Configuring SNMP Alarms

Configuring SNMP Alarms

This section includes procedures for configuring SNMP alarms. It covers the following topics:

• Enabling an SNMP Alarm

• Setting the Severity of the SNMP Alarm

• Disabling an SNMP Alarm

Enabling an SNMP Alarm

After you enable an SNMP alarm, the NetScaler generates trap messages when certain events occur. Some alarms are enabled by default.

To enable alarm using the configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, expand System, expand SNMP, and click Alarms. The Alarms page appears in the details pane.

2. On the Alarms page, select a disabled SNMP alarm that you want to enable, for example, LOGIN-FAILURE.

3. Click Enable.

To enable alarms using the NetScaler command line

At a NetScaler command prompt, type:

set snmp alarm LOGIN-FAILURE –state ENABLED

Setting the Severity of an SNMP Alarm

There are five severity types (tags): Critical, Major, Minor, Warning, and Informational. A trap is sent only when the severity of the alarm matches the severity specified for the trap.

To set the severity of the alarm using the configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, expand System, expand SNMP, and click Alarms. The SNMP Alarms page appears in the details pane.

2. Select the alarm for which you want to set the severity, for example, LOGIN-FAILURE.

3. Click Open. The Configure SNMP Alarm dialog box appears.

4. In Severity, select a severity option, for example, Major.

5. Click Ok.

To set the severity of the alarm using the NetScaler command line

At a NetScaler command prompt, type:

set snmp alarm LOGIN-FAILURE -severity Major

Disabling an SNMP Alarm

If you disable an SNMP alarm, the NetScaler will not generate trap messages when corresponding events occur. For example, if you disable the Login-Failure SNMP alarm, the NetScaler will not generate a trap message when a login failure occurs.

To disable an SNMP alarm using the configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, expand System, click SNMP, and click Alarms. The Alarms page appears in the details pane.

2. In the Alarms page, select an SNMP alarm that you want to disable, for example, LOGIN-FAILURE.

3. Click Disable.

To disable an SNMP alarm using the NetScaler command line

At a NetScaler command prompt, type:

set snmp alarm LOGIN-FAILURE –state DISABLED

Configuring Syslog

You can customize logging of NetScaler and Access Gateway Enterprise Edition access events for the needs of your site. You can direct these logs either to files on the NetScaler or to external log servers. The NetScaler uses the Audit Server Logging feature for logging the states and status information collected by different modules in the kernel and by user-level daemons. For more information about the Audit Server Logging feature, see the “Audit Server Logging” chapter in Citrix NetScaler Administration Guide.

Syslog is used to monitor a NetScaler and log connections, statistics, and so on. You can customize the two logging functions for system events messaging and syslog. The NetScaler’s internal event message generator passes log entries to the syslog server. The syslog server accepts these log entries and logs them.

Adding a Name Server

Adding a Name Server

You can add, remove, enable, and disable external name servers. You can create a name server by specifying its IP address, or you can configure an existing vserver as the name server.

When adding name servers, you can specify IP addresses or virtual IP addresses (VIPs). If you use IP addresses, the NetScaler load balances requests to the configured name servers in a round robin manner. If you use VIPs, you can specify any load balancing method. Use either of the following procedures to add a name server. (The examples use an IP address. For information about using a

VIP, see the “Domain Name System” chapter in Citrix NetScaler Traffic Management Guide.)

To add a name server using the configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, expand DNS and click Name Servers. The Name Servers page appears in the details pane.

2. Click Add. The Create Name Server dialog box appears.

3. Select the IP Address radio button.

4. In the IP Address text box, type the IP address of the name server, for example, 10.102.29.10. When you are adding an external name server, clear the Local check box.

5. Click Create, and click Close. The name server that you added appears in the Name Servers page.

To add a name server using the NetScaler command line

At a NetScaler command prompt, type:

add dns nameServer 10.102.29.10

Verifying the Configuration

To verify the configuration, you need to view the properties of the name servers. These properties (state, effective state, and so on) can be used as a basis for troubleshooting any fault in the configuration. Use either of the following procedures to view the properties of a name server.

To view the properties of a name server using the configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, expand DNS and click Name Servers. The Name Servers page appears in the details pane. The details of the available Name Servers appear on this page.

2. Verify that the configured name server (for example 10.102.29.10) appears.

3. Select the IP address or VIP that you assigned and, in the Details section, verify that the parameters displayed are correctly configured.

To view the properties of a name server using the NetScaler command line

At a NetScaler command prompt, type:

show dns nameServer

Configuring SNMP

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) network management application queries the SNMP agent on the NetScaler. The agent searches the management information base (MIB) for data requested by the network management application and sends the data to the application.

To configure SNMP monitoring of a NetScaler, you set up traps and alarms. SNMP traps are asynchronous events that the agent generates to signal abnormal conditions. For example, if you want to be informed when CPU utilization is above 90 percent, you can enable traps and set up an alarm for that condition. The following conceptual diagram illustrates a network with a NetScaler that has

SNMP enabled and configured.

The SNMP agent on a NetScaler supports SNMP version 1 (SNMPv1), SNMP version 2 (SNMPv2), and SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3). Because it operates in bilingual mode, the agent can handle SNMPv2 queries, such as Get-Bulk, and SNMPv1 queries. The SNMP agent also sends traps compliant with SNMPv2 and supports SNMPv2 data types, such as counter64. SNMPv1 managers (programs on other servers that request SNMP information from the NetScaler) use the NSMIB-

smiv1.mib file when processing SNMP queries. SNMPv2 managers use the NS-MIB-smiv2.mib file.

The NetScaler supports the following enterprise-specific MIBs:

• A subset of standard MIB-2 groups. Provides MIB-2 groups SYSTEM, IF, ICMP, UDP, and SNMP.

• A system enterprise MIB. Provides system-specific configuration and statistics.

Note: Procedures in this section include IP addresses and other settings as examples that you can use in your initial configuration.

Adding SNMP Managers

You can configure a workstation running a management application that complies with SNMP version 1, 2, or 3 to access a NetScaler. Such a workstation is called an SNMP manager. If you do not configure an SNMP manager, the NetScaler accepts and responds to SNMP queries from all IP addresses on the network. If you configure one or more SNMP managers, the NetScaler accepts and responds to SNMP queries from only those specific IP addresses. When specifying the IP address of an SNMP manager, you can use the netmask parameter to grant access from entire subnets. You can add a maximum of 100 SNMP managers or networks.

To add an SNMP manager using the configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, expand System, expand SNMP, and click Managers. The Managers page appears on the details pane.

2. Click Add. The Add SNMP Manager dialog box appears.

3. In the IP Address text box, type the IP address, for example, 10.102.29.5.

4. Click Create and click Close.

To add an SNMP manager using the NetScaler command line

At a NetScaler command prompt, type:

add snmp manager 10.102.29.5 –netmask 255.255.255.255

Adding SNMP Traps

You can use either of the procedures described in this section to set the NetScaler to send traps to a specified destination.

To add an SNMP trap using the configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, expand System, expand SNMP, and click Traps. The Traps page appears in the details pane.

2. Click Add. The Add SNMP Trap Destination dialog box appears.

3. In the Destination IP Address text box, type the IP address, for example, 10.102.29.3.

4. Click Create and click Close.

To add an SNMP trap using the NetScaler command line

At a NetScaler command prompt, type:

add snmp trap specific 10.102.29.3