SNMP Traps

In this entry we will discuss how to use OidView SNMP Trap Manager filters to automatically recognize and process traps. Once a trap is received from a managed device, select the trap in the grid, right-click on it, and select “Create Filter” from the popup menu. The filter manager dialog will load and then the filter creation dialog will appear on top. Type in a name for the new filter, and don’t forget to include a default severity, and the assigned “bucket”. If there is going to be a specific time the filter will be active, please enter the start time and end time for the filter.

If traps that match this filter need to be forwarded to another trap receiver (for example, another NMS like HP OpenView or Micromuse NetCool), click on the “forward trap” checkbox and specify up to four different destinations. The trap can also include pre-defined variable bindings or even be translated to a generic trap. If these options are desired, check the appropriate boxes on the trap forwarding dialog.

Traps can also trigger various forms of notification. If notification is desired based on the matching of this filter, select a notification profile from the drop down or create a new one by pressing the button on the right-hand side.
By default, all new filters created in this manner are based on Trap OID. Once you have saved the filter if you look at it in the Trap Filter Manager tree, you will see that there is a condition nested underneath the filter entry, and it is a Trap OID condition. All Filters are based on one or more conditions that enable the system to “match” the incoming trap with a set of criteria specified by those conditions.

There are several other types of conditions that can be specified, including but not limited to the version of the incoming trap, the community string, the binding OIDs, types, and/or values, etc. Also, conditions may be created that are “time based”. In other words, only process the condition if the criteria defined by it occur during a specific period of time during the day.

Conditions can also specify whether the incoming trap should have a specific severity assigned, or even if a previously matched identified trap should be cleared. For example, a set of conditions can be set up on a single filter that will allow multiple severity changes based on the values in the variable bindings, and also will allow the trap to be automatically cleared if another set of criteria are matched.

OidView’s filters and multiple condition matching capabilities make it an incredibly flexible and powerful fault management system.