eG Administration
 

SNMP Trap Configuration

Some environments may already be using network-monitoring systems such as HP OpenView, Tivoli NetView, etc., for monitoring their networks and systems. Administrators of such environments may desire that eG Enterprise's alarms be reported to their existing alarm consoles. By configuring the eG manager to send eG alarms as SNMP traps to one/more SNMP management consoles in an environment, you can enable eG Enterprise to support the integrated display and tracking of alarms from a single monitoring console.

The broad steps towards this integration are as follows:

  1. Configure the SNMP managers/trap receivers to which the eG manager needs to send SNMP traps
  2. Define the SNMP trap settings
  3. Configure the third-party SNMP managers to receive SNMP traps from the eG manager.

To configure the SNMP managers/trap receivers to which the eG manager needs to send SNMP traps, do the following:

  1. Login to the eG administrative interface as admin.

  2. Follow the Alerts -> SNMP -> Trap Receivers menu sequence to configure the trap destinations - i.e., the SNMP management consoles to which the traps are to be sent.

  3. To add a new SNMP management console, pick the Add option from the drop-down list in the SNMP MANAGER CONFIGURATION page.

  4. The IP address of the SNMP manager on which the SNMP manager application is executing has to be provided in the SNMP manager text box. The port number on which the SNMP manager is listening for traps from the eG manager is specified in the SNMP manager port field.

  5. By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPVERSION list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

  6. The SNMP community field appears only if the SNMPVERSION chosen is 1 or 2. Here, specify the community string that is used by an eG manager to report alarm information via SNMP to an SNMP manager.

  7. If the SNMPVERSION is 3, then you will have to specify the following parameters:

    • Engine ID: Specify the engine ID of the trap sender. This should be in hexadecimal - i.e., should begin with "0x".
    • User name: As SNMPv3 traps require authentication, specify a valid user name here.
    • Authentication password: Enter the password of the above-mentioned User name.
    • Confirm password: Confirm the Authentication Password by retyping it here.
    • Authentication type: Choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified User name and Authentication password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

      • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm
      • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm

    • Encrypt flag: By default, the eG manager does not encrypt SNMP traps. Accordingly, this parameter is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP traps sent by the eG manager are encrypted, select the Yes option.
    • Encrypt type: If the Encrypt flag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the Encrypt type list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

      • DES - Data Encryption Standard
      • AES - Advanced Encryption Standard

    • Encrypt password: Specify the encryption password here.

  8. Next, select one or more of the check boxes from the Alarm types section, to indicate your preference in terms of the priority of problems for which you wish to receive alerts via the SNMP manager console. For instance, if you choose Critical, you would receive critical priority alarms alone and not the other types. Normal alerts are generated by the eG system as and when a problem is corrected.

  9. Finally, click the Update button to add the new trap receiver.

  10. This way, multiple trap receivers can be added.

  11. To view the complete list of configured trap receivers, select the View option from the drop-down list in the SNMP MANAGER CONFIGURATION page. Doing so will, by default, display the complete details of all the SNMP trap receivers that have been configured in the environment.

  12. To zoom into the details of a particular receiver alone, pick the IP address of that receiver from the SNMP managers list that appears when you select the View option in the SNMP MANAGER CONFIGURATION page.

  13. If need be, you can even modify the configuration of any existing trap receiver. For this, select the Modify option from the drop-down list in the SNMP MANAGER CONFIGURATION page.

  14. Now, select the SNMP manager that is to be modified from the SNMP manager list box. Upon selecting, all the details related to the chosen SNMP manager will then be displayed. You can change any of the displayed details and click the Update button to save the changes.

  15. You can even delete any SNMP manager that is no longer operational in your environment, so that the eG manager does not send SNMP traps to it any longer. For this, select the Delete option from the drop-down list in the SNMP MANAGER CONFIGURATION page. This will invoke all the configured SNMP managers.

  16. Pick the manager(s) to be deleted from the list and click the Delete button to delete it.