Configuring SNMP

This chapter describes how to configure the SNMP feature on Cisco NX-OS devices.

This chapter contains the following sections:

About SNMP

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an application-layer protocol that provides a message format for communication between SNMP managers and agents. SNMP provides a standardized framework and a common language used for the monitoring and management of devices in a network.

SNMP Functional Overview

The SNMP framework consists of three parts:

  • An SNMP manager—The system used to control and monitor the activities of network devices using SNMP.

  • An SNMP agent—The software component within the managed device that maintains the data for the device and reports these data, as needed, to managing systems. The Cisco Nexus device supports the agent and MIB. To enable the SNMP agent, you must define the relationship between the manager and the agent.

  • A managed information base (MIB)—The collection of managed objects on the SNMP agent

SNMP is defined in RFCs 3411 to 3418.

The device supports SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3. Both SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c use a community-based form of security.

Cisco NX-OS supports SNMP over IPv6.

SNMP Notifications

A key feature of SNMP is the ability to generate notifications from an SNMP agent. These notifications do not require that requests be sent from the SNMP manager. Notifications can indicate improper user authentication, restarts, the closing of a connection, loss of connection to a neighbor router, or other significant events.

Cisco NX-OS generates SNMP notifications as either traps or informs. A trap is an asynchronous, unacknowledged message sent from the agent to the SNMP managers listed in the host receiver table. Informs are asynchronous messages sent from the SNMP agent to the SNMP manager which the manager must acknowledge receipt of.

Traps are less reliable than informs because the SNMP manager does not send any acknowledgment when it receives a trap. The device cannot determine if the trap was received. An SNMP manager that receives an inform request acknowledges the message with an SNMP response protocol data unit (PDU). If the device never receives a response, it can send the inform request again.

You can configure Cisco NX-OS to send notifications to multiple host receivers.

The following table lists the SNMP traps that are enabled by default.

Trap Type Description
generic : coldStart
entity : entity_fan_status_change
entity : entity_mib_change
entity : entity_module_status_change
entity : entity_module_inserted
entity : entity_module_removed
entity : entity_power_out_change
entity : entity_power_status_change
entity : entity_unrecognised_module
link : cErrDisableInterfaceEventRev1
link : cieLinkDown
link : cieLinkUp
link : cmn-mac-move-notification
link : delayed-link-state-change
link : extended-linkDown
link : extended-linkUp
link : linkDown
link : linkUp
rf : redundancy_framework
license : notify-license-expiry
license : notify-no-license-for-feature
license : notify-licensefile-missing
license : notify-license-expiry-warning
upgrade : UpgradeOpNotifyOnCompletion
upgrade : UpgradeJobStatusNotify
entity : entity_sensor
rmon : fallingAlarm
rmon : hcRisingAlarm
rmon : hcFallingAlarm
rmon : risingAlarm

SNMPv3

SNMPv3 provides secure access to devices by a combination of authenticating and encrypting frames over the network. The security features provided in SNMPv3 are the following:

  • Message integrity—Ensures that a packet has not been tampered with in-transit.

  • Authentication—Determines the message is from a valid source.

  • Encryption—Scrambles the packet contents to prevent it from being seen by unauthorized sources.

SNMPv3 provides for both security models and security levels. A security model is an authentication strategy that is set up for a user and the role in which the user resides. A security level is the permitted level of security within a security model. A combination of a security model and a security level determines which security mechanism is employed when handling an SNMP packet.

Security Models and Levels for SNMPv1, v2, v3

The security level determines if an SNMP message needs to be protected from disclosure and if the message needs to be authenticated. The various security levels that exist within a security model are as follows:

  • noAuthNoPriv—Security level that does not provide authentication or encryption. This level is not supported for SNMPv3.

  • authNoPriv—Security level that provides authentication but does not provide encryption.

  • authPriv—Security level that provides both authentication and encryption.

Three security models are available: SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3. The security model combined with the security level determine the security mechanism applied when the SNMP message is processed. The following table identifies what the combinations of security models and levels mean.

Table 1. SNMP Security Models and Levels

Model

Level

Authentication

Encryption

What Happens

v1

noAuthNoPriv

Community string

No

Uses a community string match for authentication.

v2c

noAuthNoPriv

Community string

No

Uses a community string match for authentication.

v3

authNoPriv

HMAC-MD5, or HMAC-SHA

No

Provides authentication based on the Hash-Based Message Authentication Code (HMAC) Message Digest 5 (MD5) algorithm or the HMAC Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA).

v3

authPriv

HMAC-MD5, or HMAC-SHA

DES

Provides authentication based on the HMAC-MD5 or HMAC-SHA algorithms. Provides Data Encryption Standard (DES) 56-bit encryption in addition to authentication based on the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) DES (DES-56) standard.

User-Based Security Model

The SNMPv3 User-Based Security Model (USM) refers to SNMP message-level security and offers the following services:

  • Message integrity—Ensures that messages have not been altered or destroyed in an unauthorized manner and that data sequences have not been altered to an extent greater than can occur nonmaliciously.

  • Message origin authentication—Ensures that the claimed identity of the user on whose behalf received data was originated is confirmed.

  • Message confidentiality—Ensures that information is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities, or processes.

