Getting Started

SNMPc 7.2
October, 2010

Castle Rock
Computing
Castle Rock Computing
12930 Saratoga Ave
Saratoga, CA 95070
USA

Phone: 408-366-6540
FAX: 408-252-2379
Email: [email protected]
WEB: www.castlerock.com

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a
commitment by Castle Rock Computing. Castle Rock Computing assumes no liability for any errors
that may appear in this document.

The software described in this document is furnished under a license and may be used or copied only in
accordance with the terms of such license. Copyright © 1989-2009 by Castle Rock Computing. All
rights reserved.

SNMPc, SNMPc WorkGroup and SNMPc Enterprise are trademarks of Castle Rock Computing.
Microsoft, MS-DOS, Microsoft Excel, Windows, Windows Vista, Windows 98, Windows ME,
Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
UNIX is a trademark of AT&T.
Pentium is a trademark of Intel Corp.
Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Air Messenger Pro is a trademark of Internet Software Solutions.

Printed in the United States of America

Contents
Contents ....................................................................................................................... i
Using this Document................................................................................................... 1
Getting Technical Support and Updates...................................................................... 1
Architecture Overview................................................................................................ 2
SNMPc Product Options............................................................................................. 3
System Requirements.................................................................................................. 4
Device Access Modes ................................................................................................. 4
Installing the SNMPc Server and Local Console........................................................ 5
Installing the Air Messenger Pro Paging Software ..................................................... 5
Starting the SNMPc Server and Local Console .......................................................... 6
Using Console Elements ............................................................................................. 7
Working with the Map Database............................................................................... 10
Viewing Device Mib Data ........................................................................................ 18
Saving Long Term Statistics ..................................................................................... 21
Setting Threshold Alarms ......................................................................................... 24
Polling Application Services..................................................................................... 26
Emailing or Paging the Administrator on an Event .................................................. 28
Emailing or Paging Multiple Users........................................................................... 32
Troubleshooting Network Discovery ........................................................................ 33
Using a Remote Console........................................................................................... 37
Using the JAVA Console.......................................................................................... 38
Installing Remote Polling Agents ............................................................................. 40
Adding a Redundant Backup Server ......................................................................... 41
Other SNMPc Features ............................................................................................. 42
How to Buy SNMPc ................................................................................................. 42
Appendix A – Event Message/Exec Parameters ....................................................... 43

i
Using this Document
This document provides a tutorial description of the most commonly used SNMPc features. It is not an
exhaustive reference document and most areas are not completely described. But the examples provide
insight into SNMPc usage and should be enough to get started with SNMPc.

For a complete description of SNMPc, please use the Help/Help Topics menu to show the Online Help
system. The Online Help system includes a high level Table of Contents, as well as an Index and
Keyword Search mechanism. You can also press the F1 key at any time to show Context Sensitive
Help for a currently displayed dialog or for the most recently activated console window.

As of release 5.0.10 this Getting Started manual is the only printed documentation available with
SNMPc. In the interests of saving resources and streamlining our revision procedures, we have forgone
the printing of the Online Help system as a manual.

This document is available in Adobe PDF format at the Products page of www.castlerock.com and in
the SNMPc Help/Getting Started menu.

This document and the SNMPc Help system assume that you have a good working knowledge of
the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). We recommend that you read and understand
one of the many available books that describe SNMP before working with SNMPc.

Getting Technical Support and Updates

SNMPc includes free technical support via email and web downloadable updates for a period of three
months from purchase. An unconditional full refund is also available during this period. With
technical support, you can get help when installing or using SNMPc. We do not provide telephone
support or training.

For continued technical support and downloadable updates you must purchase an Extended Software
Updates license on a yearly basis. Please go to the Sales page at www.castlerock.com for more
information.

For technical support, please go to the Support page at www.castlerock.com. Press “Click Here to
Create a New Account” to register at our HelpDesk system.

After creating your HelpDesk account, log on and click the “Support Tickets” link. Then use the Post
link in the upper right of the page to add a new support ticket.

Once you have created a HelpDesk account you can also send email to [email protected].
Architecture Overview
SNMPc is a general-purpose Distributed Network Manager offering the following benefits over a
standalone product:

• By using Polling and Server components that run on multiple computers, SNMPc can be scaled to
manage very large networks.
• By using multiple Remote Consoles, SNMPc encourages sharing of management information by
many people.
• SNMPc is cost-effective because a collection of components costs less than an equivalent number
of standalone managers.

SNMPc uses the popular SNMP management protocol to poll and configure devices, workstations and
servers over IP networks. Along with all the features expected in any SNMP management station,
SNMPc also includes the following advanced features:

• Secure SNMP Version 3 support

• Scaleable to 25,000 managed devices.
• Supports a manager-of-managers architecture
• Redundant Backup Server support
• Remote Consoles and JAVA Web access.
• Server and Polling Agents can run as Windows Services.
• Event forwarding and email/pager notifications.
• Audit events for user actions (login/editing)
• Application Service (TCP) polling
• Scheduled WEB and Printed Trend Reports
• Custom MIB Tables with Derived MIB Expressions.
• RMON-I user interface application.
• GUI Device Support development tools.
• Application programming interfaces with samples.

2
SNMPc Product Options
SNMPc includes the two product options described below.

SNMPc Enterprise Edition

Use this edition for a scalable multi-user environment. Enterprise Edition includes the SNMPc Server
license, unlimited JAVA Console license, unlimited Remote Windows Console license, and a ten
system Remote Polling Agent license.

Each SNMPc server can operate with a maximum of ten remote polling agents. For larger networks
you can connect multiple servers together in a Manager of Managers architecture.

SNMPc Workgroup Edition

This is a single user version for managing small to medium sized networks. All components run on a
single system and support one user. The map database size is limited to 1000 objects. The Workgroup
Edition does not include advanced reporting functions.

The following table shows the differences between the three product options:

FEATURE ENTERPRISE WORKGROUP

Win32 Application Yes Yes
Device Limit 25,000 1000
Distributed Scalable Architecture Yes
Backup Server Support Yes
Runs as Windows Services Yes Yes
Remote Poller Included Yes (10)
Remote Consoles Included Yes
JAVA Console Included Yes
Scheduled WEB Trend Reports Yes
Scheduled Printed Trend Reports Yes
Automatic ODBC Export Yes

3
System Requirements
The following table lists the minimum recommended system requirements.

PARAMETER ENTERPRISE WORKGROUP

CPU Pentium III 1Ghz Pentium II 600 MHz
Memory 2 GB 512 MB
Disk Free 10 GB 5 GB
Screen 800 X 600 800 X 600
Mouse Required Yes Yes
Windows Operating System Vista/XP/2K8/2K3/2K/NT4.0+ Vista/XP/2K8/2K3/2K/NT4.0+

Device Access Modes

SNMPc supports various device access modes including TCP only, ICMP (Ping), SNMP V1, SNMP
V2c and SNMP V3. Each mode is briefly described below.

None (TCP Only)

Null access is used for polling TCP services only, where ICMP/SNMP access is restricted by a firewall.

ICMP (Ping)
ICMP (Ping) mode is used for devices that do not support SNMP but can still be Pinged to see if they
are responding. This may include servers and workstations.

SNMP V1 and V2c

SNMP V1 and SNMP V2c are very similar SNMP Agent protocols that are used by most currently
deployed network devices. Any device that supports V2c will generally also support V1. SNMPc uses
automatic intelligence to switch from one mode to the other as needed. So in most cases you will
always select SNMP V1 as the device access mode for any SNMP device.

Since SNMP V1 and V2c are the most common and simplest SNMP protocols, this guide will only
show you how to use these protocols.

SNMP V3
SNMP V3 is a secure SNMP Agent protocol that supports authentication and privacy (encryption). The
use of SNMP V3 is considered an advanced topic. As such, this guide does not describe V3 in any
detail. For more information about using V3, please use the Help/Help Topics menu and search for
Setting Device Access Modes in the Index.

