SNMP devices

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: snmp

Overview

This SNMP collector discovers and gathers statistics for network interfaces on SNMP-enabled devices:

• Traffic
• Packets (unicast, multicast, broadcast)
• Errors
• Discards
• Administrative and operational status

Additionally, it collects overall device uptime.

It is compatible with all SNMP versions (v1, v2c, and v3) and uses the gosnmp package.

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

SNMP service discovery is a dedicated component that automatically scans configured networks to find SNMP-enabled devices.

• This feature is disabled by default and requires explicit user configuration to activate.
• When enabled, it discovers devices using customizable credentials, supports various IP range formats (single IPs, ranges, CIDR) with a limit of 512 IPs per subnet, and optimizes network traffic through configurable caching of discovery results.
• Discovered devices are automatically made available to the SNMP collector for monitoring.

The configuration file name is go.d/sd/snmp.conf.

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

 cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
 sudo ./edit-config go.d/sd/snmp.conf

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

Device limitations: Many SNMP switches and routers have limited processing power. They might not be able to report data as frequently as desired. You can monitor response times using go.d.plugin in debug mode to identify potential bottlenecks.

Concurrent access: If multiple collectors or tools access the same SNMP device simultaneously, data points might be skipped. This is a limitation of the device itself, not this collector. To mitigate this, consider increasing the collection interval (update_every) to reduce the frequency of requests.

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

The metrics that will be collected are defined in the configuration file.

Per snmp device

These metrics refer to the SNMP device.

Labels:

Label	Description
sysName	SNMP device's system name (OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5).

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
snmp.device_uptime	uptime	seconds

Per network interface

Network interfaces of the SNMP device being monitored. These metrics refer to each interface.

Labels:

Label	Description
sysName	SNMP device's system name (OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5).
ifDescr	Network interface description (OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.2).
ifName	Network interface name (OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.2).
ifType	Network interface type (OID: 1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.2).

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
snmp.device_net_interface_traffic	received, sent	kilobits/s
snmp.device_net_interface_unicast	received, sent	packets/s
snmp.device_net_interface_multicast	received, sent	packets/s
snmp.device_net_interface_broadcast	received, sent	packets/s
snmp.device_net_interface_errors	inbound, outbound	errors/s
snmp.device_net_interface_discards	inbound, outbound	discards/s
snmp.device_net_interface_admin_status	up, down, testing	status
snmp.device_net_interface_oper_status	up, down, testing, unknown, dormant, not_present, lower_layer_down	status

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.

Setup

You can configure the snmp collector in two ways:

Method	Best for	How to
UI	Fast setup without editing files	Go to Nodes → Configure this node → Collectors → Jobs, search for snmp, then click + to add a job.
File	If you prefer configuring via file, or need to automate deployments (e.g., with Ansible)	Edit go.d/snmp.conf and add a job.

important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

Prerequisites

Prepare the SNMP device

Before configuring the collector:

• Enable the SNMP service on the target device (through its management interface).
• Make sure the device is reachable from the Netdata node on port 161/UDP.
• Have ready the required connection details: IP address, SNMP version, and either a community string (v1/v2c) or user credentials (v3).

Configuration

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every, autodetection_retry.

Config options

Group	Option	Description	Default	Required
Base	update_every	Data collection frequency.	10	no
	autodetection_retry	Recheck interval in seconds. Zero means no recheck will be scheduled.	0	no
	hostname	Target host (IP or DNS name, IPv4/IPv6).		yes
SNMPv1/2	community	SNMPv1/2 community string.	public	no
SNMPv3	user.name	SNMPv3 user name.		no
	user.level	Security level of SNMPv3 messages.		no
	user.auth_proto	Authentication protocol for SNMPv3 messages.		no
	user.auth_key	Authentication protocol pass phrase for SNMPv3 messages.		no
	user.priv_proto	Privacy protocol for SNMPv3 messages.		no
	user.priv_key	Privacy protocol pass phrase for SNMPv3 messages.		no
SNMP transport	options.version	SNMP version. Available versions: 1, 2, 3.	2	no
	options.port	Target port.	161	no
	options.retries	Retries to attempt.	1	no
	options.timeout	SNMP request/response timeout.	5	no
	options.max_repetitions	Controls how many SNMP variables to retrieve in a single GETBULK request.	25	no
	options.max_request_size	Maximum number of OIDs allowed in a single GET request.	60	no
Profiles	enable_profiles	Enable collection of metrics using SNMP profiles.	true	no
	enable_profiles_table_metrics	Enable collection of SNMP table metrics from profiles. Enabling this may increase collection time and memory usage for devices with many network interfaces.	true	no
	disable_legacy_collection	Disable the legacy SNMP collection method, forcing the collector to use only SNMP profiles (YAML-based configuration). When enabled, the collector will ignore any non-profile based collection logic.	false	no
Virtual node	create_vnode	If set, the collector will create a Netdata Virtual Node for this SNMP device, which will appear as a separate Node in Netdata.	true	no
	vnode_device_down_threshold	Number of consecutive failed data collections before marking the device as down.	3	no
	vnode.guid	A unique identifier for the Virtual Node. If not set, a GUID will be automatically generated from the device's IP address.		no
	vnode.hostname	The hostname that will be used for the Virtual Node. If not set, the device's hostname will be used.		no
	vnode.labels	Additional key-value pairs to associate with the Virtual Node.		no
Filters	network_interface_filter.by_name	Filter interfaces by their names using simple patterns.		no
	network_interface_filter.by_type	Filter interfaces by their types using simple patterns.		no

