SNMP trap collection and monitoring

Easily collect, manage, and archive SNMP traps from your network devices.

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SNMP Trap Collection

SNMP Traps Troubleshooting

Filter SNMP Traps

Optimize Log Management

Configure SNMP Traps

SNMP trap receiver

SNMP trap collection and monitoring is essential for detecting issues in your network. SNMP trap can provide an early signal of possible issues with a network device, so your ability to react fast to important SNMP traps is crucial for early problem detection and quick time to resolution of a network issue that could result in downtime. SolarWinds^® Kiwi Syslog^® Server NG is a simple standalone syslog tool designed to act as an SNMP trap receiver that centralizes SNMP traps from all your network devices such as routers, switches, firewalls, or servers to help you speed up troubleshooting network devices.

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Speed up troubleshooting of network devices

SNMP traps are extremely useful due to how quickly they can inform you about an issue or an important event. Network devices send out SNMP traps right after an issue or an event happens, so there isn’t a delay caused by polling cycles of your monitoring solutions. This could mean the difference between letting an issue grow and causing a network failure or stopping it at the beginning. The Kiwi Syslog Server NG listens and collects SNMP traps from all your network devices, centralizes them in a single console, and allows you to set up various actions and alerts when an impactful issue for your network operation happens, so you can immediately react to the situation.

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Apply rules and actions to SNMP traps

When using an SNMP trap receiver to collect SNMP traps from your network devices, it’s important to be able to differentiate between events that have could have an impact on your network operation and “noise.” Network devices can send thousands of SNMP traps per hour, so they need to be filtered. Kiwi Syslog Server NG offers various filters and rules to help you identify the SNMP traps with monitoring impact. Based on these rules and filters, you can set up actions to help you adequately react to the situation, including getting an email notification, running a script, or forwarding the trap to another host.

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Optimize performance of your monitoring solution

Ingesting all syslog messages and SNMP traps your network devices produce can negatively affect the standard operations of your main monitoring solution, such as polling devices, collecting log files, or running alert queries. Take advantage of the log forwarding capabilities of Kiwi Syslog Server NG and use it as your filtration layer to prevent overloading your monitoring server with all SNMP traps and syslog messages your network devices produce. By setting up filters and rules, you can filter out “noise” that could account for more than 50% of the messages your SNMP trap receiver collects. The Kiwi Syslog Server NG tool forwards selected SNMP traps with monitoring impact to your SIEM or other monitoring solution for further analysis, while storing all traps and syslog messages for archival and later use (such as audits).

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Configure SNMP trap collection

Configuration of Kiwi Syslog Server NG for collecting SNMP traps is extremely easy. Kiwi Syslog Server NG can listen to version 1, 2c, and 3 SNMP traps both from IPv4 and IPv6 devices. When a trap arrives, it’s decoded and handled like a syslog message, which allows you to handle the message like a standard syslog message and apply filters, rules, and actions Kiwi Syslog Server NG offers. By default, Kiwi Syslog Server NG will listen on port 162 for IPv4 traps and port 163 for IPv6 traps, but you can select the port of your choice and configure your network devices accordingly.

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Get More on SNMP Traps

Do you find yourself asking…

What is an SNMP trap?
What is SNMP used for?
What is the difference between SNMP and an SNMP trap?
How do I send an SNMP trap?
What are the benefits of using an SNMP trap receiver?
What does an SNMP trap receiver tool do?
How does the SNMP trap receiver in Kiwi Syslog Server NG work?

SNMP traps are the most commonly used kind of SNMP message. Normal SNMP operations designate that device agents take passive roles, which means they’ll only send SNMP messages if the SNMP manager sends a request. However, if an agent detects certain emergency conditions or events, it’ll send a warning notification to the manager without a prior request for data. These emergency notifications are known as SNMP traps.

SNMP traps are unique because they’re the only notification method SNMP agents can initiate. This makes them valuable—if not necessary—assets for network monitoring. Traps are the most convenient way to get notifications regarding network events and can be set for conditions with varying degrees of severity. For instance, SNMP agents installed on printers can treat a low toner cartridge as a trap condition and will notify the SNMP manager when the printer detects supplies are beginning to run low.

On the other hand, some serious events and conditions may not result in trap messages. Fatal errors, for instance, cause devices to stop functioning. This causes the SNMP agents monitoring the devices to stop operating, preventing them from contacting the SNMP manager. The function of SNMP agents can be interrupted when a device’s network card breaks, but the next time the SNMP manager sweeps the network for responses, the emergency condition or event will be detected.

SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol, which is a widely used method of sharing information between devices on a network, regardless of differences in device hardware or the software they’re running. SNMP enables numerous functions network management tools rely on, including device identification, network performance monitoring, and real-time determination of the status of network devices.

There are three primary elements to SNMP: a central manager, device agents, and management information bases (or MIBs). The majority of network devices come with preinstalled SNMP agents, which may need to be activated before SNMP can be employed across the network.

The central manager isn’t usually included in the operating system of many workstations. However, installing a network monitoring system on a workstation will likely make use of SNMP and will designate it as the SNMP manager for the various SNMP-agented devices across the network. This network management software will likely include an interface capable of interpreting MIB files and displaying the data they gather from device agents. Data displays may be easy-to-read user dashboards with graphic representations for quick insights about network-wide device performance.

Periodically, the SNMP central manager will poll all the device agents across the network with information requests. The device agents respond to the central manager’s requests by sending back an MIB-compliant file. The device agents retain their own copy of the MIB file, which they continue to update between poll requests, ensuring the information each device returns to the management system is accurate and up-to-date.

Network traffic naturally fluctuates over the course of the average day as end users perform their required tasks, which can include data transfers, downloads, and several other activities using network bandwidth. SNMP enables the network to gather information about a variety of device activity and performance metrics, including the number of bytes, errors, and packets sent and received by a router; the speed of the network connection between devices; and the number of hits received by a web server.

SNMP managers send protocol data units (PDUs) called SNMP GET requests to all the devices across the network with SNMP agents installed. Network admins can use SNMP GET requests to track practically any data metric. This is because the devices making data requests can access and share all the information SNMP monitors.

SNMP is the broad, overarching protocol networked devices use to manage each other, report data metrics, and share information, and SNMP traps are a method of reporting critical information about network and device activity.

Because SNMP is so widely used, it’s a universal standard for many networked devices. It’s the glue allowing disparate devices with different hardware and software specifications to communicate seamlessly.

The architecture of SNMP is rooted in a manager–agent relationship. Agents are installed on various networked devices—from servers and switches to desktops, routers, and other devices—and collect data about device health and performance, which can then be reported back to the SNMP manager. Network admins can leverage the analytics and insights provided by the SNMP agents to resolve critical issues or to make evidence-based decisions about network bottlenecks and capacity planning.

But even though the architecture of SNMP is relatively straightforward, the data hierarchy structure it uses can initially seem intimidating or confusing. Understanding the reasoning behind the hierarchy often makes the issue much clearer. Because SNMP is used across a broad range of devices, hardware types, and software applications, a degree of flexibility and extensibility is required when sharing data between devices and management systems. For this reason, SNMP doesn’t enforce strict formatting regulations regarding the fixed size of data exchange between devices. Instead, it uses a branched, tree-like hierarchy so data is continually available for SNMP management systems to collect.

The SNMP data tree includes multiple branched tables, which are called management information bases (MIBs). MIBs create groups based on device types and components. There is a unique identifying number and string associated with each MIB, and—like IP addresses and hostnames—they can be used interchangeably. MIBs also consist of one or more nodes, which refer to specific devices or component types across the network.

The advantage of this is the entire MIB doesn’t need to be sent each time the device agent sends a report to the central manager. SNMP trap messages include metadata like the time, value, and identifier. The last of these is an object identifier (OID), or a unique code assigned by the MIB structure indicating exactly where within the hierarchy’s branch structure the trap condition or event is located. Every attribute of the device being monitored by the SNMP agent will have a unique OID, allowing the SNMP central management system to determine the exact portion of the device—such as a switch, printer, or end-user workstation—the SNMP trap message is referring to.

SNMP traps are the most commonly used kind of SNMP message. Normal SNMP operations designate that device agents take passive roles, which means they’ll only send SNMP messages if the SNMP manager sends a request. However, if an agent detects certain emergency conditions or events, it’ll send a warning notification to the manager without a prior request for data. These emergency notifications are known as SNMP traps.
SNMP traps are unique because they’re the only notification method SNMP agents can initiate. This makes them valuable—if not necessary—assets for network monitoring. Traps are the most convenient way to get notifications regarding network events and can be set for conditions with varying degrees of severity. For instance, SNMP agents installed on printers can treat a low toner cartridge as a trap condition and will notify the SNMP manager when the printer detects supplies are beginning to run low.
On the other hand, some serious events and conditions may not result in trap messages. Fatal errors, for instance, cause devices to stop functioning. This causes the SNMP agents monitoring the devices to stop operating, preventing them from contacting the SNMP manager. The function of SNMP agents can be interrupted when a device’s network card breaks, but the next time the SNMP manager sweeps the network for responses, the emergency condition or event will be detected.