4
Installing the SNMPc Server and Local Console

• Log on to Windows with Administrator

permission.
• Insert the SNMPc CDROM into the CDROM
drive.
• Use the Windows Start/Run menu and enter
d:\setup, where d: is the CDROM drive.
• The install program will show a dialog with three
buttons for the installable SNMPc options. On
your main SNMPc system, you only need to
install the Server component, as this includes a
local console and polling agent.
• Press the Server button.
• You will be prompted for the installation
directory next, and then the Discovery Seed
dialog will be displayed. You must enter valid
information at this dialog or network discovery
will not work properly.
• Enter the IP Address of an SNMP Seed Device on
your network, preferably a router.
• Enter the Subnet mask for the Seed Device.
• Enter the SNMP V1 Read Community for the
seed device.
• The install program will proceed to install
SNMPc on your hard drive. After the installation
is complete, logoff Windows and restart your
computer.

Installing the Air Messenger Pro Paging Software

SNMPc includes a copy of the Air Messenger Pro paging application. This software is required if you
want SNMPc to page you when an event occurs. Air Messenger Pro is not installed as part of the
regular SNMPc installation.

To install the Air Messenger Pro paging application, use the Windows Start/Programs/SNMPc
Network Manager/Install Air Messenger Pro menu. Follow the installation instructions.

After you have installed Air Messenger Pro you can configure SNMPc to notify your pager when an
event occurs. Please refer to the Emailing or Paging the Administrator on an Event section in this
guide for further instructions.

5
Starting the SNMPc Server and Local Console

To control SNMPc tasks, you must be logged

on to Windows with Administrator permission.

After installation of the SNMPc Server

component, you will be asked to reboot the
Windows system.

When the system has rebooted and you logon to

Windows, the SNMPc Server and Console
applications will be automatically started and
you will be automatically logged on.

Disabling Automatic Console Login

To disable automatic console startup and login,

go to the Windows Start menu and use the
Programs/SNMPc Network Manager/Configure
Tasks menu.

Disable the Auto Login User check box and press

the Done button.

Starting a Local Console Session

Go to the Windows Start menu and use the Programs/SNMPc Network Manager/Login Console
menu. At the login prompt, enter localhost as the Server Address. Enter the username and password
and press OK. Initially there is only one user named Administrator with no password.

Stopping and Starting the Server

Go to the Windows Start menu and use the Programs/SNMPc Network Manager/Shutdown System
menu to stop the SNMPc Server system tasks. Use the Windows Start Programs/SNMPc Network
Manager/Startup System menu to restart the SNMPc Server system tasks. Note that any running
console sessions will be logged off and you will need to exit the console applications separately.

To disable automatic startup of the SNMPc Server system tasks, go to the Windows Start menu and use
the Programs/SNMPc Network Manager/Configure Tasks menu. Disable the Auto Startup check box
and press the Done button.

6
Using Console Elements
The following diagram and table below show the main elements of the SNMPc console.

Main Button Bar Edit Button Bar

Selection Tool Event Log Tool View Window Area

ELEMENT FUNCTION
Main Button Bar Buttons and controls to execute common commands quickly
Edit Button Bar Buttons to quickly insert map elements
Selection Tool Tabbed control for selection of objects within different SNMPc functional
modules
Event Log Tool Tabbed control for display of filtered event log entries
View Window Area Map View, Mib Tables, and Mib Graph windows are shown here.

7
Console Button Commands

The following diagram shows the function of each button in the Main Button Bar and Edit Button Bar.
Each of these buttons has a corresponding main menu item.

Find Map Objects

Edit Object Properties
Use Read/Write Mode Add a Device Object
Show/Hide Event Log Tool Add a Subnet (Hierarchy Object)
View Object History Events Add a Goto Object
View Object Current Events Add a Link Between Objects
Show All Mode
Add a Bus Network Object
Zoom to Selected Rectangle
Normal Zoom Mode Add a Ring Network Object

Zoom Out Add a Regular Network Object

Zoom In
Map View Back Display MIB Table
Map View Forward Display Mib Graph
Map View Parent Mib Browser Tool
Root Subnet Map View Device Quick Poll

Map Object Quick Select Mib Object Quick Select

Selection Tool

If you can’t see the selection tool, use the View/Selection Tool menu to show it. Use the Selection Tool
to manipulate objects from one of several databases. Use the drag control at the right of the Selection
Tool to change its size. Select one of the Selection Tool tabs to display a tree control for the database.
Use the right-click menu inside a selection tree for database-specific commands.

SELECTION TAB DESCRIPTION

Map Map Object database, including devices and subnets.
Mib Compiled SNMP Mibs, Custom Tables and Custom Mib Expressions.
Trend Report profiles that define long term polling procedures and scheduled reports.
Event Event filters used to determine what happens when an event is received.
Menu Custom menus that appear in the Manage, Tools, and Help SNMPc menus.
8
Event Log Tool

The Event Log Tool displays different filtered views of the SNMPc event log. If you can’t see the
Event Log Tool, use the View/Event Log Tool menu to show it.

• Select the Current tab to show unacknowledged (current) events. These events have a colored box
at the left side of the log entry. The color of map objects is determined by the highest priority
unacknowledged event for that object.
• Select the History tab to show all events, including acknowledged and unacknowledged events.
• Select one of the Custom tabs and use the right-click Filter View menu to specify what events
should be displayed for that tab.
• Double-click an event entry to display a Map View window with the corresponding device icon
visible.
• To quickly view events for a particular device, first select the device and then use one of the View
Events buttons (or the View/Active Events and View/History Events menus). This will show the
device events in a separate window in the View Windows area.
• To remove one or more events, select the events and press the Delete key.
• To acknowledge (remove current status of) an event, select the event and use the right-click
Acknowledge menu.
• To completely clear the event log, use the File/Clear Events menu.

View Window Area

The View Window Area is the main interface for viewing the SNMPc map and command results. This
area uses the Multi-Document-Interface (MDI) specification to display multiple windows at the same
time.

Use the Window/Cascade and Window/Tile menus to rearrange the windows in the View Window Area
in a way that makes them all visible.

Windows in this area can be in one of several states:

• A Maximized window uses the entire area and hides any other windows behind it. If you close a
maximized window, the next top-most window will still be displayed in the maximized state. You
need to be careful when using maximized windows because it is easy to lose track of how many
windows you have opened and there is an upper limit. Use the Windows menu to see a list of
windows. Use the Windows/Cascade menu to view all windows at the same time.

• An Overlapped window does not take up the entire area. One window will be completely visible
and other windows are partially hidden behind it. This is the most common situation for the View
Window area because it lets you view maps, tables and graphs at the same time and quickly move
between them.

• A Minimized window is displayed as a small title bar with window open/close buttons. Windows
are not typically minimized within the View Window Area because, as with the maximized case,
they can easily be lost behind other windows.

9
Working with the Map Database

Using the Map Selection Tree

Locate the Selection Tool on the right side of the console. If you can’t see the Selection Tool, use the
View/Selection Tool menu to show it. Select the first tab marked Map. The displayed Map Selection
tree shows all icon objects in the map. This includes subnets (which contain lower map levels),
devices, and goto icons. Networks and links are not shown in the map selection tree.

• Single-click on the small box to the left of a

subnet icon (folder icon) to open or close that
sublevel in the selection tree.
• Double-click on a subnet name (right of folder
icon) to open that subnet level as a Map View
window (see below).
• Left-click on any object name to select that
object. Use the shift and ctrl keys to select
multiple objects.
• Use the Delete key to remove selected objects.
• After opening two subnet levels, select multiple
device names and drag the mouse to move
them from one subnet to another. Note that any
attached links and networks are not moved, and
links will be deleted during the move (you can
re-add them manually later).
• Right-click on a device icon (colored rectangle)
or name to see the available Right-Click
Menus. Use these menus to edit the selected
object properties, display tables, and run other
custom menus.
• Open a subnet tree and use the Insert/Map
Object menus or Edit Button Bar buttons to
add icon objects to the subnet tree.

Each icon in the Map Selection Tree is colored according to the status of the represented object. Subnet
icons (and the top level Root Subnet icon) show the highest priority color of all underlying objects.

10
Using Map View Windows

Map View windows are regular overlapping windows that are displayed in the View Window Area of
SNMPc. This is the main area where you can see the map topology as a diagram and easily manipulate
the map objects (add, delete, move). Note that the View Window Area shows multiple windows and if
the topmost window is Maximized (takes up the entire area) then any other windows will be hidden.
Use the Windows/Cascade menu to show all windows within the View Window Area.