user.level

The security of an SNMPv3 message as per RFC 3414 (user.level):

String value	Int value	Description
none	1	no message authentication or encryption
authNoPriv	2	message authentication and no encryption
authPriv	3	message authentication and encryption

user.auth_proto

The digest algorithm for SNMPv3 messages that require authentication (user.auth_proto):

String value	Int value	Description
none	1	no message authentication
md5	2	MD5 message authentication (HMAC-MD5-96)
sha	3	SHA message authentication (HMAC-SHA-96)
sha224	4	SHA message authentication (HMAC-SHA-224)
sha256	5	SHA message authentication (HMAC-SHA-256)
sha384	6	SHA message authentication (HMAC-SHA-384)
sha512	7	SHA message authentication (HMAC-SHA-512)

user.priv_proto

The encryption algorithm for SNMPv3 messages that require privacy (user.priv_proto):

String value	Int value	Description
none	1	no message encryption
des	2	ES encryption (CBC-DES)
aes	3	128-bit AES encryption (CFB-AES-128)
aes192	4	192-bit AES encryption (CFB-AES-192) with "Blumenthal" key localization
aes256	5	256-bit AES encryption (CFB-AES-256) with "Blumenthal" key localization
aes192c	6	192-bit AES encryption (CFB-AES-192) with "Reeder" key localization
aes256c	7	256-bit AES encryption (CFB-AES-256) with "Reeder" key localization

via UI

Configure the snmp collector from the Netdata web interface:

1. Go to Nodes.
2. Select the node where you want the snmp data-collection job to run and click the ⚙ (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
3. The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
4. In the Search box, type snmp (or scroll the list) to locate the snmp collector.
5. Click the + next to the snmp collector to add a new job.
6. Fill in the job fields, then click Test to verify the configuration and Submit to save.
   • Test runs the job with the provided settings and shows whether data can be collected.
   • If it fails, an error message appears with details (for example, connection refused, timeout, or command execution errors), so you can adjust and retest.

via File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/snmp.conf.

The file format is YAML. Generally, the structure is:

update_every: 1
autodetection_retry: 0
jobs:
  - name: some_name1
  - name: some_name2

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/snmp.conf

Examples

SNMPv1/2

In this example:

• the SNMP device is 192.0.2.1.
• the SNMP version is 2.
• the SNMP community is public.
• we will update the values every 10 seconds.

Config

jobs:
  - name: switch
    update_every: 10
    hostname: 192.0.2.1
    community: public
    options:
      version: 2

SNMPv3

To use SNMPv3:

• use user instead of community.
• set options.version to 3.

Config

jobs:
  - name: switch
    update_every: 10
    hostname: 192.0.2.1
    options:
      version: 3
    user:
      name: username
      level: authPriv
      auth_proto: sha256
      auth_key: auth_protocol_passphrase
      priv_proto: aes256
      priv_key: priv_protocol_passphrase

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the snmp collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

• Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that's not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

  cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/

• Switch to the netdata user.

  sudo -u netdata -s

• Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m snmp

  To debug a specific job:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m snmp -j jobName

Getting Logs

If you're encountering problems with the snmp collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

• Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
• Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep snmp

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector's name:

grep snmp /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named "netdata" (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep snmp