SNMP Improvements
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 12:04 pm
We use MRTG to graph our routers and switches. cfgmaker (part of MRTG, it walks through a device and creates a config to map all interfaces) can be told to use the Description, Name, IP, or MAC Address to describe the interface. Since we give our interfaces useful descriptions, indicating not just what port this is but what it is connected to, this makes it easy to know what you're looking at when looking at the MRTG graphs.
On Netonix, telling cfgmaker to use the description results in only getting the port number. This is what that Netonix reports as the Description, Name, IP, and MAC address for each port:
### Interface 1 >> Descr: 'Port-1' | Name: 'Port 1' | Ip: 'No Ip' | Eth: 'No Ethernet Id' ###
### Interface 2 >> Descr: 'Port-2' | Name: 'Port 2' | Ip: 'No Ip' | Eth: 'No Ethernet Id' ###
### Interface 3 >> Descr: 'Port-3' | Name: 'Port 3' | Ip: 'No Ip' | Eth: 'No Ethernet Id' ###
...
On the Ports tab, there is a Description field where we enter useful descriptions that tell us what is plugged in here. It would be most helpful if Netonix reported the description entered here as the SNMP Description because that would be visible when we look at our MRTG graphs. It would also be nice if the Description field could be lengthened a bit. I think our Ciscos will take up to 250 characters. I don't use all that, but the current limit in Netonix is quite small. The larger the field, the more detailed and concise the description we can give.
Here's a screenshot of the resulting output from a Cisco, which exposes the actual Description given:
Here's a screenshot of the resulting output from a Netonix, which just says the Port # and not the Description given:
This is the field I am hoping you can expand (make longer, perhaps 100 or 250 characters) and expose as the Description via SNMP:
Thank you for your consideration.
Dave
On Netonix, telling cfgmaker to use the description results in only getting the port number. This is what that Netonix reports as the Description, Name, IP, and MAC address for each port:
### Interface 1 >> Descr: 'Port-1' | Name: 'Port 1' | Ip: 'No Ip' | Eth: 'No Ethernet Id' ###
### Interface 2 >> Descr: 'Port-2' | Name: 'Port 2' | Ip: 'No Ip' | Eth: 'No Ethernet Id' ###
### Interface 3 >> Descr: 'Port-3' | Name: 'Port 3' | Ip: 'No Ip' | Eth: 'No Ethernet Id' ###
...
On the Ports tab, there is a Description field where we enter useful descriptions that tell us what is plugged in here. It would be most helpful if Netonix reported the description entered here as the SNMP Description because that would be visible when we look at our MRTG graphs. It would also be nice if the Description field could be lengthened a bit. I think our Ciscos will take up to 250 characters. I don't use all that, but the current limit in Netonix is quite small. The larger the field, the more detailed and concise the description we can give.
Here's a screenshot of the resulting output from a Cisco, which exposes the actual Description given:
- Cisco output with useful Description
Here's a screenshot of the resulting output from a Netonix, which just says the Port # and not the Description given:
- Netonix output only giving Port #
This is the field I am hoping you can expand (make longer, perhaps 100 or 250 characters) and expose as the Description via SNMP:
Thank you for your consideration.
Dave