Goal of this How-to
This how-to describes the installation and configuration process
of the Microsoft Windows™ snmp agent. The Windows
SNMP agent is necessary if you want to manage a Windows operating
system from a snmp manager like LoriotPro.
The Windows snmp agent is able to answer to SNMP requests and
to send Traps.
Traps are either generated from the SNMP Event agent, according
to the supported MIB.
The EvntWin program is described in the How-to
forward Windows Events as Traps to loriotPro. This program, filters Windows Event, formats
them as Trap and forwards them to any Trap receiver, LoriotPro for
example.
Agent installation
To install the Microsoft Windows SNMP agent on a Windows 2000
or XP you should open the control Panel and start Add or Remove
Programs
 Then
select 
In the Components list, check the box Management and Monitoring
Tools
Click the details button
Check the Simple Network Management Protocol.
This is required to install the Windows SNMP agent and other SNMP
services.
You normally don't need the WMI SNMP Provider. The WMI SNMP Provider
component allows client applications to access static and dynamic
Simple Network Management (SNMP) information through Windows Management
Instrumentation (WMI).
Agent configuration
The configuration of the SNMP service is performed through the
Service properties option. To access it, open the Control Panel
and select Administrative Tool
 then
select 
then search the Service List for the SNMP Service and double click
on it.
Warning The SNMP Trap Service is
not used to send trap but only to receive trap. If there is no
trap receiver application on this system don’t start it. If
LoriotPro is installed on a Windows XP this service should not be
started. LoriotPro uses its own Trap server to handle trap messages.
The SNMP Service Properties windows is displayed
You can change the Startup type here.
The SNMP process (snmp.exe) will run under the Local System account
or an account could be specified
Specification of agent's properties in computer. You could set
here the standard mib2 value syscontact and syslocation.
The sysname is the name of the host and could not be modified
here.
Contact -Name and contact information
of the administrator
Location - Location of the device.
Here you can enter address, number of building, floor, room, rack
number.
Services - advanced agent's properties:
Physical - computer manages physical
devices, hard disk partition.
Applications - computer uses applications
which send data by help of TCP/IP protocols. This service should
always be enabled.
Datalink and subnetwork - computer manages
bridges.
Internet - computer works as an IP router.
End-to-end - computer works as an IP
host. This service should always be enabled.
The following options can be configured to enable SNMP security:
Accepted Community Names. The SNMP
service requires the configuration of at least one default community
name. The name Public is generally used as the community name because
it is the common name that is universally accepted in all SNMP implementations.
You can delete or change the default community name or add multiple
community names. If the SNMP agent receives a request from a community
that is not on this list, it generates an authentication trap. If
no community names are defined, the SNMP agent will deny all incoming
SNMP requests.
Permissions. You can select permission
levels that determine how an agent processes SNMP requests from
the various communities. For example, you can configure the permission
level to block the SNMP agent from processing any request from a
specific community.
Accept SNMP Packets from Any Host.
In this context, the source host and list of acceptable hosts refer
to the source SNMP management system and the list of other acceptable
management systems. When this option is enabled, no SNMP packets
are rejected on the basis of the name or address of the source host
or on the basis of the list of acceptable hosts. This option is
enabled by default.
Only Accept SNMP Packets from These Hosts.
Selecting this option provides limited security. When the option
is enabled, only SNMP packets received from the hosts on a list
of acceptable hosts are accepted. The SNMP agent rejects messages
from other hosts and sends an authentication trap.
Send Authentication Traps. When an
SNMP agent receives a request that does not contain a valid community
name or the host that is sending the message is not on the list
of acceptable hosts, the agent can send an authentication trap message
to one or more trap destinations (management systems).
Check Windows snmp agent with
LoriotPro
The easiest way to check that the agent is working is to use the
LoriotPro tools.
Start LoriotPro and check that the Host is in the Directory. If
the Host is not present in the Directory, either add it manually
or with the Discover Process. Refer to the Loriotpro documentation.
Select the Host in the Directory and use the Common SNMP Query
tool.
The standard mib-2 query System should give results as in our example
below. This means that the SNMP get Query is working fine and that
the read community is well configured on both sides.
Try to change the sysname by a click in the table cell. If you
can change the name, the SNMP set is working fine and the read-write
community is well configured.
Troubleshooting
If the Windows snmp agent is not responding to SNMP requets, perform
the following checking:
 Check the
basic connectivity between the SNMP manager (LoriotPro) and the Windows host with Ping.
Check that
there is no Firewall between the LoriotPro console and the Windows
Host that filters the UDP port 161. On Windows XP the integrated
Firewall filters the SNMP port by default. Either stop the Firewall
or add a new rule for SNMP traffic.
Check in the
Event viewer that the SNMP message ID 1001 (service started is present)
and the current status of the process (CTRL ALT DEL Processes SNMP)
Check with
Netstat -na that SNMP port is Litesnning on the Windows Host.
Check that
READ community are the same on LoriotPro and on the WIndows snmp
agent.
Check that
the IP address in the agent is the LoriotPro IP address if the option
Accept SNMP packet from these hosts is used.
If a simple
SNMP request is working fine but you can't acces to advanced MIB
object check with SNMP walker if the MIB is implemented in the
Windows snmp agent. |
