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This month, we have a tech tip that will show you how to perform SNMP traps with GroundWork. We’re also gearing up for GroundWork Monitor 7.1.1 release. There’s still time to register for our 7.1.1 demonstration on Thursday, October 27th, to learn more about its features. And if you’re looking to improve your monitoring expertise, there’s still one more Sys Admin Training this year.
Tech Tip: Building SNMP Traps
Did you know that trap processing is a standard feature in GroundWork? Traps are a key component of the Simple Network Management Protocol, best known as SNMP. Virtually every computing device and network appliance comes equipped with the SNMP agent capability. This means you can enable those agents to transmit alerts called “snmp traps” whenever something important happens within your IT devices.
What is “something important?” Say one of the power supplies fail in your firewall and the temperature sensor in your data center registers 40 degrees C. That’s something you would want to know and act on quickly!
As installed, GroundWork Monitor can receive and process SNMP Traps with one step: Enable your IT to send traps to the IP address of the GroundWork server.
Yes, there is a little to that. Each device has its own procedure, but it is a common administration task that is well documented and understood. You’ll want to adjust the configuration so that only truly high value events generate traps.
Once traps arrive at the GroundWork Monitor, the Event Console will register them with the originating device IP address or DNs name, however your network is set up. You can keep the Event Console running and immediately see those important events and where they came from in real time. The information sent is pretty sparse!
To get more interesting responses, a few more steps are in order:
Every device sending traps can be added to your monitoring configuration, specifying the Host name and IP address, and adding a Service Profile which includes a passive service to receive the trap details (like the ones in the Event Console). Now the traps will always show up under the Status View and you will have the Host name instead of possibly an IP address.
Every kind of device has a published Trap MIB, or Management Information Base document, with more detailed status to identify the traps coming to you. These documents are in the form of files, which you add to your GroundWork Monitor. Now GroundWork has all the details that can be added to the trap as it arrives, and turned into an email or SMS text message. This will tell you in real time about the rising temperature in the Data Center so you can run over and get the AC running again before all your equipment overheats and fails. Pretty nice, right?
GroundWork Monitor 7.1.1
GroundWork customers are invited to join our 7.1.1 intro webinar on Thursday, October 27 | 1 PM ET (10 AM PT). We will walk through the quality enhancements that will keep your IT infrastructure healthy. You’ll also get a sneak peek of 7.1.2 in the pipeline, which features Grafana integration and an IT operations management ticketing system.
GroundWork Monitor Training
We still have one more Sys Admin Training in 2016 for hands-on experience with GroundWork Monitor architecture and monitoring, preparation, installation, discovery, and configuration. You will learn how to employ monitoring methods, add plugins, backup, restore and downtime procedures, and visualize and manage monitoring data.
Part I — December 6 & 7
Part II — December 13 & 14
Part III — December 20 & 21
And in Closing…
Thanks again for reading our newsletter. We hope you will give us your thoughts, feedback, and comments on what you’ve read here. We want to hear from you! Send us a message to let us know what you think, where you will be, and what topics you think we should cover in the next issue.