2.6.1
How to configure polling and traps in NetMaster
NetMaster uses a polling mechanism towards all network elements to check if the NE is "alive" and to check if there are any alarms or configuration changes on the NE. The frequency of this polling should be configured depending on:
The available bandwidth for network management in your network The CPU load on the NetMaster server
The CPU load on the NEs
What response time is accepted for surveillance of the NEs
Q1 network elements.
Q1 is a connection oriented management protocol. NetMaster still needs to poll each Q1 element regularly in order to detect alarm status and configuration changes.
The intervals for polling Q1 NEs are configurable in NetMaster, the polling is controlled using the value Interval in seconds in the Q1 Polling preferences menu.
SNMP network elements
SNMP is a connectionless protocol. Even if notifications/traps are received from a SNMP NE, NetMaster still needs to poll the element for lost traps and to verify that connection is ok.
As a general rule, the polling interval should be:
lengthened (relative to the default) if DCN network bandwidth is limited or processing load is too high.
shortened if traps are not configured but faster response time is desired. The intervals for polling SNMP NEs are configurable in NetMaster. There are two different methods for configuring polling and traps for SNMP NEs in NetMaster, depending of NE type:
Polling using connection templates polling interval
1.
A connection template contains a list of attributes used when setting up connections for this NE type. Some of these attributes are user
configurable, including passwords. For some NE types the polling intervals are also available for configuration. This attribute can be defined in
Connection Polling field in the Connection Templates view. Because different connection templates can be configured for different sets of elements, polling can be configured differently for different parts of the network.
Polling using global SNMP Connectivity Polling interval
2.
The NE types that does not have an option to define a polling interval in the
Connection Template view, will use the value Interval in seconds in the SNMP Connectivity Polling preferences menu as global setting for SNMP Polling Interval.
For Evolution NEs, an extended polling mechanism is supported.
About SNMP trap handling: traps and polling
When NetMaster server is set up as trap receiver/listener in the SNMP agent on the NEs in your network, NetMaster will receive and process traps immediately as they appear on the NEs.
If NetMaster is not set up as trap receiver on some NEs, NetMaster will only check alarm status when polling these NEs. Whenever alarm status is updated due to polling, changes in alarm status will only be reported at the end of every polling interval.
Please note that port 162 must be open in the firewall on the NetMaster server, in order to receive traps.
2.6.2
How to configure Northbound Interface SNMP
Configuration of Northbound SNMP is a process that involves both configuration of the Northbound Interface SNMP Settings in the NetMaster Client as well as properties of the NetMaster Agent monitor service.
Configure Northbound SNMP Settings in the NetMaster Client: 1.
a. Create a new user and add this user to the predefined user group "SNMP Agent".
b. Open Northbound Interface SNMP Settings view by selecting from the menu View | Northbound Interface | SNMP Settings .
c. Press the Create a new High Level Manager button to start the Create High- Level Manager wizard.
d. Open the NetMaster Heartbeat preference menu to enable and configure NetMaster heartbeat trap settings.
Configure the NetMaster SNMP Agent: 2.
For Windows version, do the following:
a. Right-click the SNMP Agent Service icon in the Windows taskbar system tray and select Configuration.
b. Enter the user name and password for the SNMP Agent user that shall log on to the NetMaster server as defined in step 1a.
c. Enter the URL for the NetMaster Server to be monitored.
d. Stop the SNMP Agent service by right-clicking the NetMaster SNMP Agent Service icon and select Stop.
e. Start the SNMP Agent service by right-clicking the NetMaster SNMP Agent monitor icon and Start.
For Solaris version, do the following:
a. Setup username, password and server URL by editing the file: <install-dir>/Northbound SNMP/bin/conf/logininfo.properties
Example content of logininfo.properties (this is just an example, other values for username, password and serverurl are recommended): #NIF login props
#Tue May 18 14:19:24 CEST 2010 username=root
password=passwd
serverurl=jnp://localhost:1099
b. After the logininfo.properties has been set up properly, stop the Northbound SNMP Agent service by running:
svcadm disable ngNIFService
c. Then enable the Northbound SNMP Agent service by running: svcadm enable ngNIFService
d. If you want to check the status of the Northbound SNMP Agent service: svcs ngNIFService
For detailed information about NetMaster's northbound interface, see SNMP Agent.
2.6.2.1 Troubleshooting: how to solve port conflicts Identify port conflict
By default the NetMaster SNMP agent will try to bind to UDP port 161. If other SNMP agents shall run in parallel, the port for NetMaster agent must be changed in order to avoid port conflict.
To identify port conflicts with other processes, see: <install-dir>/Northbound SNMP/bin/logs/nif.log If this log contains entries like this:
2010-05-19 11:30:23,671 FATAL Bind Exception : Port 161 is in use. See NetMaster installation guide on how to change SNMP agent port.
2010-05-19 11:30:25,756 INFO NetMaster SNMP agent stopped it means that there is a port conflict.
Solve port conflict
There are two alternative methods to solve port conflicts:
Alternative 1- let NetMaster SNMP Agent use another port: Edit the file
1.
<install-dir>/Northbound SNMP/bin/conf/wrapper.conf .
Find the line containing 2.
Windows version:
wrapper.app.parameter.2=-p 161 Solaris version:
wrapper.app.parameter.3=161
Change the number to another (port) number. 3.
Alternative 2 - Stop the processes that occupy the needed port Please note that this procedure only applies to Solaris version.
See also how to identify the processes that occupy a port. (Standard for Solaris is that snmpdx and snmpd are running, using port 161)
To stop snmpdx: svcadm disable snmpdx
To stop snmpd: svcadm disable sma
For more details about stopping snmpd, see
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-3000/6mikgnghb?a=view How to identify a process that occupy a port on Solaris
One way to identify a process that occupy a port, is by looking in "/etc/services", e.g.:
Another way is to create a script 'port2pid' : pids=$(ps -e | sed 1d | awk '{print $1}')
port=$1
if [ "$port" == "" ]; then
echo "Missing port number parameter" exit 1
fi
for f in $pids do
/usr/proc/bin/pfiles $f 2>/dev/null | /usr/xpg4/bin/grep -wq "port: $port" if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
echo "---" echo "Port $port is being used by PID:"
ps -ef -o pid -o args | egrep -v "grep|pfiles" | grep $f fi
done
Then run the script : (set runnable: chmod +x port2pid ) ./port2pid 161