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	Using ipMonitor's SNMP - QA Monitor and SNMP Informant, Administrators can monitor various management elements on a Windows 2000, XP or 2003 system, such as:
CPU Usage Memory Availability Processor Availability Available Disk Space

	SNMP Informant is a popular extension agent for the Microsoft SNMP Service that exposes performance counter-related data. It is developed by Williams Technology Consulting Services.
This Tutorial requires the no-cost 'Standard' version of SNMP-Informant, which can be downloaded from: http://www.wtcs.org/informant/download.htm

Before configuring SNMP - QA Monitors to implement the examples outlined in this tutorial, SNMP-Informant must be installed and configured on each Windows machine being monitored. To install and configure SNMP-Informant:

1. Log in to the Windows machine you wish to Monitor and download the installation bundle.
2. Open a command prompt (click Start, click Run, type in cmd.exe, and then click OK).
3. To ensure appropriate Physical and Logical Disk Performance Counters, type in the following command and hit enter:

   diskperf -y

   Note: On Windows 2000 based systems, a reboot is required to activate the Physical and Logical Disk Performance Counters.

4. Ensure that the Windows SNMP Service is installed. If the SNMP Service is not installed:

         a. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, and then
             click Add/Remove Windows Components.

         b. In Components, click Management and Monitoring Tools and then click Details.

         c. Select the Simple Network Management Protocol check box, and click OK.

         d. Click Next.

5. From the Zip file downloaded in Step 1, extract and double-click the informant-std-##.exe file to install SNMP-Informant.

	Click the XML icon to download resources designed to be used with this tutorial. The XML file includes six preconfigured Monitors, as well as a predefined Group for the Monitors.
	To incorporate the Cisco MIBs described in this article into your ipMonitor installation, access the SNMP MIB Database Builder located within the ipMonitor Support Portal. Note: Custom databases are only available to registered customers. You must log in to access this section. 1. Expand the Enterprise branch, and place a checkmark beside WTCS. 2. Click the Construct MIB Database button located at the bottom of the page. Shortly after selecting your custom MIBs for creation, you will receive an email indicating that your database is ready for download. This email will contain a link to your personalized SNMP MIB database. Additionally, each visit to the Support Portal home page will also contain the link to your most recently created database.
	Click the PDF icon to open a printable PDF version of this tutorial. It includes all the information found here, including images from the ipMonitor software, diagrams, and links to additional resources.

Monitor 1

Monitor Name	SNMP-INFORMANT Service :: Available Disk Space [MB]
Monitor Type	SNMP - QA Monitor
SNMP Object Type	lDiskFreeMegabytes
OID	1.3.6.1.4.1.9600.1.1.1.1.20.2.67.58
Returns	The amount of available disk space in megabytes.
Monitoring Condition	Pass if greater than 1024 Monitor failure indicates that less than 1 gigabyte (1,024 megabytes) of available disk space remains on the C:\ drive.

Note: The number '67' in the above OID refers to the HEX value of the Drive Letter (in this case, the 'C:' Drive) you wish to Monitor. For example, the HEX value for the capital letter 'D' is 68, so the corresponding SNMP Informant OID to monitor its free space in megabytes would be:

1.3.6.1.4.1.9600.1.1.1.1.20.2.68.58

Monitor 2

Monitor Name	SNMP-INFORMANT Service :: Available Physical Memory [KB]
Monitor Type	SNMP - QA Monitor
SNMP Object Type	memoryAvailableKBytes
OID	1.3.6.1.4.1.9600.1.1.2.2.0
Returns	The percentage of used disk space.
Monitoring Condition	Pass if greater than 5120 Monitor failure indicates that less than 5 megabytes (5,120 kilobytes) of physical memory remains available on the system.

Monitor 3

Monitor Name	SNMP-INFORMANT Service :: Available Physical Memory [MB]
Monitor Type	SNMP - QA Monitor
SNMP Object Type	memoryAvailableMBytes
OID	1.3.6.1.4.1.9600.1.1.2.3.0
Returns	The total amount of free RAM in megabytes.
Monitoring Condition	Pass if greater than 5 Monitor failure indicates that less than 5 megabytes of physical memory remains available on the system.

