=head1 NAME

collectd-snmp - Documentation of collectd's C<snmp plugin>

=head1 SYNOPSIS

  LoadPlugin snmp
  # ...
  <Plugin snmp>
    <Data "powerplus_voltge_input">
      Type "voltage"
      Table false
      Instance "input_line1"
      Scale 0.1
      Values "SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.6050.5.4.1.1.2.1"
    </Data>
    <Data "hr_users">
      Type "users"
      Table false
      Instance ""
      Shift -1
      Values "HOST-RESOURCES-MIB::hrSystemNumUsers.0"
    </Data>
    <Data "std_traffic">
      Type "if_octets"
      Table true
      Instance "IF-MIB::ifDescr"
      Values "IF-MIB::ifInOctets" "IF-MIB::ifOutOctets"
    </Data>

    <Host "some.switch.mydomain.org">
      Address "192.168.0.2"
      Version 1
      Community "community_string"
      Collect "std_traffic"
      Interval 120
    </Host>
    <Host "some.server.mydomain.org">
      Address "192.168.0.42"
      Version 2
      Community "another_string"
      Collect "std_traffic" "hr_users"
    </Host>
    <Host "some.ups.mydomain.org">
      Address "192.168.0.3"
      Version 1
      Community "more_communities"
      Collect "powerplus_voltge_input"
      Interval 300
    </Host>
  </Plugin>

=head1 DESCRIPTION

The C<snmp plugin> queries other hosts using SNMP, the simple network
management protocol, and translates the value it receives to collectd's
internal format and dispatches them. Depending on the write plugins you have
loaded they may be written to disk or submitted to another instance or
whatever you configured.

Because querying a host via SNMP may produce a timeout multiple threads are
used to query hosts in parallel. Depending on the number of hosts between one
and ten threads are used.

=head1 CONFIGURATION

Since the aim of the C<snmp plugin> is to provide a generic interface to SNMP,
it's configuration is not trivial and may take some time.

Since the C<Net-SNMP> library is used you can use all the environment variables
that are interpreted by that package. See L<snmpcmd(1)> for more details.

There are two types of blocks that can be contained in the
C<E<lt>PluginE<nbsp>snmpE<gt>> block: B<Data> and B<Host>:

=head2 The B<Data> block

The B<Data> block defines a list of values or a table of values that are to be
queried. The following options can be set:

=over 4

=item B<Type> I<type>

collectd's type that is to be used, e.E<nbsp>g. "if_octets" for interface
traffic or "users" for a user count. The types are read from the B<TypesDB>
(see L<collectd.conf(5)>), so you may want to check for which types are
defined. See L<types.db(5)> for a description of the format of this file.

=item B<Table> I<true|false>

Define if this is a single list of values or a table of values. The difference
is the following:

When B<Table> is set to B<false>, the OIDs given to B<Values> (see below) are
queried using the C<GET> SNMP command (see L<snmpget(1)>) and transmitted to
collectd. B<One> value list is dispatched and, eventually, one file will be
written.

When B<Table> is set to B<true>, the OIDs given to B<Values> (see below) are
queried using the C<GETNEXT> SNMP command until the subtree is left. After all
the lists (think: all columns of the table) have been read B<several> values
sets will be dispatches and, eventually, several files will be written. If you
configure a B<Type> (see above) which needs more than one data source (for
example C<if_octets> which needs C<rx> and C<tx>) you will need to specify more
than one (two, in the example case) OIDs with the B<Values> option. This has
nothing to do with the B<Table> setting.

For example, if you want to query the number of users on a system, you can use
C<HOST-RESOURCES-MIB::hrSystemNumUsers.0>. This is one value and belongs to one
value list, therefore B<Table> must be set to B<false>. Please note that, in
this case, you have to include the sequence number (zero in this case) in the
OID.

Counter example: If you want to query the interface table provided by the
C<IF-MIB>, e.E<nbsp>g. the bytes transmitted. There are potentially many
interfaces, so you will want to set B<Table> to B<true>. Because the
C<if_octets> type needs two values, received and transmitted bytes, you need to
specify two OIDs in the B<Values> setting, in this case likely
C<IF-MIB::ifHCInOctets> and C<IF-MIB::ifHCOutOctets>. But, this is because of
the B<Type> setting, not the B<Table> setting.

