Note: The SNMP data source may not be licensed in your RTView installation.
The SNMP data adapter allows you to query data or receive traps from SNMP-capable applications or devices.
This section includes:
§ “System Requirements and Setup - SNMP” on page 637
§ “Attach to SNMP Data” on page 637
§ “Application Options - SNMP” on page 641
§ “RTView Deployment - SNMP” on page 643
§ “Command Line Options - SNMP” on page 643
System Requirements and Setup - SNMP
See the README_sysreq.txt file in your installation’s home directory for the current SNMP version(s) supported.
The SNMP data source requires no additional “Setup”.
Note: The SNMP data source may not be licensed in your RTView installation.
The Attach to SNMP Data dialog, which is used to access data in a local or remote SNMP agents, can be accessed via the Object Properties window.
Right-click on the Property Name from the Object Properties window and select Attach to Data>SNMP to display the Attach to SNMP Data dialog. Drop down menus for Connection Name and Object ID populate based on the information defined in the Application Options dialog.
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Field Name |
Description |
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Connection Name |
Select a Connection Name. Connections can be defined on the “SNMP Connections Tab” of the Application Options dialog. If the selected Data Mode is Receive Traps and a value of * is specified, then traps from all connections will be displayed. |
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Object ID |
Select an Object ID name. Names for Object IDs can be specified on the “SNMP Options Tab” of the Application Options dialog. If the selected Data Mode is Receive Traps and a value of * is specified, then traps from all Object IDs will be displayed. |
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Data Mode |
Get Data -- Get data from SNMP servers. Receive Traps -- Receive traps from SNMP applications. The SNMP data adapter is set up to index incoming traps by their Connection Name, so in general it will display only the last trap of any type from a given connection. Note: The Cache data source may be used to keep and display a history of received traps. |
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Update Mode |
Specify which mode to use to update connection: Poll Every Default Poll Interval -- Update connection each Default Poll Interval. See the “SNMP Options Tab” in the Application Options dialog for information on setting the Default Poll Interval. This is the default Update Mode. Every Poll Interval -- Update connection each Poll Interval. If this option is selected, you must specify a Poll Interval. Poll On Demand -- Update connection each time a display that uses this data attachment is opened and each time a substitution string that appears in the data attachment has changed. Poll Once (Static Data) -- Poll for data only once. Select if the data returned by this attribute or operation is static. |
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Poll Interval |
Specify the interval (in seconds) to update connection. This option is only available if the Update Mode selected is Every Poll Interval. Note: Because the Poll Interval is superseded by the General Update Period, the amount of time elapsed between updates may be longer than the value entered. For example, if the General Update Period is 2 seconds and the Poll Interval is 5 seconds, the connection will be updated every six seconds. See “General Tab” for more information. |
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Data Server |
Select to read data through your configured Data Server and not directly from the SNMP data source. |
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Default - Select the default Data Server you configured in the Application Options>“Data Server Tab”. |
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None - Bypass data being redirected through the specified data server(s) for this attachment and instead attach directly to the data source. |
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Named Data Servers - Select a Named Data Server that you configured in the Application Options>“Data Server Tab”. |
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Multi-Server Attachment - To configure multiple data servers, enter a semicolon (;) delimited list containing two or more Named Data Servers (e.g. ds101;ds102). Each name specified must correspond with a Named Data Server that you configured in the Application Options>“Data Server Tab”. It is also possible to specify __default and __none (e.g. __default;ds101;ds102). Note: The values __default and __none begin with two underscore characters. |
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Alternatively, a value of * can be entered to specify all data servers, including __default and __none. When multiple data servers are specified, the data attachment will be directed to each data server in the list. For tabular data attachments, a column named DataServerName will be added as the first column of the table and contain the name of the server from which the data was received. |
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A multi-server attachment will receive data independently from each of the servers it specifies, so in most cases it will be necessary to combine the tables received into a single table. This can be accomplished in two ways: |
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1. The multi-server attachment can be applied to a local cache that has the DataServerName column specified as an index column. The current table of that cache will contain the combination of the tables received from all servers. Note: It may also be necessary to configure cache row expiration settings to remove defunct rows. |
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2. The multi-server attachment can be applied as the Table argument of the RTView function named Combine Multi-Server Tables. See “Tabular Functions” for more information. |
When an object property is attached to data, the Property Name and Value in the Object Properties window will be displayed in green. This indicates that editing this value from the Object Properties window is no longer possible. Once a property has been attached to data, it receives continuous updates. To remove the data attachment, and resume editing capability in the Object Properties window, right-click on the Property Name and select Detach from Data. You will recognize that an object property has been detached from the data source when the Property Name and Value are no longer green.
Fields in the dialog change colors according to the information entered. These colors indicate whether or not information is valid.
The following describes the significance of the Attach to SNMP Data validation colors:
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Red |
Invalid state |
Entry is not valid. |
|
White |
Valid state |
Entry is valid. |
The Substitutions feature allows you to build open-ended displays in which data attachments depend on values defined at the time the display is run. A generic name such as $conn is used instead of a specific SNMP connection. Later when the display is running, this generic value is defined by the actual name of a connection. In this way, a single display can be reused to show data from a number of different sources. For more information on creating displays using substitution values, see “Substitutions”.
