Creating custom read and write community strings

The following steps allow you to customize READ and WRITE community strings and change from "public" and "private" to other names:

1. If a community string is set different from "public" or "private", then you must modify some PATROL Agent variables to coincide with your changes. From a PATROL Developer Console, use WPCONFIG or XPCONFIG to set the following variables:
   • /snmp/agent_r_community "<your_public_name>"
   • /snmp/agent_w_community "<your_private_name>"
   • /snmp/default_r_community "<your_public_name>"
   • /snmp/default_w_community "<your_private_name>"
     
     You do not need to restart the PATROL Agent to apply these changes

2. Use the PATROL Developer console to enter the following PSL command to determine whether the SNMP subagent is active:

   %PSL print(snmp_agent_config());

   If the SNMP subagent is active, this command returns the following message: "SNMP Support is Active."
   
   If it returns a message saying "SNMP Support is not Active", use the following command to start it:

   print(snmp_agent_start());

   If "OK" is returned, all is well. If ERR is returned, the master agent communication is not working. The most likely reason for this is that the SNMP Master Agent is not running. For NT, use Task Manager to search for the snmpmagt.exe process. For UNIX platforms, use ps -ef | grep snmpmagt. If the SNMP Master Agent is not started, start it.
   
   The following section provides details for starting the SNMP Master Agent.

3. Once you have established that the SNMP subagent is running, test the SNMP communications. If you can not communicate, check the PATROL_HOME/lib/snmpmagt.cfg file for a valid MANAGER and COMMUNITY name. This file allows you to define which MANAGERS receive which SNMP traps.
   
   You can also define COMMUNITY, which allows you to configure the agent to only accept requests from certain MANAGERS with specified community strings.

   Warning

   Note

   You can define COMMUNITYs by placing " (quotes) around the strings in the following section.

   COMMUNITY "<your_public_name>"
   ALLOW ALL OPERATIONS
   USE NO ENCRYPTION

   Next, stop and restart the SNMP Master Agent process (snmpmagt.exe). On Windows, use the Task Manager to End Task. On UNIX platforms, login as root and kill the SNMP Master Agent process (snmpmagt).
   
   Then use a PATROL Developer console, select the PATROL Agent host icon, and use the following menu command to start the SNMP Master Agent:

   • Windows systems: MB3 > KM Commands > SNMP Reconfigure.
   • UNIX systems: MB3 > Start SNMP Master Agent
     
     This stops and restarts the SNMP Master Agent. Allow a couple of minutes and then verify that the SNMP Master Agent is running:
   • Windows systems: Use Task manager to look for snmpmagt.exe.
   • UNIX systems: Use ps -ef | grep snmpmagt.
     
     If this fails, simply stop and restart the PATROL Agent.
4. For Windows systems, ensure that the Microsoft SNMP service is configured correctly. Do the same for SNMP Managers on other platforms.
   
   To verify that the Microsoft SNMP service is configured correctly, perform the following steps:
   
   Select Control Panel > Networking > Services > Properties
   
   Verify that the traps tab has your Community Name <public_name> and the Security Tab has the same Accepted Community Names set to <public_name>.
   
   You must restart the MS SNMP service.