SNMP overview

SNMP is the protocol used by network management systems to monitor network devices for conditions that require administrative attention. SNMP consists of a set of standards for network management, including an Application Layer protocol, a database schema, and a set of data objects. The SNMP agent software resides on the module and provides access to management information. The management information is structured as a hierarchical database known as a MIB. Each element of the MIB is identified by a unique identifier called an Object ID.

Each VC module has an independent SNMP agent that supports a set of MIBs. MIB support for each module depends both on the type of module (VC-Enet or VC-FC) and the role of the module in the VC domain. Virtual Connect supports SNMPv1, SNMPv2, and SNMPv3.

The latest version of VC-specific MIBs can be downloaded from the HP Systems Insight Manager "MIB Kit" site on the HP website (http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/hpsim/mibkit.html).

The following restrictions and limitations apply:

•By default, SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 agents are enabled on VC-Enet and VC-FC modules with a read community string of "public." The SNMP access feature does not apply to SNMPv3.

•You must have Domain role privileges to configure SNMP capabilities. The type of privilege required depends on the item you are configuring.

•The VCM GUI and CLI do not support configuration of threshold trap parameters (high-water mark, low-water mark, and averaging period).

•For Flex-10 connections, threshold traps reflect the state of the entire physical port. These traps are not generated for individual FlexNICs. For more information on Flex-10 connections, see "Flex-10 overview (on page 166)."

•When upgrading from a VC release prior to 3.00, if Fibre Channel SNMP traps were defined with the DNS type of the Trap Destination address, SNMP settings are not applied to the VC-FC modules upon completion of the upgrade. To resolve this issue, use the GUI or CLI to edit any FC SNMP trap destinations that have a DNS name for the trap destination, and change the DNS name to an IPv4 address.

•VC 3.00 and higher limits the number of FC PortStatus traps you can configure through the CLI to five. Prior releases did not enforce this restriction. If you have more than five FC PortStatus traps configured in an earlier version of VC firmware, and then you upgrade to VC 3.00 or higher, then those traps are retained. Similarly, if you restore a configuration from an earlier version of VC firmware that contains more than five configured FC PortStatus traps in VC 3.00 or higher, you will have more than the allowed number of configured FC PortStatus traps. Use caution not to exceed the maximum number of configured FC PortStatus traps in these scenarios.

The following table provides a list of MIBs and where they are supported. FlexFabric modules support the Fibre and Fabric MIBs in addition to the Enet MIBs.

MIB

 

VC-Enet

VC-FC

 

 

 

 

RFC 2863

IF-MIB

X

—

RFC 4188

Bridge-MIB

X

—

RFC 3418

SNMP v2 MIB

X

X

Compaq System Info MIB

X

X

Compaq Host MIB

X

X

Compaq Rack MIB

—

X*

Virtual Connect domains 32