SNMPv3 authorizes management operations only by configured users and encrypts SNMP messages.

Cisco NX-OS uses three authentication protocols for SNMPv3:

  • HMAC-MD5-96 authentication protocol

  • HMAC-SHA-96 authentication protocol

Cisco NX-OS uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as one of the privacy protocols for SNMPv3 message encryption and conforms with RFC 3826.

The priv option offers a choice of DES or 128-bit AES encryption for SNMP security encryption. The priv option and the aes-128 token indicate that this privacy password is for generating a 128-bit AES key. The AES priv password can have a minimum of eight characters. If the passphrases are specified in clear text, you can specify a maximum of 64 case-sensitive, alphanumeric characters. If you use the localized key, you can specify a maximum of 130 characters.


Note

For an SNMPv3 operation using the external AAA server, you must use AES for the privacy protocol in the user configuration on the external AAA server.

CLI and SNMP User Synchronization

SNMPv3 user management can be centralized at the Access Authentication and Accounting (AAA) server level. This centralized user management allows the SNMP agent in Cisco NX-OS to leverage the user authentication service of the AAA server. Once user authentication is verified, the SNMP PDUs are processed further. Additionally, the AAA server is also used to store user group names. SNMP uses the group names to apply the access/role policy that is locally available in the switch.

Any configuration changes made to the user group, role, or password results in database synchronization for both SNMP and AAA.

Cisco NX-OS synchronizes the user configuration in the following ways:

  • The authentication passphrase specified in the snmp-server user command becomes the password for the CLI user.

  • The password specified in the username command becomes the authentication and privacy passphrases for the SNMP user.

  • If you create or delete a user using either SNMP or the CLI, the user is created or deleted for both SNMP and the CLI.

  • User-role mapping changes are synchronized in SNMP and the CLI.

  • Role changes (deletions or modifications) from the CLI are synchronized to SNMP.


Note

When you configure a passphrase/password in localized key/encrypted format, Cisco NX-OS does not synchronize the user information (passwords, roles, and so on).

Cisco NX-OS holds the synchronized user configuration for 60 minutes by default.

Group-Based SNMP Access


Note

Because group is a standard SNMP term used industry-wide, we refer to roles as groups in this SNMP section.

SNMP access rights are organized by groups. Each group in SNMP is similar to a role through the CLI. Each group is defined with read access or read-write access.

You can begin communicating with the agent once your username is created, your roles are set up by your administrator, and you are added to the roles.

SNMP and Embedded Event Manager

The Embedded Event Manager (EEM) feature monitors events, including SNMP MIB objects, and triggers an action based on these events. One of the actions could be to send an SNMP notification. EEM sends the cEventMgrPolicyEvent of CISCO-EMBEDDED-EVENT-MGR-MIB as the SNMP notification.

Multiple Instance Support

A device can support multiple instances of a logical network entity, such as protocol instances or virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instances. Most existing MIBs cannot distinguish between these multiple logical network entities. For example, the original OSPF-MIB assumes a single protocol instance on a device, but you can now configure multiple OSPF instances on a device.

SNMPv3 uses contexts to distinguish between these multiple instances. An SNMP context is a collection of management information that you can access through the SNMP agent. A device can support multiple contexts for different logical network entities. An SNMP context allows the SNMP manager to access one of the multiple instances of a MIB module supported on the device for the different logical network entities.

Cisco NX-OS supports the CISCO-CONTEXT-MAPPING-MIB to map between SNMP contexts and logical network entities. You can associate an SNMP context to a VRF, protocol instance, or topology.

SNMPv3 supports contexts with the contextName field of the SNMPv3 PDU. You can map this contextName field to a particular protocol instance or VRF.

For SNMPv2c, you can map the SNMP community to a context using the snmpCommunityContextName MIB object in the SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB (RFC 3584). You can then map this snmpCommunityContextName to a particular protocol instance or VRF using the CISCO-CONTEXT-MAPPING-MIB or the CLI.

High Availability for SNMP

Cisco NX-OS supports stateless restarts for SNMP. After a reboot or supervisor switchover, Cisco NX-OS applies the running configuration.

Virtualization Support for SNMP

Cisco NX-OS supports one instance of the SNMP. SNMP supports multiple MIB module instances and maps them to logical network entities.

SNMP is also VRF aware. You can configure SNMP to use a particular VRF to reach the SNMP notification host receiver. You can also configure SNMP to filter notifications to an SNMP host receiver based on the VRF where the notification occurred.

Guidelines and Limitations for SNMP

SNMP has the following configuration guidelines and limitations:

  • Commands configured using SNMP SET should be deleted using SNMP SET only. Commands configured using Command Line Interface(CLI) or NX-API should be deleted using CLI or NX-API only.

  • Access control list (ACLs) can be applied only to local SNMPv3 users configured on the switch. ACLs cannot be applied to remote SNMPv3 users stored on Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) servers.

  • Cisco NX-OS supports read-only access to some SNMP MIBs. See the Cisco NX-OS MIB support list at the following URL for more information: https://cisco.github.io/cisco-mibs/supportlists/nexus9000/Nexus9000MIBSupportList.html

  • Cisco NX-OS does not support the SNMPv3 noAuthNoPriv security level.

  • Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches and the Cisco Nexus 3164Q, 31128PQ, 3232C, and 3264Q switches support the configuration of the SNMP local engine ID.

  • For a nondisruptive downgrade path to an earlier release, if a local engine ID has been configured, then you must unconfigure the local engine ID, and then reconfigure the SNMP users and the community strings.

  • Special characters @ and % are not allowed in the SNMP community string.

  • The default SNMP PDU value is 1500 bytes. The SNMP agent drops any response PDU that is greater than 1500 bytes, causing the SNMP request to fail. To receive MIB data values larger than 1500 bytes, use the snmp-server packetsize <byte-count> command to reconfigure the packet size. The valid byte-count range is from 484 to 17382. When a GETBULK response exceeds the packet size, the data can get truncated.

  • You must use either the CLI or SNMP to configure a feature on your switch. Do not configure a feature using both interfaces to the switch.

  • Using cefcFanTrayOperStatus snmpwalk on an individual fan OID tree where the fan is not populated in chassis, can return a response for next OID entry in the tree. To prevent this behavior, use the -CI option in snmpwalk.

    The behavior is not seen when polling parent OID, or when using getmany.

  • There must be at least one running BGP instance to have full, proper functional behavior of SNMP traps. Configure a BGP routing instance before configuring any snmp-server traps related commands.

Default Settings for SNMP

The following table lists the default settings for SNMP parameters.

Parameters Default
License notifications Enabled

Configuring SNMP


Note
Be aware that the Cisco NX-OS commands for this feature may differ from those commands used in Cisco IOS.

Configuring SNMP Users

You can configure a user for SNMP.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

(Optional) show snmp user

Example:

switch(config)# show snmp user
 (Optional)

Displays information about one or more SNMP users.

Step 3

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Enforcing SNMP Message Encryption

You can configure SNMP to require authentication or encryption for incoming requests. By default, the SNMP agent accepts SNMPv3 messages without authentication and encryption. When you enforce privacy, Cisco NX-OS responds with an authorization error for any SNMPv3 PDU request using a security level parameter of either noAuthNoPriv or authNoPriv .

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server user name enforcePriv

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server user Admin enforcePriv

Enforces SNMP message encryption for this user.

Step 3

snmp-server globalEnforcePriv

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server globalEnforcePriv

Enforces SNMP message encryption for all users.

Step 4

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Assigning SNMPv3 Users to Multiple Roles

After you configure an SNMP user, you can assign multiple roles for the user.


Note

Only users belonging to a network-admin role can assign roles to other users.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server user name group

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server user Admin superuser

Associates this SNMP user with the configured user role.

Step 3

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Creating SNMP Communities

You can create SNMP communities for SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server community name {group group | ro | rw}

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server community public ro

Creates an SNMP community string.

Step 3

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Filtering SNMP Requests

You can assign an access control list (ACL) to an SNMPv2 community or SNMPv3 user to filter SNMP requests. If the assigned ACL allows the incoming request packet, SNMP processes the request. If the ACL denies the request, SNMP drops the request and sends a system message.

Create the ACL with the following parameters:

  • Source IP address

  • Destination IP address

  • Source port

  • Destination port

  • Protocol (UDP or TCP)

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server community name [use-ipv4acl acl-name | use-ipv6acl acl-name]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server community public use-ipv4acl myacl

Assigns an IPv4 or IPv6 ACL to an SNMPv2 community to filter SNMP requests.

Note

 

IPv6 ACLs are supported for SNMPv2 communities beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I4(1).

Note

 

In releases prior to Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I4(1), this CLI command includes use-acl rather than use-ipv4acl.

Step 3

snmp-server user username [use-ipv4acl acl-name | use-ipv6acl acl-name]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server user user1 use-ipv4acl myacl

Assigns an IPv4 or IPv6 ACL to an SNMPv3 user to filter SNMP requests.

Note

 

IPv6 ACLs are supported for SNMPv3 users beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I4(1).

Note

 

In releases prior to Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I4(1), this CLI command includes use-acl rather than use-ipv4acl.

Step 4

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring SNMP Notification Receivers

You can configure Cisco NX-OS to generate SNMP notifications to multiple host receivers.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server host ip-address traps version 1 community [udp_port number]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 traps version 1 public

Configures a host receiver for SNMPv1 traps. The ip-address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The community can be any alphanumeric string up to 255 characters. The UDP port number range is from 0 to 65535.

Step 3

snmp-server host ip-address {traps | informs} version 2c community [udp_port number]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 informs version 2c public

Configures a host receiver for SNMPv2c traps or informs. The ip-address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The community can be any alphanumeric string up to 255 characters. The UDP port number range is from 0 to 65535.

Step 4

snmp-server host ip-address {traps | informs} version 3 {auth | noauth | priv} username [udp_port number]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 informs version 3 auth NMS
Configures a host receiver for SNMPv3 traps or informs. The ip-address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The username can be any alphanumeric string up to 255 characters. The UDP port number range is from 0 to 65535.

Note

 

The SNMP manager must know the user credentials (authKey/PrivKey) based on the SNMP engine ID of the Cisco NX-OS device to authenticate and decrypt the SNMPv3 messages.

