6.0.1

Table Of Contents
Monitoring Networked Devices with
SNMP and vSphere 9
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is commonly used by management programs to monitor a
variety of networked devices.
vSphere systems run SNMP agents, which can provide information to a management program in at least
one of the following ways:
n
In response to a GET, GETBULK, or GETNEXT operation, which is a specific request for information from the
management system.
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By sending a notification which is an alert sent by the SNMP agent to notify the management system of
a particular event or condition.
Management Information Base (MIB) files define the information that can be provided by managed devices.
The MIB files define managed objects, described by object identifiers (OIDs) and variables arranged in a
hierarchy.
vCenter Server and ESXi have SNMP agents. The agent provided with each product has different
capabilities.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Using SNMP Traps with vCenter Server,” on page 149
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“Configure SNMP for ESXi,” on page 150
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“SNMP Diagnostics,” on page 159
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“Monitor Guest Operating Systems with SNMP,” on page 159
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“VMware MIB Files,” on page 160
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“SNMPv2 Diagnostic Counters,” on page 161
Using SNMP Traps with vCenter Server
The SNMP agent included with vCenter Server can be used to send traps when vCenter Server starts and
when an alarm is triggered on vCenter Server. The vCenter Server SNMP agent functions only as a trap
emitter and does not support other SNMP operations, such as receiving GET, GETBULK, and GETNEXT requests.
vCenter Server can send SNMP v1 traps to other management programs. You must configure your
management server to interpret the SNMP traps sent by vCenter Server.
To use the vCenter Server SNMP traps, configure the SNMP settings on vCenter Server and your
management client software to accept the traps from vCenter Server.
The traps sent by vCenter Server are defined in VMWARE-VC-EVENT-MIB.mib.
VMware, Inc.
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