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Configuring SNMP for Oracle

This chapter discusses the general procedures for configuring SNMP for Oracle databases on the Windows NT and Unix platforms and Oracle Enterprise Manager. Keep in mind that the SNMP configuration is operating system specific. For more comprehensive configuration information, see the installation or configuration guide specific to your platform.

Configuring SNMP on Windows NT

Before you can integrate SNMP with the Intelligent Agent, you need to do a few things first. These include:

• Installing the SNMP Network Service
• Configuring the SNMP Network Service
• Testing the SNMP Environment

Installing the SNMP Network Service

To install the SNMP network service on NT:

1. From the Start menu, select Settings>Control Panel>Network icon.
2. Select the Services tab and press Add.

   A generated list of available network services shows in the Network Service window.

3. From Select Network Service, select SNMP service from the list and click OK to begin the installation.

   You need the original NT installation CD to copy the SNMP service files.

4. After the installation completes, check to make sure the installation was successful.

   From the Network dialog, select the Bindings tab. This action forces the operating system to recognize the services changes.

5. Reinstall the Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack (version 6a or later) before continuing. Your system will be rebooted automatically.

   Note: You must reinstall the Windows NT Service Pack previously running on your Windows NT system. Failure to do so will result in SNMP and TCP/IP system errors.

Configuring the SNMP Network Service

Follow the procedure below to configure the SNMP Network Service on Windows NT:

1. From the Start menu, select Settings > Control Panel.
2. Click the Network icon.
3. Select the Services tab and highlight SNMP Service.
4. Click the Properties button to see the SNMP Properties dialog.
5. From the Agent tab, complete the following:
   • Contact: Contact information for this compter.
   • Location: Physical location of this computer
   • Service: Select all Service Types (Physical, Applications, Datalink/Subnetwork, Internet and End-to-end).
6. From the Traps tab, add the following:
   • Community Name: The community is usually public.
   • Trap Destinations: Specify either the host name or IP addresses. This should be for all machines working with SNMP aware products that require traps. If you specify a host name, the system must be able to locate the corresponding IP address.

Integrating SNMP with the Intelligent Agent

The Oracle Intelligent Agent supports SNMP, allowing third-party systems management frameworks to use SNMP to receive SNMP traps directly from the Agent. By configuring the Agent to recognize SNMP requests from the master agent, third-party systems can gather relevant data.

Installing the Agent

1. Install the Oracle Peer SNMP Master Agent and SNMP Encapsulator Agent.

   The software must be the same version as the Intelligent Agent and installed in the same ORACLE_HOME.

   After the installation completes, the following new NT services will be created:

   • Oracle SNMP Peer Encapsulator
   • Oracle Peer SNMP Master Agent

   If you do not install the Intelligent Agent software in the default $ORACLE_HOME, the names of all the services will begin with the following:

   Oracle<home name>

Configuring the SNMP Services File

In order for the SNMP master agent to communicate with both the standard SNMP service and the Intelligent Agent, the SNMP services file must be configured properly.

1. Specify an unused port where the encapsulated agent, Microsoft SNMP Service, should be listening. Microsoft SNMP Service typically uses port 1161.

   The port is specified in the SERVICES file located in the NT_HOME\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC directory.

   Make sure that you have the following lines in the file:

   snmp               1161/udp        snmp
   snmp-trap          1162/udp        snmp
   

   Note: If an entry for SNMP already exists in the file, change the port from 161 (default number) to another available port (1161 in this example).

2. In the same location, check that the HOSTS and LMHOSTS.SAM files contain the mappings of IP addresses to host names for all computers in the SNMP setup.

   System performance will improve if more computer addresses can be resolved locally. Even if you use DHCP and WINS, adding the IP addresses will speed up the SNMP integration.

Modifying the Master Peer Agent Configuration File

Use the following procedure to modify the Master Peer Agent configuration file to reflect the SNMP configuration.

1. Specify the port where the master agent is listening.

   The port is specified in the TRANSPORT section of the MASTER.CFG file located in the ORACLE_HOME\NETWORK\ADMIN directory.

   For example, add the following section to the file:

   TRANSPORT   ordinary     SNMP
     OVER UDP SOCKET
     AT PORT 1161
   

   Note: It is recommended that you use port 161 for the Oracle Peer SNMP Master Agent since port 161 is reserved for the SNMP framework. However, you may specify a different available port if you can configure the management application on your NMS to send SNMP requests to the master agent listening on this port.