Step 5

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring a Source Interface for SNMP Notifications

You can configure SNMP to use the IP address of an interface as the source IP address for notifications. When a notification is generated, its source IP address is based on the IP address of this configured interface.

You can configure a source interface as follows:

  • All notifications sent to all SNMP notification receivers.

  • All notifications sent to a specific SNMP notification receiver. This configuration overrides the global source interface configuration.


Note
Configuring the source interface IP address for outgoing trap packets does not guarantee that the device will use the same interface to send the trap. The source interface IP address defines the source address inside of the SNMP trap, and the connection is opened with the address of the egress interface as source.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server host ip-address source-interface if-type if-number traps version 2c name

Example:

snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 source-interface ethernet 2/1 traps version 2c public

(Optional) Send Traps messages to this host.

The traps version is the SNMP version to use for notification messages. 2c indicates that SNMPv2c is to be used.

Step 3

snmp-server host ip-address source-interface if-type if-number use-vrf vrf-name

Example:

snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 source-interface ethernet 2/1 use-vrf default

Configures SNMP to use the selected VRF to communicate with the host receiver. The ip-address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The VRF name can be any alphanumeric string up to 32 characters.

Note

 

This command does not remove the host configuration.

Step 4

snmp-server host ip-address source-interface if-type if-number [udp_port number]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 source-interface ethernet 2/1

Configures a host receiver for SNMPv2c traps or informs. The ip-address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. Use ? to determine the supported interface types. The UDP port number range is from 0 to 65535.

This configuration overrides the global source interface configuration.

Step 5

snmp-server source-interface {traps | informs} if-type if-number

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server source-interface traps ethernet 2/1

Configures a source interface for sending out SNMPv2c traps or informs. Use ? to determine the supported interface types.

Step 6

show snmp source-interface

Example:

switch(config)# show snmp source-interface

Displays information about configured source interfaces.

Configuring the Notification Target User

You must configure a notification target user on the device to send SNMPv3 inform notifications to a notification host receiver.

Cisco NX-OS uses the credentials of the notification target user to encrypt the SNMPv3 inform notification messages to the configured notification host receiver.


Note
For authenticating and decrypting the received inform PDU, the notification host receiver should have the same user credentials as configured in Cisco NX-OS to authenticate and decrypt the informs.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server user name [auth {md5 | sha | sha-256} passphrase [auto] [priv [ aes-128 ] passphrase] [engineID id]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server user NMS auth sha abcd1234 priv abcdefgh engineID 00:00:00:63:00:01:00:10:20:15:10:03

Configures the notification target user with the specified engine ID for the notification host receiver. The engine ID format is a 12-digit colon-separated decimal number.

Step 3

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring SNMP Notification Receivers with VRFs

SNMP adds entries into the cExtSnmpTargetVrfTable of the CISCO-SNMP-TARGET-EXT-MIB when you configure the VRF reachability and filtering options for an SNMP notification receiver.


Note

You must configure the host before configuring the VRF reachability or filtering options.

You can configure Cisco NX-OS to use a configured VRF to reach the host receiver or to filter notifications based on the VRF in which the notification occurred.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

[no] snmp-server host ip-address use-vrf vrf-name [udp_port number]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 use-vrf Blue

Configures SNMP to use the selected VRF to communicate with the host receiver. The ip-address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The VRF name can be any alphanumeric string up to 255 characters. The UDP port number range is from 0 to 65535. This command adds an entry into the ExtSnmpTargetVrfTable of the CISCO-SNMP-TARGET-EXT-MB.

The no form of this command removes the VRF reachability information for the configured host and removes the entry from the ExtSnmpTargetVrfTable of the CISCO-SNMP-TARGET-EXT-MB.

Note

 

This command does not remove the host configuration.

Step 3

[no] snmp-server host ip-address filter-vrf vrf-name [udp_port number]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 filter-vrf Red

Filters notifications to the notification host receiver based on the configured VRF. The ip-address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The VRF name can be any alphanumeric string up to 255 characters. The UDP port number range is from 0 to 65535.

This command adds an entry into the ExtSnmpTargetVrfTable of the CISCO-SNMP-TARGET-EXT-MB.

The no form of this command removes the VRF filter information for the configured host and removes the entry from the ExtSnmpTargetVrfTable of the CISCO-SNMP-TARGET-EXT-MB.

Note

 

This command does not remove the host configuration.

Step 4

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring SNMP to Send Traps Using an Inband Port

You can configure SNMP to send traps using an inband port. To do so, you must configure the source interface (at the global or host level) and the VRF used to send the traps.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server source-interface traps if-type if-number

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server source-interface traps ethernet 1/2

Globally configures a source interface for sending out SNMP traps. Use ? to determine the supported interface types.

You can configure the source interface at the global level or at a host level. When the source interface is configured globally, any new host configuration uses the global configuration to send the traps.

Note

 
To configure a source interface at the host level, use the snmp-server host ip-address source-interface if-type if-number command.

Step 3

(Optional) show snmp source-interface

Example:

switch(config)# show snmp source-interface
(Optional)

Displays information about configured source interfaces.

