Need basic help with SNMP

[lreadshaw]

Hey all,
First off, let me say that I am brand new to Zabbix. I have always been a Cacti user but am unimpressed with its monitoring/alerting capabilities. However, configuration and setup of hosts on Cacti is extremely easy. With Zabbix, I seem to be running into trouble. Specifically, I am having issues configuring monitoring of snmp only hosts (i.e. Cisco devices). I'm hoping someone can give me a basic walkthrough or point me in the right direction. Here's the questions I have:

1. When I setup a host that will be snmp only (i.e. no zabbix_agent), how do I configure it when creating the host? Do I set it to not monitored since Zabbix assumes a monitored host uses a zabbix_agent? If I set it to monitored, it just says it can't connect.

2. I've successfully created the items that poll the correct snmp OIDS for a cisco switch. How do I now create a graph that includes those items?

3. What exactly is the "key" in the snmp settings for an item configuration?

Sorry for the noob questions, but this is all new to me.

[dantheman]

Hey all,
First off, let me say that I am brand new to Zabbix. I have always been a Cacti user but am unimpressed with its monitoring/alerting capabilities. However, configuration and setup of hosts on Cacti is extremely easy. With Zabbix, I seem to be running into trouble. Specifically, I am having issues configuring monitoring of snmp only hosts (i.e. Cisco devices). I'm hoping someone can give me a basic walkthrough or point me in the right direction. Here's the questions I have:

1. When I setup a host that will be snmp only (i.e. no zabbix_agent), how do I configure it when creating the host? Do I set it to not monitored since Zabbix assumes a monitored host uses a zabbix_agent? If I set it to monitored, it just says it can't connect.

It will need to be set to monitored, and make sure the port is set to the same as the snmp port on the device you are monitoring, which the default is 161. Zabbix doesn't know if it is using snmp, or the agent or anything until you setup an item to monitor. Also I have all my items configured to use type SNMP v1.

2. I've successfully created the items that poll the correct snmp OIDS for a cisco switch. How do I now create a graph that includes those items?

If you just want to look at any individual item, once there is collected data, the graph is automatically available, no additional setup!, just go to Latest Data, choose that host, find the item you are monitoring, and click graph on the right side. From there you can change the time frame you are looking at if you want to see longer than the hour default.

3. What exactly is the "key" in the snmp settings for an item configuration?

From what I can tell, it is more of just a unique name (I think for zabbix purposes) it doesn't affect what is polled from the snmp device.

Sorry for the noob questions, but this is all new to me.

Not a problem, glad to help!

[mwagenknecht]

It will need to be set to monitored, and make sure the port is set to the same as the snmp port on the device you are monitoring, which the default is 161. Zabbix doesn't know if it is using snmp, or the agent or anything until you setup an item to monitor. Also I have all my items configured to use type SNMP v1.

I have tried to use the port 161 for a device I want to add to zabbix. But I get an error that the device is not responding. If I make a snmpwalk with the device I get data. I think there is a general problem with the snmp connection.

[raminix]

I have tried to use the port 161 for a device I want to add to zabbix. But I get an error that the device is not responding. If I make a snmpwalk with the device I get data. I think there is a general problem with the snmp connection.

Have you double checked your settings in Zabbix to make sure you're using the same community name and SNMP version as you did in the snmpwalk?