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Using SNMP

Network-management programs on a host computer use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to communicate with a corresponding program, called an agent, that runs on a Netstation.

SNMP is also used to monitor Netstation parallel ports and report back status and configuration information for locally attached parallel printers.

SNMP is not loaded by default. Follow the instructions in the /opt/hpxt/enware2/xthome/bin/directives file to automatically load SNMP. It supports SNMP Version 1.

This chapter provides a brief overview of SNMP Version 1 and how it is used with HP Netstation Software. Topics in this chapter include:

About SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) provides a way to monitor and control devices on a network. SNMP does this by providing a mechanism to read and set specific variables in the device. The networked devices (e.g. Netstations) run software (known as an SNMP agent) that communicates with network management software using SNMP, and performs the read and set operations.

Management Information Bases (MIBs)

In SNMP terminology, a collection of variables that can be read and set is known as a Management Information Base (MIB). HP Netstation Software supports the following MIBs:

HP Netstations also support a proprietary MIB which also allows access to many of the Netstation's configuration parameters. This MIB can be found in installdir/share/snmp/hpxt2.my in SNMP V1 standard format.

Most of the variables in this MIB are both readable and writable. Included are variables that allow rebooting the Netstation and resetting the X server. These actions can be performed both immediately or after a specified delay.

SNMP Agents and Traps

SNMP agents report events that occur to network management systems using messages called traps. The HP Netstation Software 9.0 agent can be configured to generate traps for the following events:
Event
Description
Cold start
The Netstation was just rebooted.
Authentication failure
The SNMP agent couldn't authenticate a message.
Link up
A network interface just went up.
Link down
A network interface just went down.
XDM failure
The Netstation's XDM software has closed the X session.
Low memory
The Netstations' memory pool is (almost) depleted.
Timed reset
The Netstation is about to execute a time delayed X server reset.
Timed boot
The Netstation is about to execute a time delayed reboot.

About SNMP Version 1

SNMP V1 is the commonly available version of SNMP. The agent provided with HP Netstation Software 9.0 complies with RFC 1155 and RF 1157 and those parts of RFC 1213 which apply to this type of equipment.

The SNMP agent is /opt/hpxt/enware2/xthome
/bin/archive/C/snmpd. The Netstation loads this agent by default.

V1 agents use text strings known as "communities" to control access to their MIBs. These communities essentially act as passwords.

Configuring the SNMP Agent

The SNMP agent is configured through the remote configuration file. The following variables configure the SNMP agent:

For more information about these variables, refer to Remote Configuration Parameter Reference.

Note that there can be multiple instances of SNMP Community and SNMP Trap so that more than one community and trap can be defined.

If the SNMP agent is started but the remote configuration file does not contain any SNMP Community entries, an entry is automatically created for the community "public" with read-only access.

For More Information

The Simple Network Management Protocols as implemented by HP Netstation Software are described in: RFC 1155, RFC 1157, RFC 1212, and RFC 1215.

In addition, there are several excellent books which cover SNMP in great detail. For example: 

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