Since the semantic of B<Instance> and B<Values> depends on this setting you
need to set it before setting them. Doing vice verse will result in undefined
behavior.

=item B<Instance> I<Instance>

Sets the type-instance of the values that are dispatched. The meaning of this
setting depends on whether B<Table> is set to I<true> or I<false>:

If B<Table> is set to I<true>, I<Instance> is interpreted as an SNMP-prefix
that will return a list of values. Those values are then used as the actual
type-instance. An example would be the C<IF-MIB::ifDescr> subtree.
L<variables(5)> from the SNMP distribution describes the format of OIDs.

If B<Table> is set to I<true> and B<Instance> is omitted, then "SUBID" will be
used as the instance.

If B<Table> is set to I<false> the actual string configured for I<Instance> is
copied into the value-list. In this case I<Instance> may be empty, i.E<nbsp>e.
"".

=item B<InstancePrefix> I<String>

If B<Table> is set to I<true>, you may feel the need to add something to the
instance of the files. If set, I<String> is prepended to the instance as
determined by querying the agent. When B<Table> is set to I<false> this option
has no effect.

The C<UPS-MIB> is an example where you need this setting: It has voltages of
the inlets, outlets and the battery of an UPS. However, it doesn't provide a
descriptive column for these voltages. In this case having 1, 2,E<nbsp>... as
instances is not enough, because the inlet voltages and outlet voltages may
both have the subids 1, 2,E<nbsp>... You can use this setting to distinguish
between the different voltages.

=item B<Values> I<OID> [I<OID> ...]

Configures the values to be queried from the SNMP host. The meaning slightly
changes with the B<Table> setting. L<variables(5)> from the SNMP distribution
describes the format of OIDs.

If B<Table> is set to I<true>, each I<OID> must be the prefix of all the
values to query, e.E<nbsp>g. C<IF-MIB::ifInOctets> for all the counters of
incoming traffic. This subtree is walked (using C<GETNEXT>) until a value from
outside the subtree is returned.

If B<Table> is set to I<false>, each I<OID> must be the OID of exactly one
value, e.E<nbsp>g. C<IF-MIB::ifInOctets.3> for the third counter of incoming
traffic.

=item B<Scale> I<Value>

The gauge-values returned by the SNMP-agent are multiplied by I<Value>.  This
is useful when values are transfered as a fixed point real number. For example,
thermometers may transfer B<243> but actually mean B<24.3>, so you can specify
a scale value of B<0.1> to correct this. The default value is of course B<1.0>.

This value is not applied to counter-values.

=item B<Shift> I<Value>

I<Value> is added to gauge-values returned by the SNMP-agent after they have
been multiplied by any B<Scale> value. If, for example, a thermometer returns
degrees Kelvin you could specify a shift of B<273.15> here to store values in
degrees Celsius. The default value is is course B<0.0>.

This value is not applied to counter-values.

=back

=head2 The Host block

The B<Host> block defines which hosts to query, which SNMP community and
version to use and which of the defined B<Data> to query.

The argument passed to the B<Host> block is used as the hostname in the data
stored by collectd.

=over 4

=item B<Address> I<IP-Address>|I<Hostname>

Set the address to connect to.

=item B<Version> B<1>|B<2>

Set the SNMP version to use. When giving B<2> version C<2c> is actually used.
Version 3 is not supported by this plugin.

=item B<Community> I<Community>

Pass I<Community> to the host.

=item B<Collect> I<Data> [I<Data> ...]

Defines which values to collect. I<Data> refers to one of the B<Data> block
above. Since the config file is read top-down you need to define the data
before using it here.

=item B<Interval> I<Seconds>

Collect data from this host every I<Seconds> seconds. This option is meant for
devices with not much CPU power, e.E<nbsp>g. network equipment such as
switches, embedded devices, rack monitoring systems and so on. Since the
B<Step> of generated RRD files depends on this setting it's wise to select a
reasonable value once and never change it.

=back

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<collectd(1)>,
L<collectd.conf(5)>,
L<snmpget(1)>,
L<snmpgetnext(1)>,
L<variables(5)>,
L<unix(7)>

=head1 AUTHOR

Florian Forster E<lt>octo@verplant.orgE<gt>

=cut