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Functionality

SNMP Informant is a system-level software program that runs on a Windows 2000, XP, 2003 or Vista computer system that allows OTHER systems to collect performance, operational and state information remotely, using the SNMP protocol.

Technically speaking, SNMP Informant is an "SNMP Extension Agent", designed to load on top of (it requires) the Microsoft SNMP service.

Click here to open a 25 second flash demo of how SNMP Informant works!

Data that can be collected using SNMP Informant depends upon the type and version installed.  If the PDH (Performance) agents are installed, the information available will be different than if the WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) agents are installed.  This is because the data sources are different.


Why SNMP Informant?

All Microsoft Windows Servers (and workstations) are composed of many systems and sub-systems that are responsible for carrying out certain tasks.

When under stress (i.e. low memory, insufficient disk space, high CPU or network utilization), these computer sub-systems provide feedback to the Host Operating System through the Performance Monitor sub-system.

Here's the Problem: If you are not actively monitoring the performance of your Windows servers, you're probably reacting to problem situations.  Disks can run out of space, processors can "max out", memory can drop to dangerously low levels, services can shut down and network bandwidth can be saturated.

The results can be catastrophic. Your servers (and the applications they support!) can grind to a halt.

And WE have the solution: Install SNMP Informant, and you can rapidly shift your server monitoring approach from REACTIVE to PROACTIVE, and:

    BE ALERTED when critical counters exceed threshold levels **
    KNOW IN ADVANCE when capacity will become an issue
    PLAN FOR UPGRADES, because you KNOW your utilization patterns

** SNMP Informant provides the data, and the Network Management Application generates the alerts.

By simply installing SNMP Informant "on top" of the SNMP service (which comes with the OS) on Windows 2000, XP or 2003 systems, you can monitor hundreds of performance counters using industry standard (commercial and open source) SNMP-based tools * such as EM&, PRTG, HP Openview NNM, Whatsup Gold, SNMPc, MRTG, RRDtool, Big Brother, Cricket and Cacti to name but a few.


Performance (PDH) Agent Technical Details

The diagram below illustrates the relationship between SNMP Informant, the MS SNMP service, other SNMP extension agents and shows how SNMP Informant PDH Agents access data from the systems' performance counter subsystem.


Operational (WMI) Agent Technical Details

The diagram below shows how SNMP Informant WMI agents access data from the Windows WMI subsystem.


Specialized Agent Technical Details

  • The MSCS Agent behaves similarly to the WMI agent, but hooks into the Cluster Servers resource libraries to allow accesses to Cluster Service operational information.

Other Agent Technical Details

  • The MBM Agent behaves similarly to the WMI agent, but accesses shared memory used by Motherboard Monitor.

As you can see, SNMP Informant gives your SNMP management application unprecedented access to low-level system information by translating standard SNMP GET/GETNEXT requests into local requests for performance counter, WMI or Motherboard Monitor data.  The responses to these requests are returned to SNMP Informant for reformatting, and are sent back to the requesting management application.


SNMP Traps

At present, our agents do not provide SNMP Trap services (although they will eventually).  Therefore, you must configure the management (polling) station itself to generate alerts based on data collected from SNMP Informant.  This design model works well for the vast majority of network monitoring products, including but not limited to:


SNMP SET Support

SNMP Informant WMI-OS Agent (from version 1.1.1) supports SNMP SETs to remotely pause, stop and restart services, initiate remote program execution and restart servers.  Check out the WMI-OS Product page for more information!


SNMPv3 Support

Our agents are SNMP extension agents, and as such require an SNMP stack in order to function.  The native Microsoft SNMP stack only supports SNMPv1 and SNMPv2, and NOT SNMPv3.  Therefore, our agents cannot process SNMPv3 commands.  This is not a fault of our extension agents, but a limitation of the Microsoft SNMP stack.

If implementing SNMPV3 is is a requirement, you may find success with a third party replacement for the MS SNMP stack.  One such example is the Agent Service for MS Windows by NuDesignTechnologies (http://www.ndt-inc.com).  These replacements claim to be 100% compatible with the MS stack, and support all extension agents.  Since SNMP Informant is such an extension agent, you may find that upgrading to SNMPV3 is less painful than you thought!  We suggest you get a demo of the third party agent, and the free SNMP Informant Standard edition, and try for yourself.  Our preliminary testing has been successful.  Look for us to provide more direction in this area soon.


Extensibility

Our agents are monolithic, meaning their functionality cannot be enhanced beyond what is provided (except by us).  Having said that, if you have the need, we have the skill.  Call us, and we can provide a quote to you for creating a custom SNMP Informant Application Plus Pack for your application! 


The performance counter objects that can be monitored depends on the versions of SNMP Informant installed.

  • The Standard (free) version includes the Core Four objects (plus one extra!)
  • The Advanced version includes all OS objects (over 2500 in total!)
  • The Application Plus Packs (APPs) include all performance counter objects installed by the application it supports (i.e. Microsoft Exchange Server 2000/2003, SQL Server 2000/2005, BizTalk Server 2000 and ISA Server 2000).
  • The WMI agents provide selected objects broken down into 4 primary categories, Operating System, Hardware, Exchange Server and Virtual Server.
  • The MSCS (Cluster Services) Agent allows access to detailed cluster server information.
  • The Mother Monitor agent provides low-level details about the motherboard installed (CPU temp, fan speed, core CPU voltage, etc.)

Check the Version Differences table below for details about agent capabilities!


Version Differences:

The table below highlights the versions and current availability of the different free and commercial agents.

 

SNMP Informant versions

Performance Object/Product STD ADV  APP WMI MSCS Custom
Core Four (memory, processor, logical disk, network interface) Free!          
All OS counters *          
SQL Server 2000/2005/MSDE          
Exchange Server 2000/2003        
ISA Server 2000/2004/2006          
BizTalk Server 2000/2006          
Cluster Services 2003          
System Hardware Information          
Windows Operating System Information          
Virtual Server 2005          
Motherboard Monitor (requires MBM 5)           Free!
             
Windows Server 2008          
Exchange Server 2007          
Citrix XenApp (Presentation) Server          

= Agent Available, = Agent Pending

Depending on your network monitoring requirements, you can choose one or more of the SNMP Informant agents from each product line.  You can also get them all in the SNMP Informant Premium Bundle!


Implementing SNMP Informant:

First of all, Identify the systems you want to monitor, and determine what level of monitoring you want to apply on each.  Think of the levels as BASIC, ADVANCED and ENTERPRISE.

BASIC: On systems where you want to monitor core statistics (Processor, Memory, Disk and Network), you need only download and install the free Standard version of SNMP Informant.

ADVANCED: As your network infrastructure grows, you can upgrade to the Advanced version of SNMP Informant and start monitoring performance counters other than those provided by the Standard version.  Some of the more important performance counters include System, Cache, WINS, DNS, RAS, Active Directory, Media Services and Web Services to name a few!

ENTERPRISE: If you are responsible for the monitoring of mission critical enterprise services (i.e. Messaging, Collaboration, Database and Internet Access), then you should install the Advanced version, and additional Application Plus Packs as your environment dictates.  You should consider how the SNMP Informant-WMI agents might be of value to you as well, especially since the WMI-OS version now supports SETS, so you can stop/start/pause services, remotely (and securely) execute programs and scripts, and remotely shut-down and restart servers!

The diagram below illustrates this tiered monitoring strategy.



 


* Product names are trademarks of their respective owners where applicable



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