensure that the node's system location is configured with the NMS that will receive trap notifications from that node:

    1. Go to Platform > Locations.
    2. Select the Location to which the Conferencing Node belongs.

      You are taken to the Edit System Location page.

    3. From the SNMP NMS drop-down menu, select the NMS to which traps will be sent. Note that this NMS applies to all Conferencing Nodes in this location.

      If you have not already added the SNMP NMS, you can do so now by clicking .

  4. Select Save.