DAE-AN015: Using MRTG Monitoring Tool with Denkovi SNMP Modules

This application note describes a way to monitor Denkovi SNMP Modules (especially supporting inputs) using the popular free network tool MRTG (Multi Router Traffic Grapher). MRTG is a network application that can monitor any remote host which has the SNMP protocol support enabled. MRTG generates HTML pages containing PNG images which provide a live visual representation of monitored parameters. In addition to a detailed daily view, MRTG also creates graphs of the values seen during the last seven days, the last five weeks and the last twelve months.

 

 

 

Assumptions

Bellow it is described as an example how to use MRTG with smartDEN IP-32IN Input Module. Please note that generally every SNMP device by Denkovi can be used the same way with MRTG.

 

 

Requirements

• The Perl interpreter. A copy of Perl can be obtained from http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/downloads
• The MRTG package. A copy can be downloaded from http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/pub/?M=D
• A Web Server (for example – Apache) - required only if the MRTG graphs should be available over the Web/HTTP. The Web server may be configured on the local machine or on a remote host (distributed installation).

 

 

Installation

This section presents the installation of the Windows version of MRTG. The Linux/Unix version basically follows the same procedure. The Linux/Unix installation instructions can be found in http://oss.oetiker.ch/mrtg/doc/mrtg-unix-guide.en.html.

The installation process for a non-distributed implementation will be described. A distributed implementation follows the same steps but needs modifications on path specification.

 

Step 1. Installing Perl

Perl has to be installed following the setup instructions. Make sure that the Perl binary directory is listed in system’s PATH variable.

 

Step 2. Installing MRTG

MRTG does not require specific installation tasks. Just unzip the MRTG files in the chosen MRTG folder (this document assumes the folder is <drive>\mrtg\, where <drive> can be for example C:, D:, etc.).

 

Step 3. Enabling SNMP support on SmartDEN IP-32IN

By default, the SNMP is enabled on SmartDEN IP-32IN. The relevant configuration options are depicted in the figure bellow:

For smartDEN IP-32IN especially, the above settings may be applied from integrated webserver -> SNMP Agent

 

 

Step 4. Configuring MRTG to monitor SmartDEN IP-32IN in Windows

 

Step 4.1. Create a folder \Monitor\smartDEN_IP-32IN\, where corresponds to the drive where the MRTG is installed (C:, D:, etc.);

 

Step 4.2. Download the snmp MIB file and the mrtg config files for SmartDEN IP-32IN;

 

Step 4.3. Copy to the created smartDEN_IP-32IN folder the following files:

- smartDEN_IP-32IN.cfg

- smartDEN IP-32IN.mib

- mrtg-start.bat

 

Step 4.4. Open a command window in <drive>\Monitor\smartDEN_IP-32IN\ and type:

NOTE:

The provided configuration assumes the next settings of device SmartDEN IP-32IN:

- SNMP community name: public

- IP address: 192.168.1.100

- UDP port of the SNMP agent: 161

To modify this configuration, put the relevant settings in the next lines of smartDEN_IP-32IN.cfg:

 

 

 

Troubleshooting