How to Create SNMP Device Module on T/Mon

SNMP is a management information protocol that is responsible for the exchange of data between network devices. This protocol is widely used in remote monitoring systems for many reasons, such as:

• It's simple and flexible to describe almost anything
• It's free and open standard
• It's fully documented and supported by multiple vendors

As a leading developer of network alarm monitoring solutions, we know how useful it is for our clients to have devices that support an open-source protocol such as SNMP. That's why most of our products are SNMP-enabled.

If you have a remote monitoring system from DPS, then that's probably not news for you. In fact, not only most of our RTUs but also our master station, the T/Mon, supports SNMP.

The T/Mon is a popular product because is able to give a common interface to a large number of different equipment, eliminating the obstacles of having gear running on proprietary protocols. That's why it's often used as an SNMP manager.

If you have an SNMP device, monitoring it with the T/Mon can be easily done - all you need to do is create an SNMP device module. Learn how to properly do it.

How to Create an SNMP Module That Will Generate T/Mon Alarms from Traps

When you use T/Mon as an SNMP manager, you can successfully monitor many different SNMP devices and integrate them under an intuitive user interface. Adding support for your own device is simple and easy, and takes little SNMP knowledge.

Copy an existing device module from T/Mon

• Log into the T/Mon web Edit interface
• Select the Devices menu
• Find the Generic/SNMP/Discover device module
  
  • This will save you time rather than doing the process of creating one from scratch)
• Right-click this module and select Clone
• When prompted enter the Manufacturer and Model as either:
  
  • /[MFG]/[ProductFamily]/[Model]
    Example: /Bosch/IP_Camera/Autodome_7000/
  • /[MFG]/[Model]
    Example: /Bosch/Autodome_7000
• You will be prompted to refresh the screen which will show your new module in the Devices tree
• Open your new module directory and select the "Add" button to create a new device
• Give this device a name and select "Edit Selected Device(s)"
• From the edit menu, give the device an IP Address and make sure the box labeled "Ignore TRAPs" is unchecked
• You will now be able to send Trap messages to the T/Mon and they will get captured in a new log file with the name: [Model]TrapProcessor.log

Send Traps to the T/Mon from the device that you are creating

• Log into the T/Mon web Edit interface
• Select "System Logs" menu
• From the dropdown select the [Model]TrapProcessor.log
• This log will show you Traps that have been sent to the T/Mon from any IP addresses in that device module created above

Editing Trap OID/Variable Bindings rules

• Log into the T/Mon web Edit interface (if not done already)
• Select "Devices" menu
• Select the device module that you created in the first section
• From this menu right click the module and select "Edit Module TrapProcessor"
• In this menu, you will have a script with a function called process ()
• In this function you can add the rules that will generate an alarm

See the example below for a Cummins PC500:

The contents of the trap are stored in $this->trap variable. You can see in the example above that the third variable binding $this->trap['varBind3'] contains the information that tells us which alarm needs to be created.

You can see the contents of an example $this->trap variable below:

This Trap would match the following case:

Which will result in creating an alarm at display 1, point 1 with status 1 (ALM). Remember to verify that these alarms are showing up in "Monitor" mode.

You can modify your rules as necessary until your device is parsing Trap messages successfully.

The Bottom Line

SNMP can do a lot to make remote monitoring your network more cost-effective and reliable. But, that's only possible with you have the right tools.

Monitoring your SNMP network with the T/Mon master station allows your team to get rid of basic, generic features, endless configurations, and poor network maintenance - all of which many monitoring systems give you. With the T/Mon, you'll get the custom capabilities to attend all of your requirements and all the fine detail that gives you complete network visibility.

With T/Mon's user-friendly interface, you'll have intuitive visibility over all your network thorough detailed maps.

Keeping an eye on your SNMP-enabled equipment will be easy and reacting to alarms in a timely manner will be possible with the T/Mon's smart alerting features. Your notifications can be sent to different recipients based on the time of the day, type of alarm, and severity.

Alerts can also be escalated through a list of individuals to ensure a fast response when issues happen. And, T/Mon's alerts contain actionable information about the best course of action to solve a problem or to respond to a situation, so all your team can act with confidence when notifications are received.

There are many other advantages that make T/Mon a very popular master station, especially when it comes to monitoring SNMP devices. If you have any questions about how to create an SNMP device module on T/Mon or if you want to know more about our monitoring solutions, just reach out to us and talk to our experts.

Morgana Siggins

Morgana Siggins is a marketing writer, content creator, and documentation specialist at DPS Telecom. She has created over 200 blog articles and videos sharing her years of experience in the remote monitoring industry.