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SNMP Configuration Tasks

To configure the SNMP server:

  1. Enable the SNMP server.
    host1(config)#snmp-server
  2. Configure at least one authorized SNMP community (SNMPv1/v2c) or user (SNMPv3), which provides SNMP client access.
    host1(config)#snmp-server community boston view everything rw
    host1(config)#snmp-server user fred group private auth sha fred-password priv des password
  3. (Optional) Set the server parameters—contact name and server location.
    host1(config)#snmp-server contact Bob Smith
    host1(config)#snmp-server location 3rdfloor
  4. (Optional) Reconfigure the maximum SNMP packet size.
    host1(config)#snmp-server packetsize 1000
  5. (Optional) Configure memory warning parameters.
    host1(config)#memory warning 80 70
  6. (Optional) Configure the method the router uses to encode the ifDescr and ifName objects.
    host1(config)#snmp interfaces description-format common
  7. (Optional) Manage the interface sublayers (compress interfaces and control interface numbering).
    host1(config)#snmp-server interfaces compress atmAal5
    host1(config)#snmp-server interface compress-restriction ifadminstatusdown
    host1(config)#snmp interfaces rfc1213 55000 100000
  8. (Optional) Configure the dynamic group parameters.
    host1(config)#snmp-server group grp1authpriv usm priv read grp1read write grp1write notify grp1notify
  9. (Optional) Configure the dynamic view parameters.
    host1(config)#snmp-server view view1 1.3.6.1 included non-volatile

You can also set up SNMP traps and set up the router to collect bulk statistics. See Configuring Traps and Collecting Bulk Statistics.

Enabling SNMP

To enable the SNMP server, use the following command.

snmp-server

Configuring SNMP v1/v2c Community

For SNMPv1/v2c, access to an SNMP server by an SNMP client is governed by a proprietary SNMP community table that identifies those communities that have read-only, read-write, or administrative permission to the SNMP MIB stored on a particular server.

When an SNMP server receives a request, the server extracts the client’s IP address and the community name. The SNMP community table is searched for a matching community. If a match is found, its access list name is used to validate the IP address. If the access list name is null, the IP address is accepted. A nonmatching community or an invalid IP address results in an SNMP authentication error.

Each entry in the community table identifies:

Community Name

The community name acts as a password and is used to authenticate messages sent between an SNMP client and a router containing an SNMP server. The community name is sent in every packet between the client and the server.

Privilege Levels

SNMP has three privilege levels:

IP Access List

The IP access list identifies those IP addresses of SNMP clients permitted to use a given SNMP community.

snmp-server community

Configuring SNMPv3 Users

To configure SNMPv3 users, use the following command.

snmp-server user

Configuring SNMP Dynamic Groups and Views

With dynamic configurable views and groups you can fine-tune application features to a specific group, You can have 32 view entries (with distinct names) per virtual router. Because there is no limit to the number of entries within a distinct view name, you can configure complex views. You can also have 32 access entries (with distinct names) per virtual router. All views are on a per-virtual-router basis; although static views are on a per-virtual-router basis, they cannot be altered. If you modify a view, the system deletes the original entry and creates the new view. Therefore, if the new view fails, the original view is no longer available.

SNMP v3 configurations are allowed only at the maximum CLI privilege level (15).

snmp-server group

snmp-server view

Setting Server Parameters

Setting the server’s contact person and location provides helpful identifiers for the SNMP server. These identifiers are arbitrary and do not affect the server’s function, but they are useful to have.

snmp-server contact

Configuring SNMP Packet Size

The SNMP server must support a PDU with an upper limit of 484 bytes or greater. There is no need to coordinate the maximum packet size across the entire network. Many requests and responses tend to be smaller than the maximum value.

snmp-server packetsize

Configuring Memory Warning

You can set up the router to send memory warning messages when memory utilization reaches a specified value.

memory

Configuring Encoding Method

You can control how the router encodes the ifDescr and ifName objects in the SNMP agent’s interface table and in the bulkstats application.

There are two choices of encoding schemes: an E-series router proprietary method and a conventional industry method.

For example a PPP interface configured on top of an ATM interfaces is:

snmp-server interfaces description-format

Managing Interface Sublayers

You can set up the SNMP agent to compress the number of interface instances in the standard interface and stack tables. You can also control the interface numbering method used in the interface tables.

Compressing Interfaces

You can compress interfaces by interface type and by the administrative status of the interface. Compressing interfaces removes them from the ifTable, the ifStackTable, and the ipAddrTable, which increases table retrieval performance. For example, if you want statistics kept only on IP interfaces, then you can compress all interfaces except IP; subsequently, only IP interfaces will appear in the ifTable, the ifStackTable, and the ipAddrTable.

To compress interfaces that have an administrative status of down, use the snmp-server interfaces compress-restriction command.

To compress interfaces according to type, use the snmp-server interfaces compress command. To see the list of interfaces that you can remove, use the CLI help:

host1(config)#snmp-server interfaces compress ?
Atm Atm interface layer
Atm1483 Atm1483 interface layer
AtmAal5 AtmAal5 interface layer
. . .
  SonetVT SonetVT interface layer
VlanMajor VlanMajor interface layer
VlanSub VlanSub interface layer <cr>

If you enter the snmp-server interfaces compress command without keywords, the following interface types are removed from the interface tables:

snmp-server interfaces compress

snmp-server interfaces compress-restriction

Controlling Interface Numbering

Each interface in the ifTable is assigned an ifIndex number. RFC 1213 required that ifIndexes use contiguous integers and that the ifIndex be less than the value of the total number of interfaces (ifNumber). More recent RFCs—1573, 2232, and 2863—removed these restrictions to accommodate interface sublayers. The E-series router implementation of SNMP derives index numbers in 32-bit values that are unique on a given router. This numbering scheme can result in large gaps in the ifIndex.

Legacy network management software that was designed to work with RFC 1213 implementations expects contiguous integers and can fail when the software encounters large gaps in the ifIndex.

By default, the router uses a numbering scheme based on RFC 2863. For compatibility with RFC 1213, you can set up the router to use contiguous numbers and to limit the values of the ifIndex and the ifNumber.

snmp-server interfaces rfc1213

Monitoring Interface Tables

Use the following command to view the configuration of your interface tables.

show snmp group


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