Step 4

snmp-server host ip-address use-vrf vrf-name [udp_port number]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server host 171.71.48.164 use-vrf default

Configures SNMP to use the selected VRF to communicate with the host receiver. The ip-address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address. The VRF name can be any alphanumeric string up to 255 characters. The UDP port number range is from 0 to 65535. This command adds an entry into the ExtSnmpTargetVrfTable of the CISCO-SNMP-TARGET-EXT-MB.

Note

 
By default, SNMP sends the traps using the management VRF. If you do not want to use the management VRF, you must use this command to specify the desired VRF.

Step 5

(Optional) show snmp host

Example:

switch(config)# show snmp host
(Optional)

Displays information about configured SNMP hosts.

Step 6

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Enabling SNMP Notifications

You can enable or disable notifications. If you do not specify a notification name, Cisco NX-OS enables all notifications except BGP, EIGRP, and OSPF notifications.


Note
The snmp-server enable traps command enables both traps and informs, depending on the configured notification host receivers.

The following table lists the commands that enable the notifications for Cisco NX-OS MIBs.

Table 2. Enabling SNMP Notifications

MIB

Related Commands

All notifications (except BGP, EIGRP, and OSPF)

snmp-server enable traps

CISCO-AAA-SERVER-MIB

snmp-server enable traps aaa

snmp-server enable traps aaa server-state-change

CISCO-BGP4-MIB

snmp-server enable traps bgp

CISCO-CALLHOME-MIB

snmp-server enable traps callhome

snmp-server enable traps callhome event-notify

snmp-server enable traps callhome smtp-send-fail

CISCO-CONFIG-MAN-MIB

snmp-server enable traps config

snmp-server enable traps config ccmCLIRunningConfigChanged

CISCO-EIGRP-MIB

snmp-server enable traps eigrp [tag]

CISCO-ERR-DISABLE-MIB

snmp-server enable traps link cerrDisableInterfaceEventRev1

ENTITY-MIB, CISCO-ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB

snmp-server enable traps entity

snmp-server enable traps entity entity_fan_status_change

snmp-server enable traps entity entity_mib_change

snmp-server enable traps entity entity_module_inserted

snmp-server enable traps entity entity_module_removed

snmp-server enable traps entity entity_module_status_change

snmp-server enable traps entity entity_power_out_change

snmp-server enable traps entity entity_power_status_change

snmp-server enable traps entity entity_unrecognised_module

CISCO-FEATURE-CONTROL-MIB

snmp-server enable traps feature-control

snmp-server enable traps feature-control FeatureOpStatusChange

CISCO-HSRP-MIB

snmp-server enable traps hsrp

snmp-server enable traps hsrp state-change

CISCO-LICENSE-MGR-MIB

snmp-server enable traps license

snmp-server enable traps license notify-license-expiry

snmp-server enable traps license notify-license-expiry-warning

snmp-server enable traps license notify-licensefile-missing

snmp-server enable traps license notify-no-license-for-feature

IF-MIB

snmp-server enable traps link

snmp-server enable traps link IETF-extended-linkDown

snmp-server enable traps link IETF-extended-linkUp

snmp-server enable traps link cisco-extended-linkDown

snmp-server enable traps link cisco-extended-linkUp

snmp-server enable traps link linkDown

snmp-server enable traps link Up

OSPF-MIB, OSPF-TRAP-MIB

snmp-server enable traps ospf [tag]

snmp-server enable traps ospf lsa

snmp-server enable traps ospf rate-limit rate

CISCO-RF-MIB

snmp-server enable traps rf

snmp-server enable traps rf redundancy_framework

CISCO-RMON-MIB

snmp-server enable traps rmon

snmp-server enable traps rmon fallingAlarm

snmp-server enable traps rmon hcFallingAlarm

snmp-server enable traps rmon hcRisingAlarm

snmp-server enable traps rmon risingAlarm

SNMPv2-MIB

snmp-server enable traps snmp

snmp-server enable traps snmp authentication

CISCO-MAC-NOTIFICATION-MIB

snmp-server enable trap link cmn-mac-move-notification

CISCO-PORT-STORM-CONTROL-MIB

storm-control action trap

CISCO-STP-EXTENSIONS-MIB

snmp-server enable traps stpx stpxMstInconsistencyUpdate

CISCO-STP-BRIDGE-MIB

snmp-server enable traps bridge

snmp-server enable traps bridge newroot

snmp-server enable traps bridge topologychange

CISCO-STPX-MIB

snmp-server enable traps stpx

snmp-server enable traps stpx inconsistency

snmp-server enable traps stpx loop-inconsistency

snmp-server enable traps stpx root-inconsistency

CISCO-SYSTEM-EXT-MIB

snmp-server enable traps sysmgr

snmp-server enable traps sysmgr cseFailSwCoreNotifyExtended

UPGRADE-MIB

snmp-server enable traps upgrade

snmp-server enable traps upgrade UpgradeJobStatusNotify

snmp-server enable traps upgrade UpgradeOpNotifyOnCompletion

VTP-MIB

snmp-server enable traps vtp

snmp-server enable traps vtp notifs

snmp-server enable traps vtp vlancreate

snmp-server enable traps vtp vlandelete

Use the following commands in the configuration mode shown to enable the specified notification:

Command

Purpose
snmp-server enable traps

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps

Enables all SNMP notifications.

snmp-server enable traps aaa [server-state-change]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps aaa

Enables the AAA SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • server-state-change—Enables AAA server state-change notifications.

snmp-server enable traps bgp

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps bgp

Enables Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) SNMP notifications.

snmp-server enable traps bridge [newroot] [topologychange]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps bridge

Enables STP bridge SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • newroot—Enables STP new root bridge notifications.

