SNMP Tools - monitoring software

SNMP Tools can be controlled from command-line. Executable contains modules. Each module has its own switches.

SNMP Query module for requesting data from SNMP devices

Run snmptools.exe using "Command Prompt".

Following command-line options can be used to control query module:

/query		Run SNMP Query (cannot use with /monitor) REQUIRED
	/h:<Host>[:<Port>]	Host name or IP address (default=localhost) Port number is optional (default=161)
	/c:<Community>	Community name (default=public)
	/o:<ObjectId>	Object ID (default=subkeys from 1.3.6.1.2.1.1)
	/v	Display values only (hide value type and ObjectID information)
	/n	Display numeric form only (do not load MIBs)
	/s	Surf sub-keys (requires ObjectID having sub-keys)
	/x:<File>	Export results to CSV file (requires /s)

Use following example to Extract everything from SNMP device and store it into csv-file:

CSV-files can be easily opened with Excel.

Use /v switch if you need to use query results in cmd-files. For example, if you for some reason should need to enumerate storage devices in cmd-file:

If you have enterprise-specific device (most systems are) then you'll need to add more MIBs. For example if you see MIB paths containing like ...enterprises.318... then you'll need to add MIBs for enterprise number 318 (318 is APC). Download MIBs to new folder and add them to your MIB cache using /m switch:

You'll need use /m switch only once. Once cached loaded MIBs are always available.

One good MIB collection is available from ByteSphere at this location:
http://www.oidview.com/mibs/detail.html

RFC2MIB module for downloading RFCs and extract MIBs

Following command-line options can be used to control rfc2mib module:

/rfc2mib		Download missing RFCs and extract MIBs from them REQUIRED
	/url:<rfcurl>	Download URL (default=http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc{nnnn}.txt)
	/min:<rfcmin>	Start Number (default=1)
	/max:<rfcmax>	Stop Number (default=5000)
	/extract	Extract MIBs from existing RFCs only, do not download

Tool downloads RFCs to ...\rfc\ sub-directory and extracts MIBs to ...\mib\ sub-directory. By default all RFCs between 1 and 5000 get downloaded and analyzed. If RFC already exists then download skips it. To download only specific RFCs use /min and /max switches. To (re)extract MIBs from RFCs use /extract switch.

MIB Cache

SNMP Tools uses MIB Cache to speed up loading large number of MIBs. Once cached it takes only second or two for few thousand MIBs to load. MIB data is cached in mibcache.txt. If cache gets corrupted replace mibcache.txt file with original mibcache.txt from installation package.

You can rebuild it by yourself by running the following command to re-cache all MIBs:

SNMP Monitor module for monitoring SNMP devices

All monitoring tasks should run automatically. Command-line switches are provided for trouble-shooting and for advanced users.

All configured devices and monitored data is stored in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database.

Following command-line options can be used to control monitor module:

/monitor		Run SNMP Monitor (cannot use with /query) REQUIRED, This queries devices, stores the data and updates the graphs.
	/st[oreonly]	Store values only, do not generate output graphs (scheduled to run at 1 minute interval)
	/gr[aphsonly]	Generate output graphs only, do not store values (scheduled to run at 5 minute interval)
/clean[mon]		Remove expired graphs and consolidate data in SQL database so that older data has lower detail level. This keeps the database small and fast. (Scheduled to run daily at midnight, do not change the schedule)

Run to see if there are any errors generated (disable monitoring related scheduled tasks to avoid conflicts during the test):