Introduction to SNMP Dynamic Applications

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This section describes Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the Internet protocol for managing devices across a network. In SL1, an SNMP Dynamic Application is a Dynamic Application that uses SNMP to retrieve data from devices.

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What is SNMP?

SNMP is a protocol that is supported by most enterprise-level network equipment and most server equipment as well as by many software applications.

SNMP allows SL1 to query and collect information about a device or application. SNMP ensures that SL1 can use the same parameters to query any type of device or application. SNMP also ensures that the data sent to SL1 will be of the same format, regardless of the device or application that returns the data.

Many third-party hardware agents are SNMP-compliant. These agents complement standard SNMP agents by providing additional data about the device.

If SNMP is enabled on a device and a third-party agent is also running on a device, SL1 can gather very detailed data about the device or application.

Prerequisites

The following sections do not describe how to plan, design, use, and troubleshoot Dynamic Applications for your network. This manual assumes that you are already familiar with the common elements and concepts of Dynamic Applications. For general information on planning, designing, using, and troubleshooting Dynamic Applications, see the Dynamic Application Development section.

SNMP Dynamic Applications use the SNMP protocol. This manual assumes that you are familiar with the SNMP protocol.

What is an SNMP Dynamic Application?

Simple Network Management Protocol, or SNMP, is the Internet protocol for managing devices across a network. In SL1, an SNMP Dynamic Application is a Dynamic Application that uses SNMP to retrieve data from devices. During collection, SL1 performs an SNMP walk command for each OID specified in the Dynamic Application. The Dynamic Application developer defines the SNMP OIDs in collection objects.

SNMP Dynamic Applications have the following elements in common with other Dynamic Application types:

  • Archetypes. Defines what type of data is being collected and how it will be displayed in SL1. SNMP Dynamic Applications can be either the Performance or Configuration archetypes.
  • Properties. Allows for version control, release notes, collection, and retention settings.
  • Collection Objects. Defines the individual data-points that will be retrieved by the Dynamic Application. These data points are called collection objects. Collection objects define what type of data is being collected (gauge, counter, etc.) and how it is grouped. Collection objects have settings that are different from collection objects in other types of Dynamic Applications. For more information, see SNMP Collection Objects.
  • Presentations. For Performance Dynamic Applications, defines how collected values will be displayed by SL1.
  • Thresholds. Can be used to define a default threshold value that can be included in alerts. The threshold appears in the Device Thresholds page for each device the Dynamic Application is aligned with.
  • Alerts. Triggers events based on the values retrieved by the Dynamic Application. If the collected data meets the conditions defined in the alert, the alert can insert a message into device logs and trigger events.
  • Credentials. Define how authentication should occur for each Dynamic Application on each device. SNMP Dynamic Applications use SNMP credentials. When an SNMP Dynamic Application is aligned with a device, SL1 will, by default, use the SNMP Read credential defined in the Device Properties page for the device to perform collection for the Dynamic Application. You can select a different SNMP credential to use with the Dynamic Application in the Collections tab for a device.
  • Relationships. Dynamic Applications can be configured to automatically create relationships between devices. For example, the Dynamic Applications in the VMware vSphere and NetApp PowerPacks are configured to create relationships between VMware Datastore component devices and their associated NetApp Volume component devices. Relationships created by Dynamic Applications are used and visualized by the platform in the same manner as relationships created by topology collection, Dynamic Component Mapping, and manually in the user interface. The settings for configuring the creation of relationships in a configuration SNMP Dynamic Application are the same as the relationship settings for other Dynamic Application protocols.

What is Concurrent SNMP Collection?

To increase the scale for SNMP collection, you can enable Concurrent SNMP Collection. Concurrent SNMP Collection uses the standalone container called the SL1 SNMP Collector.

The SNMP Collector is an independent service that runs as a container on a Data Collector. When you enable Concurrent SNMP Collection, each Data Collector will contain four (4) SNMP Collector containers.

On each Data Collector, SL1 will restart each of the SNMP Collector containers periodically to ensure that each container remains healthy. When one SNMP Collector container is restarted, the other three SNMP Collector containers continue to handle the workload.

With Concurrent SNMP Collection, SNMP collection tasks can run in parallel. A single failed task will not prevent other tasks from completing.

Concurrent SNMP Collection provides:

  • Improved throughput for SNMP Dynamic Applications
  • Reduced use of resources on each Data Collector
  • More dependable collection from high-latency Devices

Concurrent SNMP Collection is not available in military unique deployments (MUD) or STIG-compliant deployments.

For more information, see Concurrent SNMP Collection.