Chapter 3   Configuring SNMP to Monitor
iPlanet Application Server with
Third-Party Tools


This chapter describes how to configure Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) so that you can monitor iPlanet Application Server with third-party SNMP management tools.

The following topics are included in this chapter:

• About SNMP

• Enabling SNMP Statistics Collection

• About the Management Information Base (MIB)

• Setting Up the Master Agent and SubAgents

About SNMP

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SNMP is a protocol used to exchange data about network activity. With SNMP, data travels between your application server and a workstation where network management software is installed. From this workstation, you can remotely monitor your network and exchange information about network activity between servers. For example, using an application like HP OpenView, you can monitor which iPlanet Application Server machines are running, as well as the number and type of error messages your application servers receive.

Your network management workstation exchanges information with the application servers in your enterprise through two types of agents: the subagent and the master agent. The subagent gathers information about an application server and passes that information to the master agent. The master agent exchanges information between the various subagents and the network management workstation. The master agent runs on the same host machine as the subagents with which it communicates.

Figure 3-1    SNMP Agent Support Architecture

Enabling SNMP Statistics Collection

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The iPlanet Application Server SNMP subagent does not report SNMP statistics to the network management workstation unless you enable statistics collection. If statistics collection is not enabled, the subagent cannot be started.

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Note	If the network management workstation experiences difficulty obtaining SNMP statistics, check the server log information located at the following path: <iASInstallDir>/<mail-instanceName>/log/default/

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If the SNMP data collection process (snmpcoll), is not running, check the iPlanet Administration Console to see whether the SNMP enable flag is on. For more information, see Managing Servers with Netscape Console at http://docs.iplanet.com/

If you disable the startup server, this collection process is also disabled.

To enable data collection, perform the following steps:

1. Click General on the iPlanet Application Server Administration Tool (iASAT) toolbar to open the General window.

2. In the right pane of the General window, click the SNMP tab.

   
   
   

3. Mark the Enable SNMP Administration and Monitoring check box.

   This step enables the SNMP subagent to publish statistics about the application server to the master agent.

4. Mark the Enable SNMP Debug checkbox, to log error messages if there is a problem with connecting to the master agent.

5. Specify an interval in the Connection Attempt interval text field.

   This is the time interval in which the subagent will attempt to connect to the master agent.
   

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   Note	You will have to re-start the iPlanet Application Server server for these settings to take affect.

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About the Management Information Base (MIB)

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iPlanet Application Server stores variables pertaining to network management in a tree-like hierarchy known as the server's management information base (MIB). iPlanet Application Server reports significant events to the network management workstation by sending messages containing these variables. The network management workstation can also query the server's MIB for data or can remotely change variables stored in the MIB.

This section includes the following topics:

• Formatting MIB Entries

• Making MIB Available on SNMP Third-Party Management Software

Formatting MIB Entries

The MIB file contains the definitions for managed objects, or variables, that store network information for the server. Each variable definition includes the variable name, its data type and read/write access level, a brief description, and a permanent object identifier.

This sample entry shows the definition for the nsmailEntityDescr variable:

nasKesMaxThread OBJECT-TYPE / object type SYNTAX INTEGER (SIZE (1..512)) / syntax ACCESS read-write / read/write access level STATUS mandatory / status DESCRIPTION / description "The maximum number of threads used to serve requests." ::= { kes 4 } / object identifier

This definition contains the following information:

• Object Type: gives the name of the variable, in this case, iasKesMaxThread.

• Syntax: gives the abstract data type of the variable object type in ASN.1 notation. For example, the Syntax of the nasKesMaxThread variable is INTEGER (SIZE (1..512)).

• Access: gives the required access level to the variable. Possible access levels are read-only, read-write, write-only, or not-accessible.

• Status: tells whether the element is mandatory, optional, or obsolete.

• Description: text description of the element, enclosed in quotes. For example, the description of the nasKesMaxThread variable is "The maximum number of threads used to serve requests."

• Object Identifier: assigned name that serves as a permanent identifier for each managed object in the MIB name tree in its name space. Objects in SNMP are hierarchical; the object identifier is a sequence of labels that represents the object in the hierarchy. For example, nasKesMaxThread is identified as kes 4. This means that it has the label 4 in the subtree kes.

  Note that kes, in turn, has the label 4 in the kesTable subtree.

Making MIB Available on SNMP Third-Party Management Software

Refer to the SNMP management software for detailed procedures for making the MIB available. In general, you have to copy the iPlanet Application Server MIB to the Network Management machine and then load it into the SNMP management software's MIB database.

You can find the iPlanet Application Server MIB database in the following location:

<iASInstallDir>/plugins/snmp/

Setting Up the Master Agent and SubAgents

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The SNMP Master agent is native to your Solaris operating system. Master agent operation is defined in an agent configuration file called CONFIG. You can edit the CONFIG file manually.

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Note	This procedure assumes that you are running Solaris 2.6 with recommended patches. It also assumes that iPlanet Web Server is installed.

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This section includes the following topics:

• To Configure the Master SNMP Agent

• To Start the SNMP Master Agent

• To Verify SNMP Configuration

To Configure the Master SNMP Agent

To configure the master SNMP agent, perform the following steps:

1. Log in as root.

2. Check to see if there is a Solaris SNMP daemon (snmpdx) running on port 161.

   If an SNMP daemon is running, make sure you know how to restart it and which MIB trees it supports. Then kill its process.

