System information

366 Observer Suite: SNMP Management
You may use MIB objects from two or more different compiled MIBs.
5. Once complete, select Mode Commands > Save Request File. The new list will be
available for all Agents that use this request file.
The same actions can be taken to build tables.
Building Trap Requests
A trap is an event that an SNMP Agent (the actual hardware or software agent, not SNMP
Management Console’s Agent request) can be configured to automatically report to the
management program, in this case SNMP Extension. RFC1157 defines seven traps, any,
all, or none of which may be supported by a given SNMP Agent.
To find out which, if any, SNMP traps your device supports, please consult
the documentation for that device.
When the Agent has been configured to report a trap and a trap event occurs, the Agent
will report the trap to the management program without having to be polled.
For example, one defined trap is the coldStart trap. A device with an SNMP agent that
supports this trap will issue this trap when the device is performing a “cold” boot (or
reboot), one where the device’s configuration or implementation may be altered. Another
is the warmStart trap, which is issued when a “warm” boot is occurring.
The advantage of a trap is that the management program does not have to repeatedly query
the agent for the trap condition. Like an alarm clock going off at a pre-set time, when a
configured trap event occurs, it notifies SNMP agent without having to be asked.
There are some inherent limitations to traps. A trap can only be sent from a properly-
functioning SNMP Agent, so it’s impossible for a router to send a trap announcing that it’s
down. Since a trap is configured in the SNMP Agent itself, it’s relatively inflexible.
Further, since traps are sent via UDP (a protocol that does not include method for
verifying that a packet has been received), the SNMP Agent has no way of knowing if the
trap has been received and acted on.
Traps are indicated in the MIB Editor by the icon.
1. To add a trap to an SNMP request, simply drag a trap from a compiled MIB and drop
it on the trap tree of the MIB request.
2. Right-click on the trap to bring up the Trap Properties dialog. The boxes on the Trap
Properties tab will always be grayed out, as there is no configuration of the traps
themselves; traps are simply either monitored or not monitored by SNMP
Management Console.