Knowledge Base

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Prerequisites In order to monitor a firewall, router, or switch, SOASTA CloudTest must be able to establish an SNMP connection to the device. If you are not sure how to enable this, consult your hardware vendor's documentation. If a firewall prevents SNMP access, see the topic Monitoring a Server Behind a Firewall. In addition, the device must support the system and interfaces MIB object trees (iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.system and iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.interfaces, respectively).
Supported Versions SOASTA CloudTest currently supports SNMP version 2c.
Steps In the Central list, select Monitoring Server Groups.
Click the New Monitoring Server Group icon. The Monitoring Server / Monitor wizard appears:
Select Monitor Server and click Next.  The Name and Connection step is shown.
Type a name for the Monitoring Server and optionally provide a description.  Finally type the hostname or IP address of the device into the Host field and click Next.
The Resources step is shown. Check "Network Devices" and click Next.
Enter the SNMP port number and community string.
Click the Test Connection button to test the connection. If the connection is successful, you will see a pop-up containing some information about the device. If the connection fails, you will see an error message explaining what went wrong.
Click Next.
Review the information to be sure it is correct, then check the "Create a new Monitor for this Monitor Server" box and click Finish.
Enter a name for the Monitor and an optional description, then click Next.
At this point you can choose which statistics you are interested in. For each statistic, you can choose a "sample rate" which determines how often that statistic will be collected. In addition to the standard statistics that are offered (for example, "Mbits Received"), you can track the value of any SNMP gauge or counter. For example, to track the number of IP datagrams discarded due to an invalid address, check the "Counter" box, and enter 1.3.6.1.2.1.4.5.0 in the "Arguments" column. What's the difference between a gauge and a counter? A counter describes a continually increasing value. For example, many SNMP-enabled devices represent the number of bytes received as a counter of the total number since the device was started. When you add a counter to the SNMP monitor, SOASTA CloudTest will take two samples and return the difference. A gauge describes an "instant" value. For example, the current size of the outbound packet queue is usually a gauge. When you add a gauge to the SNMP monitor, SOASTA CloudTest will simply record the sampled value. You can use the "Add Custom Object" button to add as many SNMP counters or gauges as you like. Some more examples: To track the number of SNMP GET requests, check the "Counter" box and enter 1.3.6.1.2.1.11.15.0 in the "Arguments" column. To track the current number of open TCP connections, check the "Gauge" box and enter 1.3.6.1.2.1.6.9.0 in the "Arguments" column.
When you are finished, click Next.
Review the information to be sure it is correct, then click Finish.
Next steps To start or stop monitoring, see Starting and Stopping a Monitor To automatically monitor the device every time a certain test starts, see the topic "Starting a Monitor Automatically When a Test Composition Runs" You can also combine database, J2EE, and ColdFusion statistics in the same monitor.