2. Specify the authentication in the COMMUNITY section of the MASTER.CFG file.

   COMMUNITY public
    ALLOW ALL OPERATIONS
    USE NO ENCRYPTION
   
   

3. If you need to send traps, specify the IP address (10.10.10.10 in this example) of that computer in the MANAGER section of the MASTER.CFG file.

   10.10.10.10
    SEND ALL TRAPS
    WITH COMMUNITY public
   
   

   You only need to modify the manager section if you need to send traps, or use software that can manipulate and react to SNMP traps, such as HP Openview. For performance reasons, specify IP addresses here, instead of hostnames.

4. If you have more than one Master Peer Agent running on a single computer, edit the Encapsulator configuration file, ENCAPS.CFG. This file is located in the ORACLE_HOME\NETWORK\ADMIN directory and is used to specify which non-PEER master agents are to be encapsulated.

   You must add at least an AGENT entry, including MIB-subtrees manageable by NMS, for the encapsulated master agent.

   See the example below:

   AGENT AT PORT 1161 WITH COMMUNITY public
   SUBTREES 1.3.6.1.2.1.1,
            1.3.6.1.2.1.2,
            1.3.6.1.2.1.3,
            1.3.6.1.2.1.4,
            1.3.6.1.2.1.5,
            1.3.6.1.2.1.6,
            1.3.6.1.2.1.7,
            1.3.6.1.2.1.8,
            1.3.6.1.4.1.77
   FORWARD ALL TRAPS;
   
   

   Note: The port (1161 in this example) must match the one you specified in the SERVICES file. Also, the community name must match previous definitions.

Starting the SNMP Environment

After you complete the configuration, the next step is to start the SNMP services. It is important that you:

• Verify UDP port 161 (or 1161) is unused
• Start and stop the services in the correct order

Verifying Active UDP Ports

Before you can start the SNMP environment, you need to verify that no other services are running on the designated UDP ports.

1. From the ORANT\BIN directory, type the following command:

   netstat -p udp -a
   
   

   The results of this command list all active UDP ports on the computer. Port 161, and the SNMP port you specified in the SERVICES file must be unused.

Manually Starting SNMP Services

1. From the Windows NT Task Manager, select the Process tab.
2. In the Image Name column, check that the following programs are not listed:
   • AGENT.EXE (Master Peer Agent)
   • ENCAPS.EXE (Encapsulator)

     If either program is listed, select it and click End Process.

3. From the Start menu, select Settings>Control Panel>Services icon.
4. Check the status for both SNMP and OracleAgent. If they were previous started, click Stop to terminate the programs.
5. Start the SNMP services in the following order:
   • SNMP service
   • Master Peer Agent
   • Encapsulator
   • Intelligent Agent

     Note: The Encapsulator is only required when you have more than one SNMP sub-agent installed and configured on the system.

Starting and Stopping SNMP Services by Batch File

You can also launch all relevant SNMP services by creating a batch file to automate the process. For example:

NET START "SNMP"
NET START "SNMP Trap Service"
Start C:\ORANT\BIN\AGENT  C:\ORANT\NETWORK\ADMIN\master.cfg  
C:\ORANT\NETWORK\LOG\master.log
NET START "Intelligent Agent service name"

Testing the SNMP Environment

Once you have sucessfully installed SNMP, you are ready to query the MIBs from your Network Management Station.

One way to test the SNMP environment is by using the SNMPUTILG tool. The Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit Support Tools contains this SNMP troubleshooting tool that you can use to get basic information about the SNMP setup. The GUI SNMP Query/Set Utility (SNMPUTILG.EXE) Figure 2-1 replaces the previous command line SNMPUTIL.EXE tool.

Figure 2-1 GUI SNMP Query Set/Utility

Text description of the illustration snmputil.gif

Testing the Value of an OID

To start the GUI SNMP utility and test the value of an OID:

1. From the Start menu, click Run, then type snmputilg on the Run line.

   The GUI SNMP Query/Set Utility window appears as shown in Figure 2-1.

2. Change the following fields to reflect your values.
   • Node Address: IP address of your machine. This computer must be running the SNMP service.
   • Community Name: The community is usually public.
   • Current OID: See the value below.

