6.0.1

Table Of Contents
Configure SNMP Management Client Software
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.
To configure your management client software, specify the communities for the managed device, configure
the port settings, and load the VMware MIB files. See the documentation for your management system for
specific instructions for these steps.
Prerequisites
To complete this task, download the VMware MIB files from the VMware Web site:
http://communities.vmware.com/community/developer/managementapi.
Procedure
1 In your management software, specify the vCenter Server instance or ESXi host as an SNMP-based
managed device.
2 If you are using SNMP v1 or v2c, set up appropriate community names in the management software.
These names must correspond to the communities set for the SNMP agent on the vCenter Server
instance or ESXi host.
3 If you are using SNMP v3, configure users and authentication and privacy protocols to match those
configured on the ESXi host.
4 If you configured the SNMP agent to send traps to a port on the management system other than the
default UDP port 162, configure the management client software to listen on the port you configured.
5 Load the VMware MIBs into the management software so you can view the symbolic names for
vCenter Server or the host variables.
To prevent lookup errors, load these MIB files in the following order before loading other MIB files:
a VMWARE-ROOT-MIB.mib
b VMWARE-TC-MIB.mib
c VMWARE-PRODUCTS-MIB.mib
The management software can now receive and interpret traps fromvCenter Server or ESXi hosts.
SNMP Diagnostics
You can use SNMP tools to diagnose configuration problems.
n
Run the esxcli system snmp test command from the vSphere CLI set to prompt the SNMP agent to
send a test warmStart trap.
n
Run the esxcli system snmp get command to display the current configuration of the SNMP agent.
n
The SNMPv2-MIB.mib file provides a number of counters to aid in debugging SNMP problems. See
“SNMPv2 Diagnostic Counters,” on page 161.
n
The VMWARE-AGENTCAP-MIB.mib file defines the capabilities of the VMware SNMP agents by product
version. Use this file to determine if the SNMP functionality that you want to use is supported.
Monitor Guest Operating Systems with SNMP
You can use SNMP to monitor guest operating systems or applications running in virtual machines.
The virtual machine uses its own virtual hardware devices. Do not install agents in the virtual machines that
are intended to monitor physical hardware.
Chapter 9 Monitoring Networked Devices with SNMP and vSphere
VMware, Inc. 159