  • topologychange—Enables STP bridge topology-change notifications.

snmp-server enable traps callhome [event-notify] [smtp-send-fail]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps callhome

Enables Call Home notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • event-notify—Enables Call Home external event notifications.

  • smtp-send-fail—Enables Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) message send fail notifications.

snmp-server enable traps config [ccmCLIRunningConfigChanged]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps config

Enables SNMP notifications for configuration changes.

  • ccmCLIRunningConfigChanged—Enables SNMP notifications for configuration changes in the running or startup configuration.

snmp-server enable traps eigrp [tag]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps eigrp

Enables CISCO-EIGRP-MIB SNMP notifications.

snmp-server enable traps entity [entity_fan_status_change] [entity_mib_change] [entity_module_inserted] [entity_module_removed] [entity_module_status_change] [entity_power_out_change] [entity_power_status_change] [entity_unrecognised_module]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps entity

Enables ENTITY-MIB SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • entity_fan_status_change—Enables entity fan status-change notifications.

  • entity_mib_change—Enables entity MIB change notifications.

  • entity_module_inserted—Enables entity module inserted notifications.

  • entity_module_removed—Enables entity module removed notifications.

  • entity_module_status_change—Enables entity module status-change notifications.

  • entity_power_out_change—Enables entity power-out change notifications.

  • entity_power_status_change—Enables entity power status-change notifications.

  • entity_unrecognised_module—Enables entity unrecognized module notifications.

snmp-server enable traps feature-control [FeatureOpStatusChange]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps 
feature-control

Enables feature-control SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • FeatureOpStatusChange—Enables feature operation status-change notifications.

snmp-server enable traps hsrp state-change

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps hsrp

Enables CISCO-HSRP-MIB SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • state-change—Enables HSRP state-change notifications.

snmp-server enable traps license [notify-license-expiry] [notify-license-expiry-warning] [notify-licensefile-missing] [notify-no-license-for-feature]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps license

Enables ENTITY-MIB SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • notify-license-expiry—Enables license expiry notifications.

  • notify-license-expiry-warning—Enables license expiry warning notifications.

  • notify-licensefile-missing—Enables license file-missing notifications.

  • notify-no-license-for-feature—Enables no-license-installed-for-feature notifications.

snmp-server enable traps link [cieLinkDown] [cieLinkUp ] [cmn-mac-move-notification ] [IETF-extended-linkDown ] [IETF-extended-linkUp ] [cisco-extended-linkDown ] [cisco-extended-linkUp ][linkDown ] [linkUp]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps link

Enables IF-MIB link notifications. Optionally, enable the following specific notifications:

  • IETF-extended-linkDown—Enables Cisco extended link state down notifications.

  • IETF-extended-linkUp—Enables Cisco extended link state up notifications.

  • cmn-mac-move-notification—Enables MAC address move notifications.

  • cisco-extended-linkDown—Enables Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) extended link state down notifications.

  • cisco-extended-linkUp—Enables Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) extended link state up notifications.

  • linkDown—Enables IETF link state down notifications.

  • linkUp—Enables IETF link state up notifications.

snmp-server enable traps ospf [tag] [lsa]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps ospf

Enables Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • lsa—Enables OSPF link state advertisement (LSA) notifications.

snmp-server enable traps rf [redundancy-framework]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps rf

Enables redundancy framework (RF) SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • redundancy-framework—Enables RF supervisor switchover MIB notifications.

snmp-server enable traps rmon [fallingAlarm] [hcFallingAlarm] [hcRisingAlarm] [risingAlarm]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps rmon

Enables remote monitoring (RMON) SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • fallingAlarm—Enables RMON falling alarm notifications.

  • hcFallingAlarm—Enables RMON high-capacity falling alarm notifications.

  • hcRisingAlarm—Enables RMON high-capacity rising alarm notifications.

  • risingAlarm—Enables RMON rising alarm notifications.

snmp-server enable traps snmp [authentication]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps snmp

Enables general SNMP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • authentication—Enables SNMP authentication notifications.

snmp-server enable traps stpx [inconsistency] [loop-inconsistency] [root-inconsistency]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps stpx

Enables SNMP STPX notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • inconsistency—Enables SNMP STPX MIB inconsistency update notifications.

  • loop-inconsistency—Enables SNMP STPX MIB loop-inconsistency update notifications.

  • root-inconsistency—Enables SNMP STPX MIB root-inconsistency update notifications.

snmp-server enable traps syslog [message-generated]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps syslog

Sends syslog messages as traps to the defined SNMP host. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • message-generated—Enables software log message generated notifications.

snmp-server enable traps sysmgr [cseFailSwCoreNotifyExtended]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps sysmgr

Enables software change notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • cseFailSwCoreNotifyExtended—Enables software core notifications.

snmp-server enable traps upgrade [UpgradeJobStatusNotify] [UpgradeOpNotifyOnCompletion]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps upgrade

Enables upgrade notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • UpgradeJobStatusNotify—Enables upgrade job status notifications.

