SNMP devices

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: snmp

Overview

This SNMP collector discovers and gathers statistics for network interfaces on SNMP-enabled devices:

• Traffic
• Packets (unicast, multicast, broadcast)
• Errors
• Discards
• Administrative and operational status

Additionally, it collects overall device uptime.

It is compatible with all SNMP versions (v1, v2c, and v3) and uses the gosnmp package.

For advanced users:

• You can manually specify custom OIDs (Object Identifiers) to retrieve specific data points beyond the default metrics.
• However, defining custom charts with dimensions for these OIDs requires manual configuration.

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn’t support auto-detection.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

Device limitations: Many SNMP switches and routers have limited processing power. They might not be able to report data as frequently as desired. You can monitor response times using go.d.plugin in debug mode to identify potential bottlenecks.

Concurrent access: If multiple collectors or tools access the same SNMP device simultaneously, data points might be skipped. This is a limitation of the device itself, not this collector. To mitigate this, consider increasing the collection interval (update_every) to reduce the frequency of requests.

Setup

Prerequisites

No action required.

Configuration

File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/snmp.conf.

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/snmp.conf

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every, autodetection_retry.

user.auth_proto

The security of an SNMPv3 message as per RFC 3414 (user.level):

user.name

The digest algorithm for SNMPv3 messages that require authentication (user.auth_proto):

user.priv_proto

The encryption algorithm for SNMPv3 messages that require privacy (user.priv_proto):

Examples

SNMPv1/2

In this example:

• the SNMP device is 192.0.2.1.
• the SNMP version is 2.
• the SNMP community is public.
• we will update the values every 10 seconds.

jobs:
  - name: switch
    update_every: 10
    hostname: 192.0.2.1
    community: public
    options:
      version: 2

SNMPv3

To use SNMPv3:

• use user instead of community.
• set options.version to 3.

jobs:
  - name: switch
    update_every: 10
    hostname: 192.0.2.1
    options:
      version: 3
    user:
      name: username
      level: authPriv
      auth_proto: sha256
      auth_key: auth_protocol_passphrase
      priv_proto: aes256
      priv_key: priv_protocol_passphrase

Custom OIDs

In this example:

• the SNMP device is 192.0.2.1.
• the SNMP version is 2.
• the SNMP community is public.
• we will update the values every 10 seconds.

jobs:
  - name: switch
    update_every: 10
    hostname: 192.0.2.1
    community: public
    options:
      version: 2
    charts:
      - id: "bandwidth_port1"
        title: "Switch Bandwidth for port 1"
        units: "kilobits/s"
        type: "area"
        family: "ports"
        dimensions:
          - name: "in"
            oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.10.1"
            algorithm: "incremental"
            multiplier: 8
            divisor: 1000
          - name: "out"
            oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.16.1"
            multiplier: -8
            divisor: 1000
      - id: "bandwidth_port2"
        title: "Switch Bandwidth for port 2"
        units: "kilobits/s"
        type: "area"
        family: "ports"
        dimensions:
          - name: "in"
            oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.10.2"
            algorithm: "incremental"
            multiplier: 8
            divisor: 1000
          - name: "out"
            oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.16.2"
            multiplier: -8
            divisor: 1000

Custom OIDs with multiply range

If you need to define many charts using incremental OIDs, you can use the charts.multiply_range option.

This is like the SNMPv1/2 example, but the option will multiply the current chart from 1 to 24 inclusive, producing 24 charts in total for the 24 ports of the switch 192.0.2.1.

Each of the 24 new charts will have its id (1-24) appended at:

• its chart unique id, i.e. bandwidth_port_1 to bandwidth_port_24.
• its title, i.e. Switch Bandwidth for port 1 to Switch Bandwidth for port 24.
• its oid (for all dimensions), i.e. dimension in will be 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.10.1 to 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.10.24.
• its priority will be incremented for each chart so that the charts will appear on the dashboard in this order.

jobs:
  - name: switch
    update_every: 10
    hostname: "192.0.2.1"
    community: public
    options:
      version: 2
    charts:
      - id: "bandwidth_port"
        title: "Switch Bandwidth for port"
        units: "kilobits/s"
        type: "area"
        family: "ports"
        multiply_range: [1, 24]
        dimensions:
          - name: "in"
            oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.10"
            algorithm: "incremental"
            multiplier: 8
            divisor: 1000
          - name: "out"
            oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.16"
            multiplier: -8
            divisor: 1000

Multiple devices with a common configuration

YAML supports anchors. The & defines and names an anchor, and the * uses it. <<: *anchor means, inject the anchor, then extend. We can use anchors to share the common configuration for multiple devices.

The following example:

• adds an anchor to the first job.
• injects (copies) the first job configuration to the second and updates name and hostname parameters.
• injects (copies) the first job configuration to the third and updates name and hostname parameters.

jobs:
  - &anchor
    name: switch
    update_every: 10
    hostname: "192.0.2.1"
    community: public
    options:
      version: 2
    charts:
      - id: "bandwidth_port1"
        title: "Switch Bandwidth for port 1"
        units: "kilobits/s"
        type: "area"
        family: "ports"
        dimensions:
          - name: "in"
            oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.10.1"
            algorithm: "incremental"
            multiplier: 8
            divisor: 1000
          - name: "out"
            oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.16.1"
            multiplier: -8
            divisor: 1000
  - <<: *anchor
    name: switch2
    hostname: "192.0.2.2"
  - <<: *anchor
    name: switch3
    hostname: "192.0.2.3"

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

The metrics that will be collected are defined in the configuration file.

Per snmp device

These metrics refer to the SNMP device.

Labels:

Metrics:

Per network interface

Network interfaces of the SNMP device being monitored. These metrics refer to each interface.

Labels:

Metrics:

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the snmp collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn’t working.

• Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that’s not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

  cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
  

• Switch to the netdata user.

  sudo -u netdata -s
  

• Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m snmp
  

Getting Logs

If you’re encountering problems with the snmp collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

• Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
• Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep snmp

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector’s name:

grep snmp /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named “netdata” (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep snmp