3. Edit the Solaris SNMP daemon start-up file s76snmpdx in /etc/rc3.d to modify the port to which the daemon listens.

   In the start section, replace the line

   /usr/lib/snmp/snmpdx -y -c /etc/snmp/conf

   or

   /usr/lib/snmpdx -p 161 -y -c /etc/snmpconf

   with

   /usr/lib/snmp/snmpdx -p 1161 -y -c /etc/snmp/conf

   You have changed the port to which the daemon listens from 161 to 1161.

4. Edit the CONFIG file located in <iASInstallDir>/ias/snmp in the server root directory.

   The CONFIG file defines the community and the manager that the master agent will work with. The manager value should be a valid system name or an IP address. The following is an example of a basic CONFIG file:

   COMMUNITY	public ALLOW ALL OPERATIONS
   MANAGER	your_manager_station_name SEND ALL TRAPS TO PORT 162 WITH COMMUNITY public

5. (Optional) Define sysContact and SysLocation variables in the CONFIG file.

   You can edit the CONFIG file to add initial values for sysContact and sysLocation which specify the sysContact and sysLocation MIB-II variables. Note that the strings for sysContact and sysLocation in this example are enclosed in quotes. Any string that contains spaces, line breaks, tabs, and so on must be in quotes. You can also specify the value in hexadecimal notation.

   In this sample CONFIG file, sysContract and sysLocation variables are defined:

   COMMUNITY	public ALLOW ALL OPERATIONS
   MANAGER	nms2 SEND ALL TRAPS TO PORT 162 WITH COMMUNITY public
   INITIAL	sysLocation "Server room 501 East Middlefield Road Mountain View, CA 94043 USA"
   INITIAL	sysContact "John Doe email: <jdoe@iPlanet.com>"

The encapsulator forwards requests from the master agent to the Solaris agent that now listens on port 1161.

6. Edit the file CONFIG_SAGT, modifying the following lines:

   Agent at 1161 with Community Public

   This configures the subagent to serve the Solaris agent on port 1161.

   Subtrees <list of oids>

   This configures the SNMP subtrees served by the Solaris agent.

   Forward All Traps

   This ensures that all traps sent by the Solaris agent are forwarded to the master agent.

To Start the SNMP Master Agent

Once you have installed the SNMP master agent, you can start it manually or by using iPlanet Console.

To start the master agent manually, enter the following at the command prompt:

# magt CONFIG INIT &

The INIT file is a nonvolatile file that contains information from the MIB-II system group, including system location and contact information. If INIT doesn't already exist, starting the master agent for the first time will create it. An invalid manager name in the CONFIG file will cause the master agent start up to fail.

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Note	INIT contains information about the local system. This file is created the first time you start the master agent. You should not copy this file across machines.

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To automatically start the master agent when you start the server, perform the following steps:

1. Edit the files ias/snmp/k75snmpmagt and ias/snmp/S75snmpmagt.

2. Change $GX_ROOTDIR to the iPlanet Application Server installation directory path if this variable is not yet defined in the root's environment.

3. Copy k75snmpmagt to /etc/rc2.d and s75snmpmagt to /etc/rc3.d.

To start a master agent manually on a nonstandard port, use one of two methods:

• Method 1: In the CONFIG file, specify a transport mapping for each interface over which the master agent listens for SNMP requests from managers. Transport mappings allow the master agent to accept connections at the standard port and at a nonstandard port. The master agent can also accept SNMP traffic at a nonstandard port. The maximum number of concurrent SNMP is limited by your target system's limits on the number of open sockets or file descriptors per process. The following is an example of a transport mapping entry:

  TRANSPORT	extraordinary SNMP OVER UDP SOCKET AT PORT 11161

  After editing the CONFIG file manually, you should start the master agent manually by typing the following at the command prompt:

  # magt CONFIG INIT&

• Method 2: Edit the /etc/services file to allow the master agent to accept connections at the standard port as well as at a nonstandard port.

To Verify SNMP Configuration

After you have performed the procedures outlined in this chapter, you can verify SNMP setup.

To verify SNMP, perform the following:

1. Stop iPlanet Application Server. For more information on starting and stopping iPlanet Application Server, see To Start and Stop a Server Using iASAT.

   Also make sure that all iPlanet Application Server processes (KAS, KXS, KJS and KCS) are stopped.

2. Verify that Directory Server is running. If it is not running start Directory Server, by executing the following command:

   <iASInstallDir>/slapd-<hostname>/start-slapd

3. Verify that iPlanet Web Server (iWS) (e.g. https-servername) is running. If it is not running start it as follows:

   /usr/iplanet/suitespot/https-solsystem/start

   where solsystem is the server name.

4. Verify that the Solaris SNMP agent (snmpdx) is running using the UNIX ps command as follows:

   ps -ef | grep snmpd

   If it is not running, start it with:

   /etc/rc3.d/S76snmpclx start

5. Verify that the iPlanet Application Server Master Agent (magt) and encapsulator/proxy subagent (sagt) are running using the UNIX ps command as follows:

   ps -ef | grep magt

   ps -ef | grep sagt

   If they are not running, start them with:

   /etc/rc3.d/S75snmpmagt start

6. Start iPlanet Application Server.

7. Use your third-party SNMP management software's MIB browser or test utility (for example, snmpwalk) to confirm that SNMP data is being collected.