  • UpgradeOpNotifyOnCompletion—Enables upgrade global status notifications.

snmp-server enable traps vtp [notifs] [vlancreate] [vlandelete]

Example: 

switch(config)# snmp-server enable traps vtp

Enables VTP notifications. Optionally, enables the following specific notifications:

  • notifs—Enables VTP notifications.

  • vlancreate—Enables VLAN creation notifications.

  • vlandelete—Enables VLAN deletion notifications.

storm-control action traps

Example: 

switch(config-if)# storm-control action traps

Enables traffic storm control notifications when the traffic storm control limit is reached.

Disabling Link Notifications on an Interface

You can disable linkUp and linkDown notifications on an individual interface. You can use this limit notifications on flapping interface (an interface that transitions between up and down repeatedly).

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

interface type slot/port

Example:

switch(config)# interface ethernet 2/2

Disables SNMP link-state traps for the interface. This command is enabled by default.

Step 3

no snmp trap link-status

Example:

switch(config-if)# no snmp trap link-status

Disables SNMP link-state traps for the interface. This command is enabled by default.

Step 4

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config-if)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Displaying SNMP ifIndex for an Interface

The SNMP ifIndex is used across multiple SNMP MIBs to link related interface information.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

show interface snmp-ifindex

Example:

switch# show interface snmp-ifindex | grep -i Eth12/1
Eth12/1 441974784 (0x1a580000)

Displays the persistent SNMP ifIndex value from the IF-MIB for all interfaces. Optionally, use the | keyword and the grep keyword to search for a particular interface in the output.

Enabling a One-Time Authentication for SNMP over TCP

You can enable a one-time authentication for SNMP over a TCP session.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server tcp-session [auth]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server tcp-session

Enables a one-time authentication for SNMP over a TCP session. The default is disabled.

Step 3

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Assigning SNMP Device Contact and Location Information

You can assign the device contact information, which is limited to 32 characters (without spaces) and the device location.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server contact name

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server contact Admin

Configures sysContact, which is the SNMP contact name.

Step 3

snmp-server location name

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server location Lab-7

Configures sysLocation, which is the SNMP location.

Step 4

(Optional) show snmp

Example:

switch(config)# show snmp
(Optional)

Displays information about one or more destination profiles.

Step 5

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring the Context to Network Entity Mapping

You can configure an SNMP context to map to a logical network entity, such as a protocol instance or VRF.

Before you begin

Determine the logical network entity instance. For more information on VRFs and protocol instances, see the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Unicast Routing Configuration Guide or the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Multicast Routing Configuration Guide.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

[no] snmp-server context context-name [instance instance-name] [vrf vrf-name] [topology topology-name]

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server context public1 vrf red

Maps an SNMP context to a protocol instance, VRF, or topology. The names can be any alphanumeric string up to 32 characters.

The no option deletes the mapping between an SNMP context and a protocol instance, VRF, or topology.

Note

 
Do not enter an instance, VRF, or topology to delete a context mapping. If you use the instance, VRF, or topology keywords, you configure a mapping between the context and a zero-length string.

Step 3

(Optional) snmp-server mib community-map community-name context context-name

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server mib community-map public context public1
 (Optional)

Maps an SNMPv2c community to an SNMP context. The names can be any alphanumeric string up to 32 characters.

Step 4

(Optional) show snmp context

Example:

switch(config)# show snmp context
 (Optional)

Displays information about one or more SNMP contexts.

Step 5

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Disabling SNMP

You can disable SNMP on the device.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

no snmp-server protocol enable

Example:

switch(config)# no snmp-server protocol enable

Disables SNMP. SNMP is enabled by default.

Note

 

You cannot disable SNMPv1 without disabling SNMPv2. If you want to disable SNMPv1, then configure only SNMPv3, or disable SNMP entirely.

Managing the SNMP Server Counter Cache Update Timer

You can modify how long, in seconds Cisco NX-OS holds the cache port state.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server counter cache timeout seconds

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server counter cache timeout 1200

Defines how long in seconds, the port states are held in the local cache. The counter cache is enabled by default, and the default cache timeout value is 10 seconds. When disabled, the default cache timeout value is 50 seconds. The range is 1-3600.

Note

 
For end of row (EoR) switching - The range is from 10 to 3600.

Step 3

(Optional) show running-config snmp all |i cac

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config snmp all | i cac
(Optional)

Displays the configured SNMP-server counter cache update timeout value.

Step 4

no snmp-server counter cache enable

Example:

switch(config)# no snmp-server counter cache enable

Disables the counter cache update.

Note

 
When the counter cache update is disabled, the value set in the timeout parameter determines length of time the port states are held the counter cache.

Modifying the AAA Synchronization Time

You can modify how long Cisco NX-OS holds the synchronized user configuration.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server aaa-user cache-timeout seconds

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server aaa-user cache-timeout 1200

Configures how long the AAA synchronized user configuration stays in the local cache. The range is from 1 to 86400 seconds. The default is 3600.