• Use the View/Map View/Root Submap menu to show the top level of the SNMPc map.
• Double-Click on any subnet name in the Map Selection Tree or subnet icon in a map view to show
a map view for that subnet.
• To easily move the map view, Right-Click anywhere on the view and drag the mouse to move the
view contents. You can also use the scroll bars, but this is not as easy.
• Use the Zoom Buttons to see more or less of the map view. Use the Pan/Zoom button to zoom
into a selected rectangle (left click and drag the rectangle). Use the 1:1 button to set the normal
zoom mode (icon and name visible). Use the Zoom +/- buttons to manually zoom.
• Use the View All button to toggle the View All state for a selected map view. In this state, the view
contents are automatically zoomed so that all icons are visible. As you change the size of the view
window, the contents will change size. As the icon sizes get smaller, the icon image is hidden and
then the name is hidden. If your top-level map is large and the View All state is enabled (default)
you may only see small icons. Use the manual Zoom buttons to zoom in to an area of the map
view.
• Use the Previous View and Next View buttons to move back and forth between different zoom
levels you have selected.

11
Moving Map Objects

SNMPc normally uses a discovery process to add subnets, devices, links, and networks in a logical
topology that represents a two-level IP Subnet hierarchy. The top level includes all router devices and
subnet icons. The second layer includes single-port devices linked to Bus Networks under the
appropriate subnet icons. The top level map is automatically arranged as a star network.

Map objects are placed on the nearest Map Grid Point when you move them. Use the Config/Console
Options menu and select the Show Grid check box to show map grid points. Set the grid size in the
Grid Spacing edit box.

To Move Objects at the Root Level

Since the discovery agent will continually arrange the top map level, before changing the root level
manually you need to change the way discovery works. Use the Config/Discovery-Polling menu and
then do one of the following:

1. Uncheck the Enable Discovery checkbox

so that discovery is completely disabled
2. Select Discovered Objects from the Layout
pull-down so that any newly discovered
objects are added to a separate subnet icon
named Discovered Objects.
3. Select Top Level/Incremental from the
Layout pull-down so that any newly
discovered objects are added using an
incremental layout algorithm that doesn’t
disturb the existing layout.

To move objects at the top level just select one or more objects in a map view and drag the mouse. The
selected objects are moved to the new mouse location. The following two map views show an
automatically (left) and manually (right) arranged Root Submap level:

12
To Move Objects Inside Subnet Levels
Single port devices are added to the second map layer, below top-level subnet icons. Each subnet layer
will also include a Bus Network that all devices are attached to. You can move devices around the Bus
Network by selecting them and dragging them to the new position. However, the Bus Network is
automatically arranged and the object will only be approximately placed where you dragged it.

If you need to positively rearrange the lower levels then it’s best to change the network from a Bus to a
regular Network. This network will not be automatically arranged and you can move icons anywhere in
the view, as well as change the network shape with the use of Junction Points. You can click and drag
any junction point or network segment, and add or remove junction points by double clicking on the
network.

You can also disconnect objects from the Bus Network by deleting the attaching link. Then the
detached object can be moved anywhere in the view. The following two map views show a subnet level
that is automatically arranged (left) and manually arranged using a regular Network (right):

To Move Objects from One Subnet to Another

1. Use the Window/Close All menu to remove all view windows.
2. Open a map view for each of the source and target map subnets.
3. Use the Window/Tile Horizontal menu to make both windows fully visible.
4. Scroll and zoom the source map view so the objects you want to move are visible.
5. Scroll and zoom the target map view so the location where the objects will be placed is visible.
6. Select the objects (click off icon+drag or shift click on icons) in the source map view.
7. Drag the selected objects from the source to the target map view.

Note that any links will be deleted if you just move the attached objects. To move a network and all
attached links and objects you must select all of the items. You can also use the Edit/Copy or Cut
menus along with the Edit/Paste menu to move objects (or create copies) but these menus will not
move link or network objects and the moved objects will not retain their relative positions.

13
 Changing Object Properties

• Use the Edit/Properties menu to change the

attributes of one or more selected objects. To edit
multiple objects, all selected objects must be of
the same type (subnet, device, etc.).
• Set the object name in the Label edit box.
• Set the object type in the Type pull-down. The
object type can only be changed for network type
objects (Ring, Bus, Network).
• For Device objects, set the object IP Address in
the Address edit box. This can be in dot format
or a DNS name. You can also append a UDP port
number to a dot-notation IP address (i.e.,
198.22.11.22.168)
• For Goto objects, set the name of the subnet that
the Goto jumps to in the Address edit box.
• Set an alias name for a group of similar device
objects in the Group edit box.
• For icon type objects (Subnet, Device, Goto), set
the icon in the Icon edit box. This is normally set
to auto.ico so that an icon is selected
automatically based on the device SNMP Object
Identifier.

• Select the Access tab to set access parameters for a

Device, Link, or Network object. For a description
of access parameters, please see the table on the
next page.
• To change an access parameter, first select the
parameter name in the Attrib table. The selected
parameter name is displayed in the Name box and
the current value in the Value pull-down control.
• In the Value pull-down, select one of the pull-
down values or type in a new value. Note that the
Value pull-down does not necessarily show all
possible values for the attribute.
• When editing multiple objects, any access
parameter that has a different value for different
objects is shown as #####. Changing these
attributes will set the new value for all selected
objects.

14
The following table describes the access parameters available in the Object Properties Access tab for
Device, Link, and Network objects. Access parameters are not valid for Subnet and Goto object types.

ATTRIBUTE NAME DESCRIPTION

Read Access Mode The mode used for polling and SNMP Read operations. Select ICMP
(Ping) for non-snmp devices. Select SNMP V1 for standard SNMP
devices. Select NONE (TCP Only) for devices that will only have TCP
services polled.
Read/Write Access Mode The mode used for SNMP Write operations. Select SNMP V1 for
standard SNMP devices. You can also force this mode to be used for
both Read and Write operations from your console (not polling
operations) by using the Read/Write button on the SNMPc frame
button bar (3rd button from left).
Read Community The Community name used for SNMP V1/V2c operations when the
Read Access Mode is used.
Read/Write Community The Community name used for SNMP V1/V2c operations when the
Read/Write Access Mode is used.
Trap Community The Community name expected in a received SNMP V1/V2c Trap
frame. This is used to match an incoming trap to a map object.
V3 Engineid SNMP V3 Engine Identifier (detected automatically).
V3 Context Name SNMP V3 Context Name (normally blank).
V3 No Auth Security Name SNMP V3 Security Name to use with the noAuth access mode (no
authentication, no privacy).
V3 Auth/Priv Security Name SNMP V3 Security Name to use with authenticated or private
(encrypted) access modes.
V3 Auth Password SNMP V3 password to use for authentication.
V3 Priv Password SNMP V3 password to use for privacy (encryption).

• Select the Attribute tab to set type-dependent

attributes. For a complete description of all type-
dependent object attributes, please see the table
on the next page.
• To change an attribute, first select the attribute
name in the Attrib table. The selected attribute
name is displayed in the Name box and the
current value in the Value pull-down control.
• In the Value pull-down, select one of the pull-
down values or type in a new value. Note that the
Value pull-down does not necessarily show all
possible values for the attribute. Use the >>
button to show an expanded selection mechanism
for the selected attribute value.
• When editing multiple objects, any attribute that
has a different value for different objects is shown
as #####. Changing these attributes will set the
new value for all selected objects.

15
The following table lists each available attribute in the Object Properties Attributes tab, the object types
it is valid for, and a description of the attribute.

