Operating the SNMP Agent

The SDX SNMP agent can act as a master agent or as a subagent to a Sun Solstice Enterprise Master Agent (Solstice agent) that is running on the same host. The SDX SNMP agent is always available as a master agent for SNMP requests for SDX MIB objects on its own port (default is 8030).

If the Solstice agent is present on the host where you install the SNMP agent—the SAE host—then the SNMP agent automatically runs as a subagent to the Solstice agent. This means that the Solstice agent redirects any requests that it receives for SDX MIB objects on its port (default is 161) to the SNMP agent's port (default is 8030). You can modify this behavior in the local configuration tool for the SNMP agent.

The Solstice agent automatically starts the SNMP agent. However, it cannot start the SNMP agent until the SNMP agent has been configured for the first time. The Solstice agent will periodically attempt to start the SNMP agent, but until the SNMP agent is configured, this will result only in messages that the SNMP agent needs configuration. Once the SNMP agent has been started, the Solstice agent restarts the SNMP agent if the SNMP agent is stopped other than manually; for example, by a host reboot or process failure.

If the Solstice agent is not present on the host, then you must manually start the SNMP agent. You must configure the SNMP agent before you start it manually. If you attempt to manually start the SNMP agent before it has been configured, the software displays a message that the agent has not been configured and cannot start.

The SNMP agent will automatically restart in the event of a host reboot or process failure that stops the agent. If you stop the SNMP agent manually, the agent is automatically locked to prevent the Solstice agent from restarting it. This feature enables you to stop the SNMP agent for configuration without the interference of the Solstice agent.

Starting the SDX SNMP Agent

Before you start the SDX SNMP agent, you must first do the following:

1. Start the installed directory server as described in Chapter 6, Operating the Directory Server.
2. Configure the SDX SNMP agent as described in Configuring the SNMP Agent.

If the Solstice agent is not installed, then you must manually start the SDX SNMP agent the first time it runs. Thereafter, the agent automatically restarts.

To start the SNMP agent:

1. On the SNMP agent host, log in as root or as an authorized nonroot admin user.
2. Start the SNMP agent from its installation directory.

/opt/UMC/agent/etc/smagent start

The system responds with a start message. If the SNMP agent is already running, the system responds with a warning message indicating that fact.

NOTE: The SNMP agent may log error messages if the agent receives SNMP requests while in the process of starting. Check the SNMP agent information log to see if SNMP agent was in the process of starting up at the time the errors were logged. If so, you may safely ignore the error messages.

Stopping the SDX SNMP Agent

If you want to reconfigure the SDX SNMP agent, you must manually stop it. Stopping the SNMP agent locks the agent so that the Solstice agent cannot automatically restart it.

To stop the SNMP agent:

1. On the SNMP agent host, log in as root or as an authorized nonroot admin user.
2. Stop the SNMP agent from its installation directory.

/opt/UMC/agent/etc/smagent stop

The system responds with a stop message. If the SNMP agent is not running when you issue the command, the software responds with a warning message indicating that fact.

Monitoring the SDX SNMP Agent

To display the SDX SNMP agent status:

1. On the SNMP agent host, log in as root or as an authorized nonroot admin user.
2. Display the status from the SNMP agent installation directory.

/opt/UMC/agent/etc/smagent status

The system responds with a status message.

Cleaning SNMP Agent Logs and Process Files

You can clean the log files for the SNMP agent and delete the persistent data that the agent writes to files or devices via the stdout and stderr options. See SDX Components Guide, Vol. 1, Chapter 12, Configuring Logging for more information.

Locking the SDX SNMP Agent Against Solaris Control

Manually stopping the SDX SNMP agent locks it from the control of the Solstice agent. You can also manually lock the SNMP agent, regardless of its running state.

To lock the SNMP agent:

1. On the SNMP agent host, log in as root or as an authorized nonroot admin user.
2. Lock the SNMP agent.

/opt/UMC/agent/etc/smagent lock

Unlocking the SDX SNMP Agent

You must unlock the SDX SNMP agent to return it to the control of the Solstice agent.

To unlock the SNMP agent:

1. On the SNMP agent host, log in as root or as an authorized nonroot admin user.
2. Unlock the SNMP agent.

/opt/UMC/agent/etc/smagent unlock

If the Solstice agent is running, it starts the SNMP agent as a subagent as soon as it detects that the agent is unlocked and can relay MIB requests to the subagent.

Alternatively, you can issue the smagent start command to unlock and start the agent. However, in this case, if the Solstice agent is present it will not be able to read the Juniper Networks MIBs, because it does not relay requests to subagents that it did not start itself.

Commands for the Solstice Agent

Control of the Solstice agent can vary depending on how you have set it up. See the UNIX man pages for the following commands:

• snmpdx - For information about the Solstice agent.
• init.d - For information about how processes are started automatically when the host machine boots.

Reading the SNMP Agent MIBs

The Sun Solstice Enterprise master agent does not support SNMP version 2. For example, if you attempt to read the SNMP agent MIBs in a MIB browser via port 161 and with SNMPv2 settings, the reading fails. You can read the MIBs successfully with SNMPv2 settings if the SNMP agent is set as the master agent.