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Viz Engine Administrator Guide

Version 5.0 | Published December 20, 2022 ©

SNMP Support

Information: Microsoft has deprecated SNMP on Windows 10 build 1809. It is unknown how long this feature will be supported by Viz Engine.

Introduction

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is a standard, usually UDP based protocol used for collecting information about managed services over IP networks. The device can send notifications (traps) on important state changes.

All values are addressed using a dotted notation string which is represented by a tree structure. The Vizrt registered subtree is 1.3.6.1.4.1.27566. followed by an unique identifier for different products like Viz Engine (1) or Viz Graphic Hub (2). The subtree for instance one of a Viz Engine would be 1.3.6.1.4.1.27566.1.1. It then splits up into a data part (1) and SNMP compliance mandatory structures (2).

The SNMP Extension is a DLL, an extension for the built-in Windows SNMP service. The agent (one per DLL) provides data to the service which can be retrieved by the SNMP protocol. The agent can also trigger sending SNMP traps (notifications).The service runs as LocalSystem user. The current SNMP version supported is 2c. Version 2c is the most common standard. Version 1 is obsolete, version 3 is not yet, if ever, supported by Microsoft.

Installation

Prerequisites

Before installing the SNMP Extension, the Windows SNMP service has to be installed and configured. This is usually a part of the workstation or server operating system. It has been tested using Windows 7 and Windows 10.

To Install the Services

  • Open the Control Panel.

  • Select Programs and Features, then Turn Windows Features On or Off list in Control Panel > Programs and Features.

    Information: SNMP is missing from Windows features in Windows 10 Professional Build version 1809. There is a temporary fix for this:

    1. Open Powershell with Administrator credentials and enter the following command:
      Get-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "SNMP*" Shows Not Present.

    2. Enter the following command:
      Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0"
      Get-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "SNMP*"
      Now shows Installed.

    The feature still does not show in the Windows Features window, but the service is installed and configurable from services.msc.

  • Select the Simple Network Managment Protocol (SNMP), the subfeature WMI SNMP Provider is not being used.

You'll find it afterwards in Computer Management > Services.

  • On Tab Security

    • Click Add to Accepted community names.

    • Enter public to the Community name.

    • Set the Community right to READ ONLY.

  • On tab Traps enter:

    • Community name: public.

    • Possible trap destinations 127.0.0.1.

images/download/attachments/92980032/snmp.png


Note: If you want to have active trap notifications, you have to enter the IP destination of your host monitoring system into the trap destinations as the SNMP service forwards the notifications to the monitoring host.

Without the configuration above, the SNMP service appears to be running, but does not send anything and the queries time out.

Installation

Currently there are two DLLs, one for Viz Engine (VizEngineSnmpExt.dll) and one for Viz Graphic Hub (VizGraphicHubSnmpExt.dll). During installation, these files are copied to your hard drive and the DLLs are registered in the registry in:

Path

Setting 

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SNMP\Parameters\ExtensionAgents
 
"0"="SOFTWARE\vizrt\VizEngineSnmpExt\CurrentVersion"
 
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\vizrt\VizEngineSnmpExt\CurrentVersion
 
"Pathname"="C:\Program Files\Vizrt\VizEngine\SNMP\VizEngineSnmpExt.dll"

Note: The number of registered services (in the table above is "0") may vary based on the previously registered services sequence.

Configuration

The extension agents were designed to have as few configuration options as possible. The parameters are located in registry and are read when the agent is initialized. The registry location for Viz Engine is HKLM\SOFTWARE\vizrt\VizEngineSnmpExt\. All parameters are optional. By fulfilling some setup conditions it is possible to install the agents without needing to use the parameters at all.

Registry Key

Default Value

Info

DebugLog

0

Enables debug log level. The log is located at C:\ProgramData\Vizrt\SNMPExtAgents. It should be disabled in production environment.

SampleTime

5000

Sample time in milliseconds for fetching the latest data, from Graphic Hub over REST, for example.

TrapRepeat

36

The agents repeat traps for values in „failed“ condition. The repeat time is SampleTime * TrapRepeat. Set to 0 to turn off trap repeating.

TrapHandling

1

Set to 0 to disable sending traps entirely. It is suggested to rather ignore the traps in the monitoring system than disabling them entirely.

Viz Engine Specific Settings

  • Engine config flag shm_system_status_enabled should be set to 1.

  • When multiple engine instances are monitored, create a new string value registry entry in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\vizrt\VizEngineSnmpExt, Value name = ChannelCount, Value data = [number of engine instances].