OBJECT 1 ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION

NAME
D,L,N,S,G Show Label Show or hide the object name.
S, G, D Background Icon background, one of Square, Circle, Hexagon, Octagon, or
Shape Diamond.
S Bitmap Background bitmap image.
S Bitmap Scale Background bitmap image scaling factor (bigger number expands).
L Show Link Link names normally hidden.
Name
D Exec Program Double-click program for devices. Include any of the following
special program arguments:
$a – IP Address, $n –` node name, $g – Read Community;
$s – Set community, $w – console window number.
D, L, N Poll Interval Seconds between poll sequences.
D, L, N Poll Timeout Seconds to wait for a response after a poll is sent.
D, L, N Poll Retries Number of times to retry a failed poll during a single poll sequence.
D, L, N Polling Agent IP Address of the Polling Agent system that performs regular and
trend statistics polling for this object. Unless you are using Remote
Polling Agents, this is set to localhost.
D, L, N Service Polling List of services to poll (TCP or custom service polling)
D, L, N Status Variable An SNMP variable with instance that is polled to determine device
status (as opposed to just polling for device response). For example,
ifOperStatus.3.
D, L, N Status Value The number to be compared to the returned Status Variable value.
D, L, N Status OK Expr The expression to use when comparing the Status Value to the
returned Status Variable to determine if the status is OK (<, >, <=,
>=, =, !=).
D, L, N HasRMON Set to TRUE to enable the RMON tool.
D, L MAC Address Primary device MAC address or link MAC address, if known.
D, L, N SNMP ObjectID Read-Only. The System Object Identifier of an SNMP object.

Note 1: D = Device, L = Link, N = Ring, Bus, Network, S = Subnet, G = Goto

16
Adding Map Objects

SNMPc supports several object types, including subnets, devices, links, and networks. To add objects,
first open a map view window and then use one of the Insert/Map Object menus or the Edit Button Bar
buttons. After adding icon objects, you need to move them to the desired location. If you can’t see the
new object, use the View All button. The following table describes the different object types:

TYPE DESCRIPTION
Subnet A Subnet icon contains other map layers, possibly including other subnets.
• Double-click on a subnet icon to open a view window for the next layer down.
• Use the Parent Window button to go up one layer to the parent subnet view.
• Use the Root Subnet button to open the top map level view.
Device A Device icon represents a polled device, including SNMP and Ping polled devices.
• When adding a device object, you need to set the device Address in the displayed
Properties dialog box. You can append an optional UDP port to the address as
x.x.x.Port.
• Then select the Access tab and set the Read Access Mode and Read/Write Access
Mode parameters. Use ICMP (Ping) for non-SNMP devices (or NONE where you
only want to poll TCP services), and use SNMP V1 for regular SNMP devices. For
SNMP V1 devices, you must also set the Read Community and Read/Write
Community parameters to valid community names.
• Finally, select the Attributes tab and set appropriate values for the Poll Interval, Poll
Timeout, and Poll Retries attributes.
Link A link object is a line between two icon objects (subnet, device, goto). Link objects can be
polled so you can optionally set an IP Address and Access/Polling attributes as with the
Device Object. However, by default link the Poll Interval for links is set to zero so it is not
polled. To add one or more link objects, first select two or more device objects and
optionally a single subnet or network object, then press the Add Link button from the Edit
Button Bar.
Network There are several types of Network objects which have different layout styles.
• A Bus Network automatically arranges the network and attached links/icons in a bus
configuration.
• A Ring Network automatically arranges the attached objects in a ring.
• A regular Network object can be manually shaped. Double-click on a Regular
Network object to create a junction point. Double-click on an existing junction point
to remove it. Click on a junction object or network segment and drag it to move it in
the map view.
• Network objects can also be polled but the Poll Interval is set to zero (non-polled) by
default.
Use one of the Add Network buttons from the Edit Button Bar to add a network. If you
first select several icon objects, SNMPc will also add links between the icons and the new
network.
Goto A Goto object is like a subnet in that you can double-click on it to open a new map view
window. However, a Goto object displays the map subnet that is named in the Address
field. To make a Goto that opens the Root Submap, leave the Address field blank.

17
Viewing Device Mib Data

Using the Mib Selection Tree

• First select one or more SNMP device objects.
• Locate the Selection Tool at the left of the console
window. If you can’t see it, use the View/Selection Tool
menu to show it. Press the Mib tab to activate the MIB
Selection Tree. This tree shows all compiled standard
and private Mibs.
• Open the Mgmt subtree to show standard Mib elements.
Open the Private subtree to show vendor-specific Mib
elements. Note that each device supports a subset of the
standard and private Mibs. It’s up to you to determine if
a device supports a particular Mib table.
• Open subtree elements until you see one or more table
grid icons listed. These are the Mib table definitions that
you will be mostly working with.
• Right-Click on one of the table names and use the View
Table or View Graph menus to display the contents of
the table for the selected devices as a form or graph.

Using Manage Menus

Select one or more SNMP devices objects and use the Manage or Right-Click menus to display
common SNMP MIB tables in several formats. Note that not all devices implement all tables in these
menus so in some cases the menus will fail to show a result. It’s up to you to determine if the table
specified in the menu is supported.

• Use the List <tablename> menus to display a single entry table.

• Use the Edit <tablename> menus to show an edit dialog for a single entry table.
• Use the Display <tablename> menus to display a multi-entry table.
• Use the Graph <tablename> menus to display a graph for all instances in the table. You can also
start a graph after selecting some elements in a displayed table.

Using Custom Menus

Manage menus are actually built-in custom menus from an external configuration file. You can also
add custom menus to display particular tables. For example, if you have only a few device types in
your network you probably should add custom menus to display the vendor specific tables for those
devices. You can then display Mib information using the Right-Click menus instead of searching for
Mib tables in the Mib Selection Tree. For more information about custom menus, select the Menu tab
of the Selection Tool and press the F1 key.

18
Table Display Elements

The following diagram shows a sample table display and describes the function of table controls.

Event Log Tool

Save to File
Edit Entry
Show Graph

Search
Switch Axis
Short Names
Pause Polling
Edit Controls

• To start a graph display, first select one or more cells (rows, columns, or individual cells), then use
the Show Graph button.
• To change a table cell and do a Set Operation to the device, first locate settable cells (those
displayed in blue). Double-click the cell to move into the Edit Mode. Enter the new value directly
into the cell (or select from the pull-down if it is displayed). Then press the Check Edit Control
button. To cancel a Set operation in progress, press the Cross Edit Control button.

Graph Display Elements

The following diagram shows a sample graph display and the function of graph controls.

Restart Graph
Pause Graph
Save to File
Graph Style

Poll Interval
Vertical Scale
Paging Controls

View Area

Restart Graph

19
Graph Styles
The following diagram shows sample displays of the four graph styles: Line, Bar, Distribution, and
Pie. Note that the Bar and Pie show Average values.

Graph Paging Controls

The graph is difficult to view with many variables at the same time. Use the Page Controls to enable
blocks of variables. Use the Paginate button (paper sheet icon) to enable all variables or just the first
page (8 variables). Use the Prev Page and Next Page buttons to enable the previous or next page of
variables.

Graph Legend Control

The Legend Control displays all variable names and a data summary, including the Current, Minimum,
Maximum, and Average values.

• Drag the bar at the top of the Legend Control to make the control bigger or smaller.
• Double-click the check mark at the left to enable or disable of a variable.
• Use the Right-Click Properties menu to set line properties and scaling for a variable.
• Double-Click on the Graph View area to show or hide the Legend Control.

20
Saving Long Term Statistics
SNMPc Trend Reports save long term statistics for any SNMP table and also SNMPc Service Polling
pseudo-tables. Each report saves data for one table and up to ten devices. You can set manual
threshold alarms for any variable instance to generate an event when a variable reaches a specific value.
Data is saved in a private format database at one or more polling agent systems. Data can be
downloaded and viewed in a regular graph window for a specified date period.

For the Enterprise Edition only, SNMPc also exports trend report data automatically to printers, text
files, WEB HTML files, and an ODBC database. Exported reports can be generated on an hourly,
daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

To Create A New Report

• First select one or more device objects using the Map Selection Tree or a Map View window.
• Locate the Selection Tool at the left of the console. If you can’t see the Selection Tool, use the
View/Selection Tool menu to show it.
• Select the Trend tab and open the SNMPc Trend Reports group name.
• Use the Right-Click Insert Report menu to add a new report.
• Enter a name for the new report.
• Select one of the built-in table names from the Mib Table pull-down. You can also press the >>
button to select any standard or private Mib table.
• For initial test purposes, set the Poll Interval to 1 minute. We recommend that you use a 10 minute
poll interval if you have several reports.
• Press OK to save the report using standard settings.

