How to use vicfg-snmp.pl

The commands vicfg-snmp.pl (esxcfg-snmp.pl) allow you to enable, configure and disable the SNMP agent that comes with ESXi. Given the architecture of ESXi, it is not possible to add 3rd party SNMP agents to ESXi and given the diverse nature of SNMP management applications, ESXi only support SNMP traps and not gets. The SNMP agent is disabled by default. To setup the SNMP agent it is necessary to enable the agent, specify at least on community and then configure a trap destination. The configuration options (add community, set trap destination and set the port) will overwrite existing values.

To enable the SNMP agent use this command.
vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> -E or vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> –enable

To set the community for the SNMP agent use this command. Seperate multiple community names with a comma. There should be no place between the community names and the commas seperating them.
vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> -c <community_name1>[,<community_name2>, …] orvicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> –communities <community_name1>[,<community_name2>, …]

To set the trap destination for the SNMP agent use this command. The port setting is optional. There should be no place between the target names and the commas seperating them.
vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> -t <hostname1>[@port]>/<community_name1>[,<hostname2>[@port]>/<community_name2>, …] or vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name>–targets <hostname1>[@port]>/<community_name1>[,<hostname2>[@port]>/<community_name2>, …]

To test the settings for the SNMP agent use this command.
vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> -T or vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> –test

To display the settings for the SNMP agent use this command.
vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> -s or vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> –show

To reset the settings for the SNMP agent use this command.
vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> -r or vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> –reset

To disable the SNMP agent use this command.
vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> -D or vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> –disable

To set the port for the SNMP agent use this command. The default port is 162
vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name> -p <port number> or vicfg-snmp.pl –server <server_name>–port <port number>

Sample session

vicfg-snmp.pl –server 192.168.1.20 -s

Current SNMP agent settings:
Enabled : 0
UDP port : 161

Communities :

Notification targets :

vicfg-snmp.pl –server 192.168.1.20 -c public1,private1 -t 192.168.1.5/public1,192.168.1.6@163/private1 -p 163

Changing udp port to 163…
Complete.
Changing community list to: public1,private1…
Complete.
Changing notification(trap) targets list to: 192.168.1.5/public1,192.168.1.6@163
/private1…
Complete.

vicfg-snmp.pl –server 192.168.1.20 -E -T

Enabling agent…
Complete.
ending test nofication(trap) to all configured targets…
Complete. Check with each target to see if trap was received.

vicfg-snmp.pl –server 192.168.1.20 -s

Current SNMP agent settings:
Enabled : 1
UDP port : 163

Communities :
public1
private1

Notification targets :
192.168.1.6@41728/private1
192.168.1.5@41472/public1

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