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jayh
Honored Contributor
Honored Contributor

SNMP interface name - description - alias MIB?

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We use MRTG to graph traffic on our network gear.  With Brand C, when we enter a text description for an interface, this description is polled by the MRTG configmaker and displayed on the graph.

In other words, if interface FastEthernet 0/4 is configured with "description Bob's Plumbing - Rack 3" then the graph displays Bob's Plumbing - Rack 3 on the graph. 


There are a number of SNMP parameters for an interface, such as name, description, number, alias, etc. 


Adtran gear allows the configuration of an interface description just like Brand C, but snmpwalk doesn't show the configured description anywhere.  This means that my MRTG graph shows something like giga-swx 0/33: Gigabit Ethernet (BCM56xxx vxgs-robo-5.6.7) instead of Bob's Plumbing - Rack 3.

I've downloaded the Adtran MIBs but reading MIBs is really a painful experience and reinforces my belief that the S in SNMP is a bald-faced lie.

Does anyone have a means to pull the configured description of an interface by SNMP?  I would venture to guess that there is a custom OID somewhere but finding it is near impossible. 

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jayh
Honored Contributor
Honored Contributor

Re: SNMP interface name - description - alias MIB?

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Found it!

OID is 1.3.6.1.2.1.31.1.1.1.18

IfAlias

By default it returns the configured "Description" label, blank if undefined.

You can also configure a separate "alias" in interface mode.  If you do, this is displayed in place of the Description by SNMP but the Description continues to show in GUI and the like. . 

By default maximum length is 64 characters.  This can be overwritten by snmp ifmib alias long in global configuration mode which allows up to 255. 

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: SNMP interface name - description - alias MIB?

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Hello Jay

Probably it wont help you when I give you some information for hiX56xx - I don't know the product you'r asking support for.

I configured slot 3, port 36 of my hiX56xx shelf by CLI cmd: port lre 3/36 description "Franks PPPoA test port at shelf72 w/ SL2 modem"

And read out by snmpwalk:

snmpwalk -v 2c -c public $CXU721  1.3.6.1.4.1.231.7.1.2.2.1.1.3.1.1.4

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.1 = ""

...

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.236 = STRING: "\"Franks PPPoA test port at shelf72 w/ SL2 modem\""

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.237 = ""

...

When I configure the 1st uplink (on CXU) and the 1st port of slot3 in addition like:

port 0/1 description "Port 1 of CXU (slot 1) in shelf72"

port lre 3/1 description "Port 1 of slot 3 in shelf72"

port lre 6/1 description "Port 1 of slot 6 in shelf72"

... I get:

snmpwalk -v 2c -c public $CXU721  1.3.6.1.4.1.231.7.1.2.2.1.1.3.1.1.4

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.1 = STRING: "\"Port 1 of CXU (slot 1) in shelf72\""

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.2 = ""

...

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.201 = STRING: "\"Port 1 of slot 3 in shelf72\""

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.202 = ""

...

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.236 = STRING: "\"Franks PPPoA test port at shelf72 w/ SL2 modem\""

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.237 = ""

...

SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB::shePhysPortUserLabel.501 = STRING: "\"Port 1 of slot 6 in shelf72\""

IMHO, although we'r facing a private MIB for hiX56xx here, the SNMP attribute is common: userlabel

Maybe you can find it in the MIB of your product too.

BRs, Frank

jayh
Honored Contributor
Honored Contributor

Re: SNMP interface name - description - alias MIB?

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Thanks, Franko!

Doing an snmpwalk against the unit shows nothing in the 1.3.6.1.4.1.231 tree at all.

[jay@poseidon ~]$ snmpwalk -v 2c -c [redacted]  [redacted]  1.3.6.1.4.1.231

SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.231 = No Such Object available on this agent at this OID

FYI the specific unit under test is a NetVanta 1638 running R10.5.1 but I haven't been able to find a suitable OID on a variety of other devices either.

jayh
Honored Contributor
Honored Contributor

Re: SNMP interface name - description - alias MIB?

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Also, doing a case-insensitive grep on the contents of AOS_MIBs.zip from the Adtran website shows nothing for the string UserLabel .

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: SNMP interface name - description - alias MIB?

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Hello dear Jay

For sure, when not talking about hiX56xx the private extension SHE-PHYSICAL-MIB won’t help here.

But there might be some last chance to try.

IMHO the standard entityMIB could be the right thing here. See part below.

Thus you might try a SNMP walk over 1.3.6.1.2.1.47.1.1.1.1.14 - good luck

Cheers, Frank

-- 1.3.6.1.2.1.47.1.1.1.1.14

entPhysicalAlias OBJECT-TYPE

SYNTAX SnmpAdminString (SIZE (0..32))

ACCESS read-write

STATUS current

DESCRIPTION

"This object is an 'alias' name for the physical entity as

specified by a network manager, and provides a non-volatile

'handle' for the physical entity.

On the first instantiation of an physical entity, the value

of entPhysicalAlias associated with that entity is set to

the zero-length string. However, agent may set the value to

a locally unique default value, instead of a zero-length

string.

If write access is implemented for an instance of

entPhysicalAlias, and a value is written into the instance,

the agent must retain the supplied value in the

entPhysicalAlias instance associated with the same physical

entity for as long as that entity remains instantiated.

This includes instantiations across all re-

initializations/reboots of the network management system,

including those which result in a change of the physical

entity's entPhysicalIndex value."

::= { entPhysicalEntry 14 }

-- 1.3.6.1.2.1.47.1.1.1.1

entPhysicalEntry OBJECT-TYPE

SYNTAX EntPhysicalEntry

ACCESS not-accessible

STATUS current

DESCRIPTION

"Information about a particular physical entity.

Each entry provides objects (entPhysicalDescr,

entPhysicalVendorType, and entPhysicalClass) to help an NMS

identify and characterize the entry, and objects

(entPhysicalContainedIn and entPhysicalParentRelPos) to help

an NMS relate the particular entry to other entries in this

table."

INDEX

::= { entPhysicalTable 1 }

EntPhysicalEntry ::= SEQUENCE

{

entPhysicalIndex PhysicalIndex,

entPhysicalDescr SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalVendorType AutonomousType,

entPhysicalContainedIn INTEGER,

entPhysicalClass PhysicalClass,

entPhysicalParentRelPos INTEGER,

entPhysicalName SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalHardwareRev SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalFirmwareRev SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalSoftwareRev SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalSerialNum SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalMfgName SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalModelName SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalAlias SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalAssetID SnmpAdminString,

entPhysicalIsFRU TruthValue

}

jayh
Honored Contributor
Honored Contributor

Re: SNMP interface name - description - alias MIB?

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Found it!

OID is 1.3.6.1.2.1.31.1.1.1.18

IfAlias

By default it returns the configured "Description" label, blank if undefined.

You can also configure a separate "alias" in interface mode.  If you do, this is displayed in place of the Description by SNMP but the Description continues to show in GUI and the like. . 

By default maximum length is 64 characters.  This can be overwritten by snmp ifmib alias long in global configuration mode which allows up to 255. 

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