21
Viewing Trend Data in a Graph Window

• Assuming you set a 1 minute poll interval, wait about

10 minutes to save some data.
• Right-click on the new report name in the Trend
Report Selection Tree and use the Properties menu.
• Use the View Report menu.
• Select the current day and Single Merged Graph to see
all data on one graph.
• Press OK. Some progress dialogs will be displayed
and then the report data will be displayed in a regular
SNMPc graph window.

Irrespective of the report poll interval, all Counter variables shown in a trend report graph window are
normalized to per-second values.

Viewing Trend Data as Web Reports

The SNMPc Enterprise Edition only can automatically export trend report data to a variety of targets.
The most common export target is to HTML format files that can be viewed remotely using a WEB
browser.

Setting The WEB Directory Setting the Report Export Schedule

• Use the Config/Trend Reports menu. • Press the Trend tab in the Selection Tool.
• Set the Web Directory edit box to the • Right-click on the report name and use the
name of a directory that can be accessed Properties menu.
by both SNMPc and your WEB server. • Select the Export Destinations tab.
• SNMPc WEB reports will be exported to • Make sure that To WEB Server is checked.
a subdirectory named TrendReports and • Check the Hourly Schedule checkbox.
the main HTML file is named • Press Ok.
reportGroups.html.

22
The WEB report will be exported on the hour for the previous hour’s worth of data. Wait for several
hours and then use the Tools/WEB Reports menu to view the WEB reports in a WEB browser. The
following is a sample SNMPc hourly WEB report. Note that all vertical (Y) scales are normalized to
per-second values.

Note: WEB reporting is only available in the Enterprise Edition.

Limiting Saved Instances

The polling agent normally polls all available instances for each variable in a trend report table. To
limit polled instances, select the report name in the Trend Selection Tree and use the Right-Click
Properties menu, then use the Instances button.

• Select one or more rows in the

displayed table and press the Add
button to add them to the Instances
Tree at left.
• In the Instances Tree, select one or
more labels (including <All Other
Instances>) and press the Include
or Exclude button.
• For each included instance, use the
Edit button to set textual instance
names and manual threshold alarms

23
Setting Threshold Alarms
You can generate a Threshold Alarm when a polled SNMP variable value meets certain criteria.
SNMPc supports three distinct mechanisms for generating Threshold Alarms as described in the
following table.

ALARM TYPE DESCRIPTION

Status Variable Polling Use the Object Properties dialog to set a single SNMP variable plus
instance that is polled in real time (Poll Interval attribute seconds). Use
this for Emergency Status Polling. For example, poll for UPS battery
failure, disk full, or link down conditions.
Automatic Trend Baseline SNMPc automatically determines a baseline value for all variables in any
trend reports that you add. The baseline is set after a learning period and
periodically adjusted. The polling agent will generate alarms if a polled
value exceeds the baseline by a preset percentage.
Manual Trend Threshold Use manual threshold alarms in trend reports to specify a particular
condition to test. This is commonly used to monitor line utilization
variables. In this case the alarm condition is well known to the user and
involves a longer polling period (e.g., 80% over 10 minutes).

Setting Status Variable Polling

• Using the Map Selection Tree or a Map View

Window, Right-Click on an SNMP Device, Link, or
Network object and use the Properties menu.
• Make sure the Address field is set to a valid IP
address. You can optionally append a UDP port
number to the address as x.x.x.x.Port.
• Select the Access tab.
• For a regular SNMP V1 device, set Read Access
Mode to SNMP V1 and set Read Community to a
valid community name.
• Select the Attributes tab.
• Set Poll Interval to the number of seconds between
successive polls.
• Set Status Variable to the name of an Integer SNMP
variable including an instance (e.g., ifOperStatus.3).
Make sure you enter a full variable instance.
• Set Status Value to the Numeric value for your
comparison (or one of the pull-down aliases).
• Set Status OK Expr to the test performed to
determine if the status test passes. Use the Value
pull-down list for possible tests.

Note: For variables that have a textual instance part, you can use the form statusVar.”text instance”
rather than full SNMP dot notation.
24
Configuring Automatic Alarms

Use the Config/Trend Reports menu and select the Automatic Alarms tab. You can set various
parameters of the automatic alarm algorithm in this dialog. Generally the default settings are adequate
and the main thing you might want to do is disable automatic alarms by unchecking the Enable
Automatic Alarms checkbox.

Setting Manual Threshold Alarms

You must first create a trend report for a set of devices and an SNMP Mib Table. Please refer to the
earlier section, Saving Long Term Statistics for a description of creating trend reports.

Select the report name in the Trend Selection Tree and use the Right-Click Properties menu, then use
the Instances button.

• Select one or more rows in the

displayed table and press the Add
button to add them to the
Instances Tree at left.
• In the Instances Tree, select one
or more labels (including <All
Other Instances>) and press the
Include or Exclude button.
• For each included instance, use
the Edit button to alarms for each
variable

• Select a variable name from the list at the bottom

of the Instance Edit dialog.
• Enter a simple expression at the Threshold edit
box. This is an operator (>, <, =, >=, <=, !=) and
a numeric constant.
• You can also optionally enter a name for this
variable instance in the Instance Name edit box.
This makes it easier to determine what the
threshold alarm refers to.
• Press OK. You will see a red exclamation mark
next to the icon in the Instances Tree for any
instances that have manual alarms.

Please keep in mind that for Counter variables, the

values you set in the manual threshold will be
compared against a polled sample. The polled
sample will be larger or smaller depending on the trend report poll interval. For example, a link that
shows 100K bytes in one minute might show 1000K bytes in 10 minutes. This is different than what
you see in trend graph, in which the samples are normalized to per-second values.

25
Polling Application Services
SNMPc supports customized polling of any TCP application service, simplified polling of four built-in
TCP application services (FTP, SMTP, WEB, and TELNET), and external polling of non-TCP services
by custom applications. This section describes how to poll TCP services. For more information about
external program polling, please use the Help/Help Topics menu, open the Customizing SNMPc link
and then open the Developing Service Polling Applications link.

SNMPc polling agents can automatically

check for the existence of the built-in TCP
services on discovered devices and
configures these services to be polled.

Use the Proto tab of the Config/Discovery-

Polling dialog to enable discovery of the four
built-in TCP services.

To enable service polling for a device, right-click the

device object in a map view and use the Properties
menu then select the Attributes tab. Select the Service
Polling attribute.

• Use the Value pulldown list to select one of the

available services (*Ftp, *Telnet, *Smtp, *Web
and custom names).

• To select multiple services for the device, type in

the service names in the Value edit box, separated
by commas. For example: “*Ftp,*Web”.

• Alternatively, double-click the Service Polling

attribute, or use the “>>” button, to select
multiple services.
Custom Service definitions allow more flexible and powerful polling of your application servers:

• You can optionally send a text string to a TCP service and compare the reply to a text pattern.
• Each map object can poll up to 16 different Custom Services.
• There is no limit on the total number of Custom Service definitions that can be created.
• You can optionally run an external custom application to poll the service.

Double-click the Service Polling attribute, or use the “>>” button, to edit Custom service definitions.
The Poll Services dialog is displayed.

26
Use the controls in the upper Polled Services for this Object section to manage polling for the selected
device.

To enable polling of a service for the device:

• Select the service name in the All Services list.

• Press the Add>> button

To disable polling of a service for the device:

• Select the service name in the Polled Services list.

• Press the Del<< button.

Use the controls in the lower Edit Custom Services

section to add, delete and change Custom Service
definitions.

To add a new TCP Custom Service definition:

• Enter a new name in the Service Name edit box.

• Enter a TCP port number for a TCP service in the TCP Port edit box.
• Optionally enter a short string to transmit to a TCP service in the Send String edit box.
• Optionally enter a pattern string to match against a TCP service response in the Expect String edit
box. You may use ASCII text and asterisk wildcards (‘*’).
• Press the Add button.

After adding a new service definition, you need to press the Add>> button if you want this service to be
polled for the currently selected device.

To delete an existing Custom Service definition:

• Select the service name in the All Services list.

• Press the Delete button.

To modify an existing Custom Service definition:

• Select the service name in the All Services list.

