How to install and configure Windows SNMP agent (windows 7,8,10/server 2000-20016)

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.