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Enabling SNMP

The Pexip Infinity Management Node and Conferencing Nodes can be monitored using SNMP. This topic covers:

SNMP support in Pexip Infinity

You enable and disable SNMP support on each node individually.

You can optionally nominate an SNMP Network Management System (NMS) to which trap notifications will be sent, as follows:

  • If you have enabled SNMP on the Management Node, you can then nominate the NMS that will receive notifications from it. For instructions see Enabling SNMP on the Management Node.
  • If you have enabled SNMP on a Conferencing Node, you must configure its system location with the NMS to which its notifications will be sent. The NMS will receive notifications for all Conferencing Nodes in that location that have had SNMP enabled. For instructions see Enabling SNMP on Conferencing Nodes.

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

When SNMP has been enabled on a Conferencing Node or Management Node, SNMP traps will be sent to the selected SNMP NMS in a number of scenarios including:

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.

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.

Adding SNMP NMSs

If you want SNMP notifications to be sent to a SNMP Network Management System (NMS) from a Management Node or Conferencing Node, you should add the details of the NMS to Pexip Infinity before you enable SNMP on the node.

To do this:

  1. Go to System configuration > SNMP NMSs and select Add SNMP Network Management System.
  2. Complete the required fields:
    OptionDescription
    NameThe name used to refer to this SNMP Network Management System
    DescriptionAn optional description of the SNMP Network Management System.
    AddressThe IP address or hostname of the SNMP Network Management System.
    Port

    The SNMP port of the Network Management System.

    Default: 161.

    SNMP trap community

    The SNMP trap community name.

    Default: public

  3. Select Save.

The NMS will now be available for selection on the Edit Management Node page when Enabling SNMP on the Management Node, and the Edit System Location page when Enabling SNMP on Conferencing Nodes.

Enabling SNMP on the Management Node

To enable SNMP on the Management Node:

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

    You will be taken to the Edit Management Node page.

  2. Configure the SNMP settings for the Management Node. The options are:
    OptionDescription
    SNMP mode

    Configures the SNMP mode for the selected node:

    Off: SNMP is disabled. You will not be able to 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 usernameThe 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 contactThe contact details (for example, email address) of the person responsible for this particular node.
    SNMP system locationA description of the node's location.
  3. If you want SNMP traps to be sent from the Management Node to a particular SNMP Network Management System (NMS), select the NMS from the SNMP NMS drop-down menu.

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

  4. Select Save.

Enabling SNMP on Conferencing Nodes

To enable SNMP on a Conferencing Node:

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

    You will be taken to the Edit Conferencing Node page.

  2. Configure the SNMP settings for the selected Conferencing Node. The options are:
    OptionDescription
    SNMP mode

    Configures the SNMP mode for the selected node:

    Off: SNMP is disabled. You will not be able to 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 usernameThe 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 contactThe contact details (for example, email address) of the person responsible for this particular node.
    SNMP system locationA description of the node's location.
  3. Select Save.
  4. If you want SNMP traps to be sent from the Conferencing Node to a particular SNMP Network Management System (NMS):
    1. Go to Platform configuration > Locations.
    2. Select the Location to which the Conferencing Node belongs.

      You will be taken to the Edit System Location page.

    3. From the SNMP NMS drop-down menu, select the Network Management System to which traps will be sent. This will apply to all Conferencing Nodes in this location that have had SNMP enabled.

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

    4. Select Save.

© 2016 Pexip AS - software version 11