How to enable SNMP Sets on ESX agents

[Jeff Easton]

We have our VMWare ESX servers setup and in SIM 5.2sp2, with a proper snmp.conf file and certificates. Everything seems to work except when you try to Clear an IML log entry or if you try and turn on the UID LED. These error out with a "The Set Attempt Failed..." error.

In the Windows environment, I know you need to go into the agent settings in Control Panel and check the Enable SNMP Sets box.

Where is the equivilent in the Linux agents? We dug around in the Agent install and config scripts and didnt find anything.

We are running ESX 3.5 Update 2 with HP Agents 8.0.0a

-Jeff

[JKytsi]

Maybe You should still run the configure or repair agents -job from SIM to ESX

[Jeff Easton]

It took awhile to get together with the ESX admin but we did figure it out.

Turns out we had this in the snmpd.conf file for local host;

rocommunity snmpcomst 127.0.0.1
rwcommunity snmpconst 127.0.0.1

once we commented out the rocommunity line it started working, like this;

#rocommunity snmpcomst 127.0.0.1
rwcommunity snmpconst 127.0.0.1

This brings up another question though, we also have both lines for the SIM server, even though the snmp community string is the same, like this;

rocommunity snmpcomst cim1.domain.com
rwcommunity snmpcomst cim1.domain.com

Even though it seems to be working ok, do we need both a rw and ro line for the SIM server if we use the same snmp community string? I would think not, but I've seen examples that are setup like this...

-Jeff

[David Claypool]

RW is required for localhost so the System Management Homepage can perform SNMP sets such as setting thresholds or clearing logs. HP SIM only communicates with the System Management Homepage for any 'write' operations using secure HTTP. It never uses SNMP for any write operation over the wire. You only need to set a RO string for your HP SIM server.

rwcommunity [STRINGA] 127.0.0.1
rocommunity [STRINGB] [IP_ADDRESS_OR_DNS_NAME_OF_HP_SIM_CMS]

[Threonine_1]

Based on my troubleshooting of this issue on various servers, I've found that it works best to put all the rwcommunity lines in the config before rocommunity lines. Otherwise the read-only settings can take precedence over the read/write settings and cause the "set attempt failed" errors.

In our case, we allow read-only access from anywhere, and that was causing a problem.

For example, instead of:
rocommunity SNMPSTRING
rwcommunity SNMPSTRING 127.0.0.1

Change it to this:
rwcommunity SNMPSTRING 127.0.0.1
rocommunity SNMPSTRING

[dcolpitts]

Personally, when I set up a new ESX 3.x box with the HP Management Agents, I ssh into the console, SU, and then use the following command string to setup my agents in one step:

echo "rwcommunity community 127.0.0.1" >>/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf && echo "rwcommunity community 192.168.1.2" >>/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf && echo "dlmod cmaX /usr/lib/libcmaX.so" >>/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf && /etc/init.d/snmpd restart

The commands above should be all in one line (although it may be wrapped here).

I'm now working to find a similar command string for ESX 4.x (vSphere).

dcc

[dcolpitts]

FYI - for ESX 4.x, use the following command string to set up the agents in one step (assuming you chose to keep the original snmpd.conf during the HP Management Agents setup:

echo "rwcommunity community 127.0.0.1" >>/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf && echo "rwcommunity community 192.168.1.2" >>/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf && echo "dlmod cmaX /usr/lib64/libcmaX64.so" >>/etc/snmp/snmpd.conf && /etc/init.d/snmpd restart

The commands above should be all in one line (although it may be wrapped here).

The ESX 4.x service console is based on a x64 kernel, instead the of the x86 kernel that 3.x was based on. As a result, the path and architecture of libcmaX has changed.

Be sure to adjust the rwcommunity IPs/hostnames to suit your own network.

dcc