SNMP event triggers and Smart-UPS line

[cernst_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 3/10/2009

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I'm working on developing some documentation on SNMP events. We use CA Unicenter TNG to receive traps, then hold them to a console for our NOC to watch over. I've got my ServerTech power strips figured out, now I'm on to the APC ups units.

I've downloaded the latest PowerNet MIB file (3.9.5) and looked at the defined events...good lord there are a lot. It appears that they've put all kinds of events in there that are for UPS units as well as other devices (xATSGeneratorVeryLowFuelLevelAlarmCleared).

Is there a way to determine which SNMP events are possible for a given Smart-UPS unit? I have a mix of SU700NET, SU700RM2U, SUA750RM2U, SUA750XL, SU700XL, and SUA3000XL units. In order to setup the filters, I need to know what will (or what I do not) want to be held on the message console.

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Anonymous on APC forums on 3/11/2009

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Hi cernst,

Do you have Network Management Cards (NMC) in those UPS. The UPS themselves can not communicate over SNMP and will need an NMC to communicate on the network and enable the use of SNMP. Assuming you do have NMC's then you can use a program like Getif to do a mib walk on the UPS to see what information is available on that model. From there you can look through what is available and decide on what traps you want to monitor. Also in the NMC you will want to remember to set the IP of the trap receiver.

Is that what you were looking for?

[cernst_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 3/11/2009

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yeah, I've got 9605's, 9606's, and 9617s.

doing a walk will only produce data on objects the UPS utilizes, but will not reveal what traps are used by the UPS. If you look at the PowerNet mib file, you have "products", "apcmgmt", and "SNMPv1 TRAPs" as the top three trees. If you expand the last option, it shows all the traps that the MIB file defines, but that doesn't mean the UPS can use them all.

A good example of a trap that may or may not be used, is the "baseFanFailure" trap. I have su700net boxes out there w/ 9605 cards. I also have sua3000xl units with 9617 cards. I don't know if either of the units will send out this trap. Some units do have fans...some do not.

APC traps are not very user friendly as they do not pass any data to the NMS. Each trap only has one object (mtrapargsString), which the value changes depending on the event. If they did pass data back, then I could do a walk to see if the UPS provides data for the included data object; if the object doesn't appear from a walk, then a good chance said trap would not be used by the unit. However, all we get to work with is an event with one object that responds with one static string dependent on the type of event.

Events that deal with temperature may work with UPS units and it may work with networked power strips.

[voidstar_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 3/12/2009

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On the web interface of your AP9606 and AP9617 cards with AOS 3xx, go to Administration->Notification

Almost all of the events listed there should have a corresponding trap, unless we've messed up. To get you started, I've compiled what I believe to be a list of all of the UPS related events and their trap #. It's attached to this message. I didn't include system traps. Like you said, any given UPS may not produce all of these traps, but each trap can be triggered by at least one UPS we've produced.

That said, you may want to rethink your approach. If you configure the NMS to log all traps coming from an APC device rather than specific traps, then you won't have to worry about entering new traps every time the firmware is updated or you add a new type of device to your network.

In addition, while most UPS traps attach mtrapargsString with the event text, other APC products differ. Check the PowerNET MIB for details.

I know this isn't everything you were looking for, but I hope this helps.

[cernst_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 3/13/2009

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The file did help, thank you.

The "Administration->Notification" section only works for a 9617. A 9606 has a different interface...but I'd imagine that even a 9605 will still send out the same traps a 9617 would.

I should have been clearer when talking about events/traps...I had meant for them to be the same thing, for every event, there is a trap.

If I allow all traps to be sent to the operator's "console", then a few things happen. I've noticed that some 9605 cards do not play nice with the "sua" series, and the card tends to reboot...I don't have this happen on "su" units. So if everything gets displayed, they'll be inundated with communications related messages. There might be a way to specifically block messages I don't want...that could be an option I'll work on.
As part of the project, I need to document what needs to happen when certain events occur...so knowing what events are sent will allow me to document as much as possible. If I don't, then I get a call...and I'm always on-call. We have a pretty good number of units out there, and the number grows.

APC UPS units are the only APC products I have networked.

Message was edited by: cernst