Step 3

(Optional) copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config
(Optional)

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Configuring the SNMP Local Engine ID

Beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I6(1), you can configure the engine ID on a local device.


Note

After you configure the SNMP local engine ID, you must reconfigure all SNMP users, any host configured with the V3 users, and the community strings. Beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 7.0(3)I7(1), you need to reconfigure only the SNMP users and community strings.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:

switch# configure terminal
switch(config)#

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

snmp-server engineID local engineid-string

Example:

switch(config)# snmp-server engineID local AA:BB:CC:1A:2C:10

Changes the SNMP engine ID of the local device.

The local engine ID should be configured as a list of colon-specified hexadecimal octets, where there are even number of hexadecimal characters that range from 10 to 64 and every two hexadecimal characters are separated by a colon. For example, 80:00:02:b8:04:61:62:63.

Step 3

show snmp engineID

Example:

switch(config)# show snmp engineID

Displays the identification of the configured SNMP engine.

Step 4

[no] snmp-server engineID local engineid-string

Example:

switch(config)# no snmp-server engineID local AA:BB:CC:1A:2C:10

Disables the local engine ID and the default auto-generated engine ID is configured.

Step 5

copy running-config startup-config

Example:

switch(config)# copy running-config startup-config

Copies the running configuration to the startup configuration.

Verifying SNMP Configuration

To display SNMP configuration information, perform one of the following tasks:

Command

Purpose

show interface snmp-ifindex

Displays the SNMP ifIndex value for all interfaces (from IF-MIB).

show running-config snmp [all]

Displays the SNMP running configuration.

Beginning with 9.3(8) release, SNMPv3 users under show run will be represented in SALT format instead of hash.
show snmp

Displays the SNMP status.

show snmp community

Displays the SNMP community strings.

Note

 

If the name of the SNMP context in the snmp-server mib community-map command is more than 11 characters, the output of the show snmp community command is displayed in a vertical format instead of a tabular format.

show snmp context

Displays the SNMP context mapping.

show snmp engineID

Displays the SNMP engineID.

show snmp group

Displays SNMP roles.

show snmp host

Displays information about configured SNMP hosts.

show snmp session

Displays SNMP sessions.

show snmp source-interface

Displays information about configured source interfaces.

show snmp trap

Displays the SNMP notifications enabled or disabled.

show snmp user

Displays SNMPv3 users.

Configuration Examples for SNMP

This example shows how to configure Cisco NX-OS to send the Cisco linkUp or Down notifications to one notification host receiver using the Blue VRF and defines two SNMP users, Admin and NMS: 

configure terminal
snmp-server contact Admin@company.com
snmp-server user Admin auth sha abcd1234 priv abcdefgh
snmp-server user NMS auth sha abcd1234 priv abcdefgh engineID 00:00:00:63:00:01:00:22:32:15:10:03
snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 informs version 3 auth NMS
snmp-server host 192.0.2.1 use-vrf Blue
snmp-server enable traps link cisco

This example shows how to configure SNMP to send traps using an inband port configured at the host level: 

switch# configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
switch(config)# snmp-server host 171.71.48.164 version 2c public
switch(config)# snmp-server host 171.71.48.164 source-interface ethernet 1/2
switch(config)# show snmp host
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Host Port Version Level Type SecName
-------------------------------------------------------------------
171.71.48.164 162 v2c noauth trap public
Source interface: Ethernet 1/2
-------------------------------------------------------------------
switch(config)# snmp-server host 171.71.48.164 use-vrf default
switch(config)# show snmp host
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Host Port Version Level Type SecName
-------------------------------------------------------------------
171.71.48.164 162 v2c noauth trap public
Use VRF: default
Source interface: Ethernet 1/2
-------------------------------------------------------------------

This example shows how to configure SNMP to send traps using a globally configured inband port: 

switch# configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
switch(config)# snmp-server source-interface traps ethernet 1/2
switch(config)# show snmp source-interface
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Notification source-interface
-------------------------------------------------------------------
trap Ethernet1/2
inform -
-------------------------------------------------------------------
switch(config)# snmp-server host 171.71.48.164 use_vrf default
switch(config)# show snmp host
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Host Port Version Level Type SecName
-------------------------------------------------------------------
171.71.48.164 162 v2c noauth trap public
Use VRF: default
Source interface: Ethernet 1/2
-------------------------------------------------------------------

This example shows how to map VRF red to the SNMPv2c public community string: 

switch# configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
switch(config)# vrf context red
switch(config-vrf)# exit
switch(config)# snmp-server context public1 vrf red
switch(config)# snmp-server mib community-map public context public1

This example shows how to map OSPF instance Enterprise to the same SNMPv2c public community string: 

switch# configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
switch(config)# feature ospf
switch(config)# router ospf Enterprise
switch(config-router)# exit
switch(config)# snmp-server context public1 instance Enterprise
switch(config)# snmp-server mib community-map public context public1

Additional References

Related Documents

Related Topic Document Title
IP ACLs and AAA Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide
MIBs Cisco Nexus 7000 Series and 9000 Series NX-OS MIB Quick Reference

RFCs

RFC Title
RFC 3414 User-based Security Model (USM) for Version 3 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv3)
RFC 3415 View-based Access Control Model (VACM) for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)