If the value RTViewDS is selected in the Command String menu, the Object ID menu will list two internal tables (Data or Traps) that contain metrics on SNMP requests completed and traps received per connection. The columns in these tables are as follows:
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RTViewDs |
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|---|---|---|
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Data |
Column |
Description |
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Total Requests |
Total number of data requests |
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Failed Requests |
Total number of failed data requests |
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Last Time |
Time elapsed (in milliseconds) between last request and response. |
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Average Time |
Average time elapsed (in milliseconds) between all requests and responses. |
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Last Error |
Most recent error message, if any. |
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Traps |
Column |
Description |
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Traps Received |
Number of traps received. |
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Last Timestamp |
Date of last timestamp. |
The following describes the Attach to SNMP Data dialog commands:
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Command |
Description |
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OK |
Applies values and closes the dialog. |
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Apply |
Applies values without closing the dialog. |
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Reset |
Resets all fields to last values applied. |
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Clear |
Clears all fields. Detaches object from data source (once Apply or OK is selected). |
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Cancel |
Closes the dialog with last values applied. |
Select Tools>Options in the Display Builder to access the Application Options dialog.
Options specified on SNMP tabs can be saved in an initialization file (SNMPOPTIONS.ini). On startup, the initialization file is read by the Display Builder, Display Viewer, Display Server, Data Server, and Historian to set initial values. If no directory has been specified for your initialization files and SNMPOPTIONS.ini is not found in the directory where you started the application, then RTView will search under lib in your installation directory. See “RTV_JAVAOPTS” for more information.
Note: Options specified using command line arguments will override values set in initialization files. See “Command Line Options - SNMP” for more information.
There are two Application Options tabs for SNMP: “SNMP Connections Tab” and “SNMP Options Tab”.
This tab allows you to add or remove connections and set your default connection.
When you add a SNMP connection to the list it will be highlighted in yellow indicating that RTView has not connected to it. To attempt to connect, click OK, Apply, or Save. If the background remains yellow, then RTView was unable make a connection. Check that your connection was setup correctly and that the server is running.
Note: Regardless of which tab you are currently working from in the Application Options dialog, each time you click OK, Apply, or Save, RTView will attempt to connect to all unconnected connections.
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Field Name |
Description |
|
Default Connection |
Select a default Connection from the drop down list. |
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Add Connection |
Click to open the Add Connection dialog and define a connection. To edit an existing connection, double-click on a name from the Connections list. Connections that are updating objects in a current display cannot be renamed. 
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Connection Name - Enter unique name for this Connection. This name will appear in the Connection Name drop down menu of the Attach to SNMP Data dialog. |
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Hostname or IP address -- Name or IP address of SNMP server. |
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Data Port - Port used to receive SNMP data. |
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Trap Port - Port used to receive SNMP traps. |
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SNMP Version - Default is v2c. |
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Community - Default is public. |
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Remove Connection |
Select a name from list and click Remove Connection to delete. |
The SNMP Options tab allows you to specify names for numeric OID values and set the Default Poll Interval. In the example below, names have been given to some common OID values from LAN Manager MIB II (RFC 1213).
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Name |
Description |
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OID Names |
Enter names for numeric OID values. Named OID values will appear in the Object ID drop down menu of the Attach to SNMP Data dialog. |
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Default Poll Interval |
Enter the time in seconds to control how often the connection is updated or operations in data attachments are executed if no Poll Interval is specified in the Attach to SNMP Data dialog. Default is 0, which updates connections and operations according to the General Update Period specified in Application Options on the “General Tab”. Note: Because the Default Poll Interval is superseded by the General Update Period, the amount of time elapsed between updates may be longer than the value entered. For example, if the General Update Period is 2 seconds and the Default Poll Interval is 5 seconds, the connection will be updated every 6 seconds. |
This section contains details about the deployment process that are specific to your data source. Please go to the Deployment section of this documentation for instructions on how to implement your RTView deployment option. Return to this page whenever you are instructed to refer to deployment information that is specific to your data source.
Data Source Configuration File
RTView saves general application settings as well as data source configuration options in initialization files that are read at startup. If no directory has been specified for your initialization files and files are not found in the directory where you started the application, then RTView will search under lib in your installation directory. See “Application Options”, “Application Options - SNMP”, and “RTV_JAVAOPTS” for more information.
Include the following initialization file when you deploy RTView with this data source:
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File Name |
Description |
|
SNMPOPTIONS.ini |
Contains general options as well as data source options for SNMP. |
Note: Options specified using command line and applet parameters override values set in these initialization files.
In addition to General Options, the following command line arguments are enabled with the SNMP data source when you run RTView applications from a Windows Command Prompt or UNIX terminal window. See “Command Line Options: Display Builder and Display Viewer” for more information.
Note: If a command line argument contains a space or a semicolon, then the entire argument must be enclosed in quotes (e.g.: "-sub:$data:my Data").
|
Name |
Description |
|
-snmptrace |
Set to 1 to enable tracing. Default is 0 and tracing is disabled. Example: -snmptrace:1 |