• Make changes to the Service Name, TCP Port, Send String, Expect String, or Poll Exec fields.
• Press the Change button.

Note that service names prepended by an asterisk are built-in and cannot be changed or deleted. These
services are *Ftp, *Telnet, *Smtp, and *Web. These services use a simplified connect-only form of
polling.

27
Emailing or Paging the Administrator on an Event
This section shows you how to dial a pager or send email to the SNMPc Administrator user when a
selection of devices goes down.

Step 1: Add the Administrator user to Air Messenger Pro

To use paging you must first install Air Messenger Pro by using the Windows Start/Programs/SNMPc
Network Manager/Install Air Messenger Pro menu. Start Air Messenger Pro and add a user (not a
group) named Administrator. Configure and test the Air Messenger Pro modem/pager settings and
make sure you can send pages.

Step 2: Set the Email/Paging global event options

• Use the Config/Event Options menu.

• Set the SMTP Server Address to the IP
Address of your email server in dot notation
(a.b.c.d).
• Set the Email From Address to an email
address that is valid at your server (e.g.,
[email protected]).
• Select the Pager Application (Air Messenger
Pro or Notify!Connect).
• Enable the Enable Tracing to History Log
checkbox. Later, when you have verified that
email works you can disable this option.

Step 3: Set the Administrator Contact Info

• Use the Config/User Profiles menu.
• Select the Administrator user and press
Modify.
• Set your email address in the E-mail edit box.
• Select the Pager Type (numeric or
alphanumeric).
• Set the days and times you want to be emailed
and paged.
• You can use the Group1 and Group2 edit
boxes to set two alias names for multiple users.
For now, leave Group1 set to Default.

28
Step 4: Add an Event Filter for the pollDeviceDown event

• Locate the SNMPc Selection Tool at the left

side of the console. If it isn’t there, use the
View/Selection Tool to show it.
• Select the Event tab on the Selection Tool.
• Open the Snmpc-Status-Polling subtree, which
contains all polling related event actions.
• Open the pollDeviceDown subtree, which
contains all event filters for the Device Down
event.
• Right-click on the Default event filter and use
the Insert Event Filter menu to add a new
event filter.
• The Add Event Filter dialog will be displayed.
Enter an Event Name for the new event filter at
the General tab. For example, set the name to
Primary Router Down.

Step 5: Select the devices to match the Event Filter

• Select the Match tab of the

displayed Add Event Filter dialog.
• Press the Add button.
• Use the tree control to select one or
more device names and press OK.
• The matching device names are
displayed in the Sources list box.

29
Step 6: Set the Email/Page event actions

• Select the Actions tab of the displayed Add

Event Filter dialog.
• Select Default from the Page Group pull-
down to send a page to all users with a
Group1 or Group2 alias set to Default (i.e.,
the Administrator user).
• Select Default from the Email Group
pulldown to send email to all users with a
Group1 or Group2 alias set to Default (i.e.,
the Administrator user).
• Press OK to save the new filter.

Step 8: Test the new Event Filter

• Select the Map tab of the Selection Tool and

select one of the devices you matched in the
new event filter.
• Use the Tools/Trap Sender menu.
• The TrapSend tool shows an Event Actions
tree on the left side. Open the Snmpc-Status-
Polling subtree and select the
pollDeviceDown event.
• Press the Send button.
• Close the TrapSend tool and look at the
SNMPc Event Log Tool (at the lower part of
the console). If you can’t see the Event Log
Tool, use the View/Event Log Tool menu to
show it.
• Select the History tab in the Event Log Tool.
You will see a red Device Down event for the
selected node and some white diagnostic
messages about the Email operation.

30
Using Other Event Types

We have used the pollDeviceDown event as an example for this section. The mechanism is the same
for other types of events, including those generated for Status Variable and Manual Threshold Alarms.
The following table shows common SNMPc events and when they occur.

EVENT SUBTREE TRAP NAME DESCRIPTION

Snmpc-Status-Polling pollDeviceDown Device has not responded for three
consecutive poll sequences1.
pollNoResponse Device failed to respond to one poll
sequence1.
pollRequestRejected Device rejected the sysObjectId.0 or the
user-set status polling variable.
pollResponse Device responded to a poll sequence1.
pollServiceDown Could not connect to the TCP port after
three consecutive attempts.
pollServiceNoResponse Could not connect to the TCP port after
one attempt.
pollServiceResponding Connection to TCP port OK.
pollStatusTestFail Status variable test failed.
pollStatusTestPass Status variable test passed.
Snmpc-System-Info pollAgentConnect SNMPc polling agent connection to
server established.
pollAgentDisconnect SNMPc polling agent connection to
server lost.
Snmpc-Threshold-Alarm alarmAutoThresholdExpand Trend auto-baseline moved higher.
alarmAutoThresholdReduce Trend auto-baseline moved lower.
alarmAutoThresholdSet Trend auto-baseline initially set.
alarmAutoThresholdTrigger Trend auto-baseline exceeded,
alarmManualThresholdTrigger Trend manual alarm passed threshold.
alarmManualThresholdReset After being triggered, a trend manual
alarm no longer passes the threshold test.
snmp-Traps authenticationFailure Trap generated by a device on an illegal
access (bad community name).
coldStart Trap generated by a device after it
restarts.
linkDown Trap generated by a device when a link
fails.
linkUp Trap generated by a device when a link
that was down recovers.

Note 1: A poll sequence occurs repeatedly every Poll Interval seconds. During each poll sequence, a
poll is sent and a reply expected within the Poll Timeout period. If no response is received during the
timeout period, the poll is sent again immediately (retried). Up to Poll Retries attempts will be made
during a single poll sequence. If the retries all fail then the poll sequence fails. The Poll Interval must
then elapse before another poll sequence is attempted.

31
Emailing or Paging Multiple Users
This section shows how to email or page two users when a selection of devices goes down. Please read
and understand the previous section before reading this one.

Step 1: Add a grouped set of SNMPc users

• Use the Config/User Profiles menu.

• Press the Add button.
• Enter the Name of the new user.
• Set the user Email address.
• Set the user Pager type.
• Set the email/page days and times.
• Set the Group1 user alias to SwitchOperators
(this can be any text).
• Press OK to save the new user.

• Repeat this process for a different user name,

making sure to set the Group1 value to
SwitchOperators, so that both users have the
same value for Group1 (i.e., they have the
same alias).

Step 2: Add the users to Air Messenger Pro

To use paging, start the Air Messenger Pro application and add two users with the same names as those
you added to SNMPc. Do not use Air Messenger Pro groups and do not use the SNMPc Group1 name.
Each SNMPc user must have a matching user name in Air Messenger Pro. Setup the paging/modem
options and make sure that you can send pages for each of the two new users.

Step 3: Add an Event Filter for the selected devices

Following steps 4 through 7 of the previous section, add a new event filter for a set of devices. In the
Action tab, select SwitchOperators in the Page pull-down to page the two new users. Select
SwitchOperators in the Email pull-down to send email to the two new users.

In the Match tab of the Add Event Filter dialog, make sure that you match different devices than those
used in the previous section (emailing the Administrator). Otherwise, this new filter will not be unique
and it will not match any incoming events.

Don’t forget to set the Auto-Clears flags for any matching events.

32
Troubleshooting Network Discovery

Duration of Network Discovery

During the SNMPc Server installation you entered the address, netmask, and community name for one
SNMP V1 discovery seed device. This is normally enough information to discover most of your
network. When you first start SNMPc it will take several minutes for discovery to start adding objects
to the map. Use the Root Subnet button to display the top-level map view.

If you used the Disable Discovery on Startup option of the installation, discovery will not be running
when you first start SNMPc. In this case, you need to set discovery filters before proceeding. Please
refer to the Limiting Discovery section below before reading this section.

Normal Discovery Map Layout

Discovery creates a two-level IP Subnet based topology. At the top-level, discovery adds any multi-
port devices (routers) and subnet icons for each IP Subnet. Link objects are added between each router
and the subnets it is connected to. The map is automatically arranged in a star configuration.

All single-port SNMP devices and ICMP (Ping) devices are added to the second level under each
subnet icon, based on the device IP address and subnet mask. A single Bus Network is added to each
subnet level, and all devices in the subnet are linked to this network.