     .1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0
     
     

   • SNMP Function to Execute: Select GET the value of the current OID.
3. Click the Execute Command button.

   If the master agent is running correctly, it will return the sysDescr system identifier.

Testing Oracle Specific Values

Issue the following OID to test for Oracle specific values:

1. Follow the instructions in the Testing the Value of an OID section.
2. For the Current OID value, use the following:

   .1.3.6.1.4.1.111.4.1.6.1.1. "index"
   
   

   Where index is the value specified in the SNMP_RW.ORA file for the database you wish to query.

Configuring SNMP on UNIX Platforms

The following configuration instructions are for Unix platforms using O/S native or aster agents that use the Peer Technology. Oracle's Peer Master Agent supports.

Integrating SNMP on UNIX platforms includes the following:

• Configuring the SNMP Master Agent
• Starting the SNMP Agents

Using only an SNMP Console

Monitoring consoles use an SNMP Master Agent to communicate with the Oracle Intelligent Agent. The SNMP Master Agent and the Oracle Intelligent Agent must be configured correctly before the Oracle Intelligent Agent can communicate over SNMP to the Master Agent.

1. The following is an example of the process for configuring the SNMP Master Agent on a UNIX platform. For information on configuring the Intelligent Agent, see the Oracle Intelligent Agent User's Guide .

   Note: SNMP with the Intelligent Agent is not supported by all platforms. Refer to the installation or configuration guide for your specific platform to identify differences in the configuration procedures and to confirm SNMP support.

Configuring the SNMP Master Agent

The necessary SNMP files are automatically installed when you install the Oracle Intelligent Agent. After installing the Oracle Intelligent Agent, edit the following files as described below:

$ORACLE_HOME/network/snmp/peer/CONFIG.master 
$ORACLE_HOME/network/snmp/peer/CONFIG.encap 
$ORACLE_HOME/network/snmp/peer/start_peer 
/etc/snmp/conf/snmpd.conf 

CONFIG.Master (Peer Master Agent file)

To edit the CONFIG.master file, find the line beginning with MANAGER and change the IPaddress coded in this line to match the IPaddress of the machine where the SNMP traps will be sent.

CONFIG.encap (Peer Encapsulator file)

To edit the CONFIG.encap file, find the line AGENT AT PORT. It normally reads AGENT AT PORT 1161 WITH COMMUNITY public. If you modify the port number from 1161, you must also modify the start_peer script.

start_peer Script

To edit the start_peer script, find the line NEW_SNMPD_PORT= and verify that it is using the same port number listed above in the CONFIG.encap file. Find the line NEW_TRAPD_PORT= and verify the port number is different than NEW_SNMPD_PORT=.

snmpd.config File

Add the following line to the file:

trap <hostname or ipaddress>

Replace the information in brackets with the actual hostname or IPaddress of the local host where the file is located.

Starting the SNMP Agents

1. Make sure no SNMP components are running. The two main components are the master_peer, encap_peer, and snmpd. If any of these processes are running use the ps command to find them, and the kill command to terminate the processes.

   For example:

   ps -ef | grep snmp
   

   • Checks to see if the SNMP Master Agent is running.

   • Start the PEER Master Agent , PEER encapsulator, and native UNIX SNMP Agent:

       cd $ORACLE_HOME/network/snmp/peer 
       su root 
       ./start_peer -a   
     

ps -ef |grep peer 
ps -ef |grep snmpd 
ps -ef |grep snmp

Loading the Oracle MIBs

Load the Oracle MIBs according to the instructions provided in your SNMP Console configuration guide.

Configuring SNMP with Enterprise Manager

The necessary SNMP files are automatically installed when you install the Oracle Intelligent Agent. For information on configuring the Intelligent Agent, see the Oracle Intelligent Agent User's Guide.

To configure the SNMP Master Agent, follow the steps listed in "Using only an SNMP Console." Then do the following:

1. Configure the SNMP Console to receive external traps on the managed node.
2. From the Enterprise Manager Console, register an event and check the box: "Enable Notifications to External Services (SNMP traps by Agent)".

   If the proper MIBs were loaded into the SNMP console, a trap will be sent to the SNMP Master Console for each EM event that triggers.