Using SNMP plugins

(Curbed from an e-mail written by Rune Nordbøe Skilingstad)

The easy way to configure snmp plugins in Munin is to use munin-node-configure.

In this setup, both munin and munin-node runs on the server "dumbledore", and we also want to monitor the router "netopia" using SNMP plugins. The setup is shown below:

On the node you want to use as an snmp gateway ("dumbledore"), run the configure script against your snmp enabled device ("netopia").

dumbledore:~# munin-node-configure --shell --snmp netopia
ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_netopia_if_1
ln -s /usr/share/munin/plugins/snmp__if_err_ /etc/munin/plugins/snmp_netopia_if_err_1

Note that munin-node-configure also accepts other switches, namely --snmpversion and --snmpcommunity:

munin-node-configure --shell --snmp <host|cidr> --snmpversion <ver> --snmpcommunity <comm>

This process will check each plugin in your Munin plugin directory for the "magic markers?" family=snmpauto and capabilities=snmpconf, and then run each of these plugins against the given host or CIDR network.

Cut and paste the suggested ln commands and restart your node.

The node will then present multiple virtual nodes:

dumbledore:~# telnet localhost 4949
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
# munin node at dumbledore
nodes
netopia
dumbledore
.
list netopia
snmp_netopia_if_1
snmp_netopia_if_err_1

On your master server (where you gather the information into rrd files) you add this virtual node to your munin.conf (example contains both real node and the virtual one -- both with the same address line)

[dumbledore]
    address 127.0.0.1
    use_node_name yes

[netopia]
    address 127.0.0.1
    use_node_name no

Next time munin-cron runs, the virtual node should start showing up in your Munin website.

You cannot easily set the SNMP community if it is different from the default "public".

Recommended solution:

# munin-node-configure --snmp your.host.domain.tld --snmpcommunity "seacrat community"

Note that the community strings are not automatically saved anywhere. You will have to store them yourself to a file under /etc/munin/plugin-conf.d/. This file should not be world readable.

Example file /etc/munin/plugin-conf.d/snmp_communities:

[snmp_netopia_*]
env.community "seacrat community"

[snmp_some.other.device_*]
env.community "frnpeng pbzzhavgl"

If your community name has no whitespace in it, you can provide it unquoted. In fact, if you do quote it, it may not work (it didn't for me) so my version of /etc/munin/plugin-conf.d/snmp_communities looks like this:

[snmp_netopia_*]
  env.community hobbitses
  env.version 2