SNMP-Persist - The SNMP pass_persist threaded backend 


COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 2006 Anna Wiejak

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.


INTRODUCTION 

The SNMP-Persist module is a backend for pass_persist feature of net-snmp.

It simplifies the process of sharing user-specified data via SNMP and
development of persistent net-snmp applications controlling a chosen
MIB subtree.

It is particularly useful if data gathering process takes too long.
The responder is a separate thread, which is not influenced by updates
of MIB subtree data.
The answer to a snmp request is fast and doesn't rely on potentially
slow source of data.



QUICK START

1) Decide on what values and data will be stored in snmp subtree

   Example: 
	There are 5 applications running on the box, each outputing a new line to its own log file every 60 seconds.
	The aim is to:
	* get the recent number of threads, database connections and total memory every 300 seconds
	* serve the listed values via snmp in an organized way
	
2) Organize the data into sets of data pairs (OID data type + value).

   Example:
 	Each application gets its own number. The following data pairs are set:
	* aplication number (INTEGER),
	* application name (STRING),
	* number of threads (INTEGER), 
	* database connections (INTEGER
	* total memory (Counter32)
	Additionally each data set gets its own sequence number.

3) Write perl script which does the following:
	* gets the required data
	* according to the data structure described in 2) creates a hash of arrays, where:
		* a hash key is: <data set sequence number> . "." . <application number>
		* hash value is: an array of corresponding data pairs (data type, value)

4) Add calls to SNMP::Persist functions as specified in the manual and loop the data mining function (see: EXAMPLE)

5) Attach to snmpd.conf config file

pass_persist .1.3.6.1.4.1.2021.248 <user script location>


EXAMPLE


        use SNMP::Persist qw(&define_oid &start_persister &define_subtree);
        use strict;
        use warnings;


	#define base oid to host the subtree
        define_oid(".1.3.6.1.4.1.2021.248");

	#start the thread serving answers
        start_persister();

	#set first application number
        my $index=1; 

	#loop forever to update the values
        while(1) {

          my %subtree;
          my $gameName;

          foreach $gameName ("game1", "game2") {		     #for each application
            $subtree{"1." . $index}=["INTEGER",$index];		     #set game index data pair
            $subtree{"2." . $index}=["STRING",$gameName];	     #set game name data pair
            $subtree{"3." . $index}=["Counter32", 344.2 ];           #set total memory data pair
            $index++;						     next application
          }

	  #new values have arrived - notify the subtree controller
          define_subtree(\%subtree);

	  #don't update for next 5 minutes
          sleep(300);
        }




INSTALLATION

To install this module, run the following commands:

    perl Makefile.PL
    make
    make test
    make install


SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION

After installing, you can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

    perldoc SNMP::Persist

You can also look for information at:

    Search CPAN
        http://search.cpan.org/dist/SNMP-Persist

    CPAN Request Tracker:
        http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=SNMP-Persist

    AnnoCPAN, annotated CPAN documentation:
        http://annocpan.org/dist/SNMP-Persist

    CPAN Ratings:
        http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/SNMP-Persist