Enabling the SNMP Background Services

Enabling the SNMP background services is an essential step for configuring your device for monitoring. SNMPv3 tends to be a bit more complicated to set up than SNMP v1 or v2. The following sections provide examples of how to set up SNMPv3 on two Linux distributions: RedHat/CentOS and Debian/Ubuntu. Depending on your distribution, additional adjustments may be necessary.

Note: To ensure you have sufficient permissions, you should become root or use the sudo command for the following configuration steps.

RedHat/CentOS

1. Install the RPM:

   yum install net-snmp

   You can optionally install snmpwalk and other tools that can be useful for troubleshooting (these are not required for LogicMonitor to monitor the device):

   yum install net-snmp-utils

2. Stop the snmpd service if it isn’t already stopped:

   service snmpd stop

3. Create an SNMPv3 user:

   net-snmp-create-v3-user -ro -A my_authpass -X my_privpass -a SHA -x AES myv3user

   Note that:

   • The full command usage is:

     net-snmp-create-v3-user [-ro] [-A authpass] [-X privpass] [-a MD5|SHA] [-x DES|AES] [username]

   • This command will automatically add information to the /var/lib/net-snmp/snmpd.conf and /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf configuration files.
4. Start the daemon, and set it to start on server boot.

   For RedHat/CentOS 7.0 you can use these systemctl commands:

   systemctl restart snmpd.service
   systemctl enable snmpd.service

   Otherwise, for older versions of RedHat/CentOS, you can use these commands:

   service snmpd start
   chkconfig snmpd on

Debian/Ubuntu

1. Install the package:

   apt-get install snmpd

2. Stop the snmpd service if it isn’t already stopped:

   service snmpd stop

3. Create an SNMPv3 user:

   net-snmp-config --create-v3-user -ro -A my_authpass -X my_privpass -a SHA -x AES myv3user

   Note that:

   • The full command usage is:

     net-snmp-config --create-v3-user [-ro] [-A authpass] [-X privpass] [-a MD5|SHA] [-x DES|AES] [username]

   • This command will automatically add information to the /var/lib/snmp/snmpd.conf and /usr/share/snmp/snmpd.conf configuration files.
4. Start the daemon, and set it to start on server boot:

   service snmpd start
   chkconfig snmpd on

Setting SNMPv3 Properties on Your Device

Any devices that use SNMPv3 must have a specific set of properties configured (within the LogicMonitor interface) in order for LogicMonitor to successfully communicate with them.

To set SNMPv3 properties on a device:

1. Review the SNMPv3 properties that are required in Defining SNMP Credentials and Properties. As discussed in this support article, the required properties vary depending upon whether you are communicating with authentication and privacy, referred to as authPriv security level, or authentication only, referred to as authNoPriv.
2. Select the device from the Device Tree and open its Info tab.

   

   Note: Optionally, you could set the properties from the device’s parent group or the root group (i.e. account) level, depending upon how broadly they apply to other devices. For more information on determining the hierarchical level at which to establish properties for a device, see Resource and Instance Properties.

3. Scroll through the list of custom properties to see if the properties already exist on the device:
   • If the SNMPv3 properties are present and accurate, you’re all set.
   • If the SNMPv3 properties require different values (e.g. they are inaccurate, or they were inherited from a parent group and need to be overridden), click the Manage button.
   • If the SNMPv3 properties aren’t present, click the Manage button.
4. From the Manage dialog that appears, scroll to the bottom Properties section to edit or add your SNMPv3 properties:
   • If the SNMPv3 properties are listed here (which indicates the properties were previously assigned directly to this device), place your cursor in the Value column for each property and override the existing value with a new value.
   • If the SNMPv3 properties are not listed here (which indicates they are either inherited from a parent group or were never present to begin with), click the + icon, enter the property name and value, and then click the Save button. Repeat for each SNMPv3 property. If you are overriding SNMPv3 properties inherited from a parent group or the root device folder, adding them here in this manner will serve to override them.

     

5. Click the Save button to save your changes and exit the Manage dialog.

Note: To verify that the correct credentials have been set, follow the instructions in Troubleshooting SNMP.