Configuring SNMP Monitoring

Overview of Byte25 SNMP Polling Architecture

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a long standing and well established protocol first released in the 1988. However SNMP still remains an important protocol for gathering performance metrics from network devices, in particular for monitoring switch and router interfaces.

The Byte25 SNMP implementation uses a distributed polling architecture supporting SNMP Versions 1, 2 and 3. One of the challenges of implementing SNMP for a SaaS based platform such as Byte25 is the ability to configure and control on-site polling appliances from a cloud server.

Byte25 relies on appliances (either physical or virtual) installed on customer sites to collect performance data via SNMP polling of locally connected network swicthes and routers. The performance data is then sent back to the Byte25 cloud server for analysis and reporting. Each onsite Byte25 appliance is controlled from the central Byte25 cloud dashboard.

As described in detail below, there are 3 steps to configuring Byte25 Appliances for SNMP polling:

1. Establish connection between Byte25 Cloud Dashboard and onsite Byte25 Appliance
2. Collect and configure SNMP metrics for collection
3. Wait for SNMP data to be sent from Byte25 Appliance to Cloud Dashboard.

1. Establish Connection Between Byte25 Dashboard and On-site Appliance

In order to configure  SNMP mointoring, a connection needs to be establshed between the Byte25 Cloud Dashboard and the on-site Byte25 Applinace. As the appliance is most likely behind a firewall, it is not possible for the cloud dashboard to establish an inbound connection to the appliance. Instead, an outbound connection must be established from the appliance to the cloud dashboard.

To intiate the outbound connection from the apliance to the cloud dashboard, navigate to the Admin Menu->Configure Sites/Sources window and select the SNMP Device Config tab. Press the Establish Appliance Connection button and select the relevant apliance you need to configure SNMP monitoring.

The status should change from a red icon saying No Pending Appliance Connections. to a blue icon saying Connection to appliance xxxxxxxxx(a.b.d.c.) Pending …. At the next polling cycle, this icon should change to green saying Connection Established.

Note that the connection may take up to 5 minutes to established as the appliances poll the cloud dashboard every 5 minutes.

Once the connection is established, enter the SNMP details of the SNMP device (typically a swiotch or router) for which you want to collect performance metrics into the form and hit Get Device Config. The relevant interface/system configuration fro mthe SNMP device to be monitored should return in the window below.

2. Collect and Configure SNMP Metrics for Collection

If the cloud dashboard <-> appliance connection is established and the SNMP credentials have been entered correctly, you will see the SNMP device configuration displayed in the window below.

SNMP monitoing from multiple interfaces can be configured from thuis screen, select the relevant options for each interfa eto be monitored:

• Monitoring Type, the speicifc metrics to be collected for the interface
• Bandwidth, the bandwitdh for this interface. This parameter is used to calculate percent throughput alarms. If no value is specified, the default bandwidth for the interfae type is used.
• Label, a user defined label for the interface. If no value is specified, the default system interface name is used.

Once done, select Submit to save your changes. The new configuration will be displayed in the left hand panel and pushed to the connected apliance appliance.

3. Wait for SNMP Data to Export to Cloud Dashboard

Once configured, teh applaince will start SNMP polling for the configured device. SNMP data is exported to the cloud dasboard every 5 minutes.

Note that it may take up to 10 minutes for new SNMP device data to be available on the cloud dashboard.

SNMP data is available from a new sub-tab on the Performance Overview dashboard. The SNMP Overview Dashboard provides an ‘at-a-glance’ summary of all polled SNMP device interfaces performance, availability and alarms.

Each entry in the SNMP Overview Dashboard is clickable to display detailled interface performance metrics. The entry for the newly configured SNMP device/interface will be shown in this list. Initially the device will be inactive, but will change to active once SNMP data is received from the appliance,

If you encounter any issues with installation and configuration, please contact Byte25 support at support@byte25.com. We are always happy to assist and organise a remote desktopor teams session to help you get up and running with a minum of fuss.