Use the Root Subnet button to display the top-level map view. You should see a mixture of SNMP
device icons and subnet icons, connected by links in a star configuration. Double-click on one of the
subnet icons. You should see a Bus Network with devices linked to it in a grid configuration.

The following diagram shows a sample top-level and subnet map view for a small network. Note that
some devices have vendor-specific icons while others have generic icons. Each generic device icon is
marked as SNMP or ICMP (Ping), which is important in determining discovery problems.

33
Failure Symptoms and Solutions

The discovery agent uses a heuristic algorithm to find network devices. That means it is somewhat
non-deterministic and will show different results from one run to another. There are many reasons for
this, including lost broadcast responses (buffer overflows, collisions), lost polls, slow responses, etc.
This is completely normal. However, there are some permanent failure cases that you can resolve. The
following symptoms are typical of a discovery failure:

1. Nothing added to the map (after a suitable wait period of several minutes).
2. Top-level map only or mostly contains subnet icons, with no links.
3. Some or all SNMP devices are added to lower level subnets as Ping icons.
4. Not all expected network devices are discovered.

The following sections describe solutions to these problems.

Discovery Agent Fails to Connect to the Server

Look at the Current tab of the Event Log Tool. If you can’t see the Event Log Tool, use the
View/Event Log Tool to show it. Scroll to the top of the event log. You should see an entry that says
Discovery/Status Agent Connected To Server. Also, use the Config/Discovery-Polling menu. You
should see an entry in the list at the left for your system IP address and the status should be connected.
If these two things are not true then the discovery agent has not properly connected to the server.

SNMPc uses TCP/IP to communicate between different components. This can conflict with other
software running on your system. Look for any other management applications or Windows services
and stop them (e.g., Windows SNMP Trap Service). Try installing on a different system that has less
software installed to help identify the conflicting software. This is a rare failure case.

Incorrect or Missing Community Names

Each SNMP V1 device uses a Read Community password for SNMP access. This is typically set to
public when the device is installed but in most cases your network administrator has changed the
community name. Furthermore, many different community names may be in use on your network.
• Determine what community names are used
in your network devices.
• Use the Config/Discovery-Polling menu.
• Select your system address in the agents list.
• Press the Comm tab.
• For each community name, press the Add
button. Set the Read Access Mode and
Read/Write Access Mode to SNMP V1 and
set Read Community and Read/Write
Community to valid community names
• Press the OK button.
• Use the File/Reset menu to delete the
discovered map and restart discovery.

34
SNMP Device Access Control List
Many SNMP devices have an Access Control List (ACL). An ACL is a list of IP addresses from which
the device accepts SNMP requests. This is a vendor-specific security feature that is configured at the
device using a terminal or Telnet session. At a minimum, you need to go to each Discovery Seed
device and check if it has an ACL and that your SNMPc system address is in the list. For complete
network discovery you must add your system address to any ACLs in your network.

Firewalls Block SNMP Operations

Many networks use firewall devices to stop unauthorized intrusions. It is very usual for firewalls to
block SNMP traffic because SNMP operations can shutdown and reconfigure devices. If you have any
firewalls in your network you need to make sure that your SNMPc system can send and receive SNMP
operations through the firewalls. This is normally done with a protocol filter in combination with an
Access Control List. Firewall configuration is done with a terminal or Telnet session.

Not Enough Seeds

SNMPc uses a combination of downloaded seed device information (address, routing, arp tables) and
broadcasts to discover devices. However, many devices inhibit broadcasts to networks outside of your
LAN (subnet directed broadcasts). To get around this problem you need to add more seed addresses for
routers around your network.

• Use the Config/Discovery-Polling menu.

• Select your system address in the agents list.
• Press the Seeds tab.
• For each new seed, enter the IP Address and
Subnet mask in the supplied edit boxes and
press Add.
• Press the General tab and then the Restart
button.
• Press the OK button. There is no need to
reset the map in this case.

Broadcast Packet Losses

In many cases network discovery mostly works but you don’t see as many devices as you expect. As
many devices are not represented in SNMP Arp tables they can only be discovered with broadcasts.
And broadcasts responses can be lost due to buffer overflows, collisions, etc.

To get around this problem you can enable sequential polling of every possible address within a
discovered subnet. Use the Config/Discovery-Polling menu and select the Ping Scan Subnets
checkbox then press the Restart button.

Note that SNMPc will not poll ranges that you specify but only discovered subnets. To discover more
subnets, add more seeds as described in the previous section.

35
Limiting the Scope of Discovery

If you have a large network but you only want to manage a small part of it, you need to set discovery
address range filters. Discovery filters only specify what should be included. So if you set any
discovery filters you must set enough of them to cover any address ranges you want to discover.

Address range filters are in dot notation with optional wild-card asterisk characters and numeric range
specifiers. Unless the last element is an asterisk, there must be four dot-separated elements. The
following are some valid examples:

207.*
207.212.33.*
207.200-211.*
198.*.*.22-88

• Use the Config/Discovery-Polling menu.

• Select your system address from the
agents list.
• Press the Filters tab.
• Enter a filter in the Address Range edit
box and press Add.
• Repeat for other filters.
• Press OK.
• Use the File/Reset menu to delete the
current map and restart discovery with
the new filters.

Stopping Discovery Auto-Layout

Left unattended, discovery will constantly rearrange your top-level map as new devices are added. This
is undesirable if you want to manually change the map layout. To control discovery layout, use the
Config/Discovery-Polling menu and do one of the following:

1. Uncheck the Enable Discovery check box to disable further discovery.

2. Select Discovered Objects from the Layout pull-down to add any new objects to a subnet named
Discovered Objects instead of the top-level map.
3. Select Top Level/Incremental from the Layout pull-down to add any new objects to the top-level
using an incremental layout algorithm. The existing layout will not be disturbed.

36
Using a Remote Console
The Remote Console can be used with the Enterprise Edition only.

Once you have accustomed yourself to using SNMPc Enterprise in a standalone configuration, the first
level of extension is to login from a remote workstation. You can login from any workstation that is
running TCP/IP and is connected to your network in some way (e.g., over the Internet, leased line,
LAN, etc.). However, the SNMPc Enterprise console has fairly heavy bandwidth requirements and will
not perform adequately on low-speed dial-up lines. We recommend that you only login remotely over
LAN or T1 speed lines.

Perform the following steps to install an SNMPc Enterprise Remote Console on a computer.

• Place the SNMPc CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.

• From the Windows Start menu, select Run and enter d:\setup.exe (replace d with the drive letter for
your CD-ROM drive). Press OK.

• At the component selection dialog, press the Console button.

• The setup program will proceed to install the SNMPc Enterprise Remote Console on your system.
Once the installation is complete you can login to a running SNMPc Enterprise server. From the
Windows Start menu, select the Programs/SNMPc Network Manager/Login Console menu.
Enter the IP Address of the server computer and press OK. You are now logged in to the server
and can perform any console operations remotely

The base Enterprise Edition supports a maximum of ten Windows Consoles. In order to run more than
ten Windows Consoles, you must purchase the Remote Access Extension license key option. Once you
have this license key, use the Config/Software Keys menu and add the key in the provided edit box.

37
Using the JAVA Console

JAVA Console Requirements

The JAVA Console has the following requirements:

1. You must run the SNMPc Server under Windows Vista, NT, XP, 2000 or 2003.

2. The SNMPc JAVA Console was compiled using JAVA version 1.5.0. You should install this, or a
more recent, version of the JAVA runtime on the remote client before trying to run the console
applet.

3. You must run a WEB Server on the SNMPc Enterprise server system. This is not included with
SNMPc.

Installing and Using the JAVA Console

Perform the following steps to install and use the JAVA Console:

Step 1: Install and enable a WEB Server application (not included with SNMPc).

Step 2: Create a directory for the JAVA Console components that is accessible to your WEB Server.

Step 3: Copy the following JAVA Console components to the directory created in step 2 above:

<snmpc>\java\crc.jar
<snmpc>\java\default.html
<snmpc>\java\manual

where <snmpc> is the SNMPc installation directory. Manual is a directory and contains all of the
online documentation in HTML format.

