SNMP Polling

Monitoring Studio Express enables you to poll SNMP agents and analyze the values retrieved from single OID variables or SNMP tables. You can then run string searches and/or perform numerical value extractions on the return output.

The Studio – SNMP Polling tool allows you to poll SNMP agents and retrieve single OID values or SNMP table values within the BMC Portal environment. Retrieving the OID values enables operators to easily identify the root source of a problem and remain informed of the status and health of the monitored device.

You can then fine-tune your monitoring by running string searches and/or performing numeric value extractions on the return output of the monitored instances.

•	Applications often rely on middleware instrumented with SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) agents, which contain managed objects that provide information related to the current state of its operation.

•	These objects are arranged in a Management Information Base (MIB). SNMP is an Application Layer protocol that allows external tools to communicate with the agent and read the values of the objects.

•	The SNMP agent collects critical information about the middleware, and Monitoring Studio Express, directly polls the agent and retrieves the value of a given OID (object identifier). All the operator has to do is interrogate the MIB and interpret the value of the OID retrieved by Monitoring Studio.

1.	Identify the host (SNMP agent), port and community string

3.	Monitoring Studio Express retrieves the values and represents it in a graph.

Fine-tune the monitoring by searching for strings or performing numeric value extractions in the return output of the OID content…

(HB) = "Higher is Better" and (LB) = "Lower is Better". HB and LB parameters will always display the same value since, basically, both represent the same value. The purpose of having two parameters for the same value is to be able to set different alert thresholds depending on the nature of the monitored object.
For instance, an alert can be set to be triggered on the HB parameter when the value dips too low (it breaches the lower threshold of the range) and an alert can be set on the LB parameter to go off when the value rises too high. The setting of alerts is flexible and can be done on either of the two parameters, on both, or on neither; it depends entirely on nature of the monitored object and the user's specific needs.

Text Value vs Numeric Value: These parameters display the specified OID object. If it is a numeric value, the Text Value parameter will not be collected, and the results will appear in the Numeric Value parameters or vice-versa.