Monitor 4

Monitor Name	SNMP-INFORMANT Service :: Processor Activity [%]
Monitor Type	SNMP - QA Monitor
SNMP Object Type	cpuPercentProcessorTime
OID	1.3.6.1.4.1.9600.1.1.5.1.5.1.48
Returns	The percentage of CPU time used.
Monitoring Condition	Pass if less than 99 Monitor failure indicates that there is no idle CPU time, meaning that the machine is running at top capacity. Further action may be required to reduce the burden.

Note: The above OID should only be used for single processor machines. For multi-CPU machines the following OID will return the average utilization across all processors.

1.3.6.1.4.1.9600.1.1.5.1.5.6.95.84.111.116.97.108

Monitor 5

Monitor Name	SNMP-INFORMANT Service :: Total Processes
Monitor Type	SNMP - QA Monitor
SNMP Object Type	objectsProcesses
OID	1.3.6.1.4.1.9600.1.1.4.1.0
Returns	The number of processes in the computer at the time of data collection.
Monitoring Condition	Pass if less than 99 Monitor failure indicates that there may be an unusually large number of processes running on the machine. Further action may be required to reduce the burden.

Monitor 6

Monitor Name	SNMP-INFORMANT Service :: Total Threads
Monitor Type	SNMP - QA Monitor
SNMP Object Type	objectsThreads
OID	1.3.6.1.4.1.9600.1.1.4.2.0
Returns	The number of threads in the computer at the time of data collection.
Monitoring Condition	Pass if less than 1000 Monitor failure indicates that there may be an unusually large number of threads executing on the machine. Further action may be required to reduce the burden.

Note: All imported Monitors are initially disabled. This allows you to make changes to the default settings before the Monitors are enabled to go live in a production environment. Once the Monitors are imported, the following settings will need to be verified (and if necessary, modified) for each Monitor:

• IP Address
• UDP Port
• Community

To learn more about modifying the above parameters, please refer to the 'Configuring the SNMP - QA Monitor' section of this tutorial.

TIP For detailed instructions regarding importing XML files into your ipMonitor installation, please refer to the tutorial entitled "How to Import and Export Configuration Settings".

For the purposes of this tutorial, we'll be referring to the preconfigured Monitors included in the XML resource download. Alternatively, you can create a new Monitor by clicking the Monitors menu option and then selecting Add a Monitor. Choose the SNMP - QA Monitor from the Multi-Transaction / QA category.

1. Enter a unique, descriptive name for the Monitor in the Name field.
2. Choose whether to automatically add the new Monitor to a particular Group.
3. Check the Enabled checkbox.
4. Choose whether you want the Monitor to Store Monitor Statistics for Recent Activity and Historical Reports.

5. Specify the location of the SNMP Service (in this case, SNMP-Informant). Both IP Address and Domain Name are valid entries.
6. If needed, specify a different Port Number for the SNMP agent. By default, the standard Port Number used for SNMP communication (Port 161) is already entered.
7. If you are using one of the preconfigured Monitors, the appropriate OID for the monitoring task is already entered. Otherwise, you will need to specify an OID path in the OID field.
8. Enter the SNMP Community string that allows ipMonitor to communicate with the SNMP agent.
9. Select the SNMP Version used by the device to be monitored. Both ipMonitor and the target device must use the same SNMP Version. Available options are: SNMP Version 1 and SNMP Version 2.

The following example uses the Analysis of Test Results settings configured for the SNMP-INFORMANT Service :: Used Disk Space [%] Monitor provided in the XML resource download.

The type of data supported by the selected OID determines the possible methods of analysis using the SNMP - QA Monitor.

1. In order to return the desired value (the percentage of used disk space), the SNMP - QA Monitor is configured to analyze the result as Numeric Data.
2. The expected result is determined to be greater than (>) 1024 MB, ensuring that the Monitor will pass if the returned data indicates that more than 1 gigabyte of available disk space remains.

TIP By default, the Timing Intervals for each parameter are set to 300 seconds. If needed, adjust these defaults to meet your specific monitoring environment's requirements until the optimum settings are reached.

For more information regarding the SNMP - QA Monitor, refer to the Monitors section of ipMonitor's Context-Sensitive Help system, then select Monitor Types, followed by SNMP - QA. The Context-Sensitive Help can be accessed by clicking the Help link located in the top right corner of ipMonitor's Administration web interface.

For information on other features and concepts related to those discussed in this article, refer to the following ipMonitor resources:

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Last Updated: April 12, 2006 | What did you think of this topic?