Step 4: Using a WEB Browser from any system, enter the URL for the SNMPc JAVA Console startup
page as follows:

http://a.b.c.d/snmpcjavadir/default.html

where a.b.c.d is the IP address of the SNMPc server system and snmpcjavadir is the directory where
you placed the JAVA Console components. The JAVA Console will be executed inside the WEB
browser.

38
The JAVA Console provides limited functionality and is read-only. It is designed for occasional use or
for snmpc access over low-speed lines. Once you are running the JAVA Console Help menu to learn
about using the JAVA user interface.

Restricting JAVA Console Access

You can limit the addresses that are allowed to connect to SNMPc by editing the SNMPc.ini file. The
SNMPc.ini file is located in the directory that SNMPc was installed to. Add the following line to the
[Server] section:

AcceptAddrs=a.b.c.d,aa.bb.cc.dd,...

where "a.b.c.d" and "aa.bb.cc.dd" are acceptable client addresses. You may add as many addresses as
you like separated by commas. These must be IP Addresses. Domain names are not acceptable.

39
Installing Remote Polling Agents
The Remote Polling Agent can be used with the Enterprise Edition only. Note that the evaluation
version installs the Enterprise Edition.

You can add a Remote Polling Agent to another computer on your network. This computer could be on
the same LAN or in another city. Unlike the Remote Console computer, you can add a Polling Agent
on the other side of a low-speed line because it does not have high bandwidth requirements.

Adding one or more remote Polling Agents solves the following problems:

• A polling agent on the other side of a slow or expensive line can poll devices independently,
notifying you only when a change occurs. This saves money and frees up the line for other uses.
• If you have many devices in your network, or if you want to poll many devices for long-term
statistics, your server computer may become overburdened and response times will decrease.
Using a remote Polling Agent offloads the polling tasks from the server computer.
• Remote Polling Agents residing on privately addressed networks (i.e., 10. addresses) allow polling
of devices that are not normally accessible from public networks and which may have duplicate
addresses.
• Automatic discovery of a large network can present an unwieldy top level map. Remote Polling
agents resolve this issue by creating a new top-level submap icon for each Polling Agent region.

Perform the following steps to install an SNMPc Enterprise Remote Polling Agent:

• Place the SNMPc CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.

• From the Windows Start menu, select Run and enter d:\setup.exe (replace d with the drive letter for
your CD-ROM drive). Press OK.
• At the component selection dialog, press the Poller button.
• A dialog will prompt you for a Discovery Seed and Community Name. Enter the IP address and
community name for any SNMP device (usually the default gateway) on your network.
• A dialog will prompt you for the IP address of the SNMPc Enterprise Server workstation and the
Remote Poller password. The password is initially blank.
• The setup program will proceed to install the Polling Agent on your system. After the installation
is complete, logoff from Windows and then logon again. The Polling Agent will be started and it
will automatically connect to the SNMPc Enterprise server.

Each Enterprise Edition server supports a maximum of ten Remote Polling Agents. For larger
networks you can connect multiple servers together in a Manager of Managers architecture.

The configuration and use of Remote Polling Agents is an advanced topic that is beyond the scope of
this document. For information on configuring and using Remote Polling Agents, use the
Config/Discovery-Polling menu and press the Help button. Read the link named Managing
Multiple Discovery Agents.

40
Adding a Redundant Backup Server
Backup Server functionality is available with the Enterprise Edition only. Note that the evaluation
version installs the Enterprise Edition.

By using two SNMPc servers with one designated as a Primary and the other as Backup server you can
continue monitoring your network if the Primary system is disabled for any reason. The Primary
SNMPc server will automatically export its configuration files to the Backup server on a scheduled
basis. It’s important to do this automatically so that the Backup server is always up to date.

When the Backup server detects a failure of the Primary server it will take over all polling of the
network, including instructing any remote polling agents to reconnect to the Backup server.

The following preconditions must exist before configuring the redundant backup server functionality:

• The password for the Administrator and Remote Poller users must be the same on both systems.

• There must be an available communication path between both systems and from each system to
any remote polling agents you are using.

Use the Config/Backup-Restore menu to configure

redundant backup server functionality on both the primary
and backup servers.

Use the Enable Backup Service checkbox to enable or

disable database export (primary server) and primary
server monitoring (backup server). This check box must
be enabled on both systems.

Use the This system is currently polling map objects

checkbox to enable or disable map object status polling at
the server you are logged on to. This checkbox is usually
enabled at the primary server and disabled at the backup
server.

The backup server takes over polling of all map devices by automatically setting the This system is
currently polling map objects checkbox on. Once you have resolved the problem at the primary
Server, disable this checkbox at the backup system to revert to the normal state.

Use the Primary Server Address and Backup Server Address edit boxes to set the IP address, in dot
notation, of the corresponding server systems. These settings must be the same on both systems.

Use the Test Interval and Test Retries edit boxes to set the time between checks of the primary server
by the backup server and how many times to retry before taking over polling.

41
Other SNMPc Features
This document has only described some of the most commonly used SNMPc features. SNMPc is a full-
featured distributed network management system that will meet your most demanding needs. These are
some of the other features that you will find described in the Online Help system.

• Running Tasks as Windows Services

• Windows Task Bar Control Icon
• Private MIB Import
• User audit events (login and map edit)
• Manager-of-managers support
• SNMPc 4.0 Map Import
• Scheduled Backups
• ODBC Database Export
• Custom MIB Tables
• Custom MIB Expressions
• Custom Menus
• Graphical Device Views
• MIB Variable Browser
• RMON User Interface
• Alarm box event action
• Event Forwarding
• Running External Programs
• Automatic Icon/Program Selection
• Programming Interfaces

How to Buy SNMPc

If you are using an evaluation copy of SNMPc, the evaluation period will expire 30 days after
installation. We hope this document has helped you to get acquainted with SNMPc and that you will
soon purchase one of the SNMPc product options. If you have any pre-sales questions or comments,
please send an email to [email protected] or call us at 408-366-6540 (United States).

There are several options for buying SNMPc, including online electronic delivery and purchase from
one of our resellers. For complete pricing and purchasing information please go to the Sales page of
www.castlerock.com.

For a detailed comparison of the three SNMPc product options, please go to the Product Options link
on the Products page of www.castlerock.com.

If you want to buy SNMPc after using the evaluation version, there is no need to reinstall any software
components. The evaluation version you downloaded from the WEB includes the latest updates and
may be newer than the CDROM you receive. To upgrade your evaluation copy, just enter your
purchased license keys at the Welcome dialog when you start the SNMPc Server.
42
Appendix A – Event Message/Exec Parameters
Use Event Parameters in Event Action Filters to substitute information related to a specific event.
Event Parameters can be used in the Event Message and as arguments to a program in the Exec
Program action. The available Event Parameters are described in the following table.

PARAMETER EXPANSION
$$ The dollar ($) symbol
$V Event message text (for Exec Program action).
$W Console frame window number.
$L License sequence number for ODBC node ID export.
$l Log entry record number (can only be used for run program action, not in message)
$M Server IP Address.
$R Address of sending entity (could be the same as the target device, or Polling Agent)
$F Event Action Filter name.
$f Event Action Filter database record number.
$O Trap Name as a textual string.
$o Trap Object Identifier in dot format.
$P Device parent submap name.
$A Address of target device (device that the event is about)
$T Trap Community Name.
$x Date the event occurred, in local format at server.
$X Time the event occurred, in time zone of server.
$@ Time the event occurred, in seconds since Jan 1, 1970.
$U Value of sysUpTime in the event trap.
$N The map object name of the target device.
$B The map object MAC address of the target device
$D The map object description of the target device
$h The map object group number of the target device
$H The map object group name of the target device
$i The map database record number of the target device.
$G The Read Community name of the target device
$S The Set Community name of the target device.
$E The timeout attribute, in seconds, of the target device
$Y The max retries for the target device
$C The number of variables in the event trap.
$z The priority number of the associated log event.
$Z The priority name of the associated log event.
$* All variables as "[seq] name (type): value".
$-n The nth variable as "name (type): value"
$+n The nth variable as "name: value".
$n The nth variable as “value”
$>n All variables from the nth as "value".
$>-n All variables from the nth as "[seq] name (type): value.
$>+n All variables from the nth as "name: value.

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44