6.3. SNMP BladeCenter Plugin

The SNMP BladeCenter plugin is an SNMP based interface to IBM's BladeCenter hardware. Technical information about BladeCenter can be found at the BladeCenter Home Page.

This plugin is called snmp_bc in the OpenHPI tree, and is referenced by the name libsnmp_bc in all OpenHPI configuration files.

6.3.1. Prerequisites

The snmp_bc plugin is built by default in the OpenHPI build process. To disable the building of this plugin, add the configure flag --disable-snmp_bc during the configure process.

snmp_bc relies on Net-SNMP >= 5.0. Most testing has been done with >= 5.0.7, so the latest version available for your distribution is recommended.

The BladeCenter's Management Module firmware is required to be at Version 1.08 or later. The latest version of the Management Module's firmware can be found at IBM's XSeries Support Page under the Downloads link. Instructions are included there for upgrading the firmware.

Once the firmware is updated, SNMP access must be enabled using the Management Module web interface. Details and up-to-date instruction on setting up BladeCenter SNMP agent can be found at IBM's XSeries Support Page under Redbooks link, search for BladeCenter. Then look in IBM eServer BladeCenter Systems Management, REDP-3582-00; IBM BladeCenter Management Module Web GUI.

SNMP v1 is supported in both BladeCenter Enterprise and BladeCenter Telco. For SNMP v1, in the web interface, (a) set MM Control - General Settings. (b) Set MM Control - Network Protocols, there are fields to enable snmpv1, fields to set the community string (i.e. password) and up to 3 allowed hosts per community to connect to the Management Module. Ensure that the host running OpenHPI is included in the list of allowed hosts.

SNMP v3 is supported in BladeCenter Telco. SNMP v3 is currently not available in BladeCenter Enterprise. For snmpv3, in the web interface, (a) set MM Control - General Settings. (b) Set MM Control - Login Profiles, select a paticular userid then follow the link at the end of user info page to Configure SNMPv3 User. (c) Set MM Control - Network Protocols, there is field to enable SNMP v3.

6.3.2. Configuration

Below is an example configuration stanza:

plugin libsnmp_bc

handler libsnmp_bc {
        entity_root = "{SYSTEM_CHASSIS,4}" # Required
        host = "bc.ibm.com" # Required
        community = "community" # Version 1 Required.
        version = "1" # Required. SNMP protocol version (1|3)
        security_name = "snmpv3_user" # Version 3 Required.
        passphrase = "opensesame" # Version 3. Required for security_level authNoPriv or authPriv.
        auth_type = "MD5" # Version 3. Passphrase encoding (MD5|SHA)
        security_level = "noAuthNoPriv" # Version 3 (noAuthNoPriv|authNoPriv|authPriv)
}