6.0.1

Table Of Contents
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Configure the SNMP Agent for Polling on page 151
If you configure the ESXi SNMP agent for polling, it can listen for and respond to requests from SNMP
management client systems, such as GET, GETNEXT and GETBULK requests.
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Configure ESXi for SNMP v1 and v2c on page 152
When you configure the ESXi SNMP agent for SNMP v1 and v2c, the agent supports sending
notifications and receiving GET requests.
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Configure ESXi for SNMP v3 on page 153
When you configure the ESXi SNMP agent for SNMP v3, the agent supports sending informs as well
as traps. SNMP v3 also provides stronger security than v1 or v2c, including key authentication and
encryption.
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Configure the Source of Hardware Events Received by the SNMP Agent on page 157
You can configure the ESXi SNMP agent to receive hardware events either from IPMI sensors or CIM
indications.
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Configure the SNMP Agent to Filter Notifications on page 158
You can configure the ESXi SNMP agent to filter out notifications if you don't want your SNMP
management software to receive those notifications.
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Configure SNMP Management Client Software on page 159
After you have configured a vCenter Server instance or an ESXi host to send traps, you must configure
your management client software to receive and interpret those traps.
Configure the SNMP Agent for Polling
If you configure the ESXi SNMP agent for polling, it can listen for and respond to requests from SNMP
management client systems, such as GET, GETNEXT and GETBULK requests.
By default, the embedded SNMP agent listens on UDP port 161 for polling requests from management
systems. You can use the esxcli system snmp set command with the --port option to configure an
alternative port. To avoid conflicting with other services, use a UDP port that is not defined
in /etc/services.
If you run ESXCLI commands through vCLI, you must supply connection options that specify the target
host and login credentials. If you use ESXCLI commands directly on a host using the ESXi Shell, you can use
the commands as given without specifying connection options. For more information on connection options
see vSphere Command-Line Interface Concepts and Examples.
Prerequisites
Configure the ESXi SNMP agent by using the ESXCLI commands. See Getting Started with vSphere Command-
Line Interfaces for more information on how to use ESXCLI.
Procedure
1
Run the esxcli system snmp set command with the --port option to configure the port.
For example, run the following command:
esxcli system snmp set --port port
Here, port is the port the SNMP agent uses to listen for polling requests.
NOTE The port you specify must not be already in use by other services. Use IP addresses from the
dynamic range, port 49152 and up.
2 (Optional) If the ESXi SNMP agent is not enabled, run the following command:
esxcli system snmp set --enable true
Chapter 9 Monitoring Networked Devices with SNMP and vSphere
VMware, Inc. 151