With MIB Tools, you can examine the MIBs supported by an active device on your network, change the value of a writable MIB object, and add rows to MIB tables. The following sections detail how to contact a device, view its supported MIBs, query the device for MIB values, set a new value for a MIB object, and add rows to MIB tables on the device. For more information on MIBs, see MIB Tools Overview.
Console provides table options and tools that let you customize table settings and find, filter, sort, print, and export information in a table. You can access these Table Tools through a right mouse click on a column heading or anywhere in the table body. For more information, see the Table Tools Help topic.
To access MIB Tools, select Tools > MIB Tools from the Console menu bar, or right-click a device in the Console left panel and select MIB Tools from the menu.
Information on:
- Contacting a Device
- Searching for MIB Objects
- Querying MIB Objects
- Setting MIB Objects
- Adding Rows in MIB Tables
- Adding MIBs to the MIB Tools Database
Contacting a Device
If you have launched MIB Tools from a device selected in the Console's left panel, MIB Tools will automatically attempt to contact the device. Otherwise, you can contact a device using the Device and Select Protocol areas in the MIB Tools window.
- In the Device area, enter the device's IP address or select a previously contacted IP address from the drop-down list.
- In the Select Protocol area, select the
SNMP version and access properties you want MIB Tools to use to contact the
device:
- Use SNMPv1 -- Select this option for SNMPv1 devices, and enter a community name or use the drop-down list to select a community name. The permissions assigned to the community name you enter here will determine the level of access you have to the device's MIB information: Read Only, Read-Write, or Superuser. Be sure to use a community name with the appropriate level of access.
- Use SNMPv3 Credential --Select this option for SNMPv3 devices and use the drop-down list to select a user name to contact a device. To create or edit a Console credential, click Edit to open the Edit Credentials window.
- Use Console Profile -- Select this option to use a Console Profile and use the drop-down list to select a profile. To create or edit a profile, click Edit to open the Authorization Configuration/Device Access Window - Profiles/Credentials Tab. Select the Use Max Access/SuperUser checkbox to specify max access/superuser access for all requests.
- Click the Contact button or the contact icon. Contact status is shown by the contact icon and in the status bar at the bottom of the window.
Searching for MIB Objects
The MIB Tools' Find feature allows you to search the MIB Tree for objects matching specific text or an OID. The Find feature is located at the bottom of the Tree tab.
- In the Find What field, enter the MIB text name or OID you want to find.
- Click the Find button. The search begins at the currently selected object in the MIB Tree. The first matching MIB object is highlighted (selected) in the MIB Tree and also the List tab. In addition, the Details tab displays the corresponding MIB object information and the Find What and Current Object fields are updated to reflect the selected MIB object.
- Click Find again to highlight the next matching entry. When the end of the tree is reached, the search begins again at the root of the MIB Tree.
| TIP: | Use the Options button to open the Options window where you can specify different
attributes for the Find operation. For more information on Find options, see the
Find Toolbar Options Help topic. |
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Querying MIB Objects
To find the current value set at the selected device for a specific MIB object, you must query the device for the information. The query results appear in the Results table at the bottom of the window.
- Contact a device.
- In the MIB Tree display, select one of the following:
- Select the leaf for a particular MIB object if you want to retrieve an individual value.
- Select a Branch or Table folder, if you want to traverse the MIB and retrieve values for all objects within that portion of the MIB.
- For objects with multiple instances, enter the instance number to be used for a Get request. For example, if you are querying a switch's interface table, there would be multiple instances (values) returned for each leaf object in the table (one for each port), and each instance would have a unique instance value appended to the object's OID.
- Use the Request Type drop-down list to select the type of request to send to the
selected device:
- GetNext -- requests all the instances of the MIB object or folder specified in the Current Object field.
- Get -- requests the first instance of the MIB object specified in the Current Object field.
- Single GetNext -- requests the next single instance of the MIB object specified in the Current Object field.
- Click the Query button. The Status Bar at the bottom of the window will inform you about the progress of your query. All values returned from the specified leaf or from all objects within a folder are displayed in the Results table. The Query button changes to Stop while a query is being performed. If you stop the query operation, the query will be cancelled, but all values returned before the query was stopped will remain in the Results Table.
Clearing Query Results
The Auto Clear option, located above the Results table, determines how query results are cleared.
- If Auto Clear is not selected, the results of each query accumulate in the Results table until you remove all responses by clicking the Clear button.
- If Auto Clear is selected, the results of each query will automatically be erased each time you perform a new query operation.
Setting MIB Objects
Use the Table Editor (the bottom row of the Results table) to change the syntax and/or value of a writable MIB object.
| TIP: | For more detailed information about a MIB object, select the object in the
Tree tab. The
Details tab displays object information including
a list of valid values for writable objects, along with the numerical code for
each value. |
|---|
- Be sure that you have contacted the correct device and that you have selected the protocol which provides you with write access to the desired MIB object.
- Query the device for the desired MIB object, as described in Querying MIB Objects.
- In the Results table, click on the object and instance of interest.
- In the Table Editor at the bottom of the Results table, click on the Syntax,
Raw Value and/or Formatted Value
columns and enter the desired value or use the drop-down list to select the
desired value.
The value that you enter must match the data type specified for the object. You may want to refer to
the Details tab to be sure that you are entering a suitable value.
Note: You can use the Table Editor to set a MIB object that MIB Tools does not include in its tree. In the Object column, enter the OID for the MIB object you want to set. (You must use the OID, not the object's text name, but you can use the last name that does exist in the tree and then add the remaining numeric OID. For example, cabletron.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.) - Once you have edited the values as desired, click the Set button. The Status Bar will display the results of the Set. (Refer to the Console event log tab for more status and error messages.)
- Click Query to refresh and update the Results table with the new values.
| CAUTION: | Setting certain MIB objects can disable devices and cause interruptions to network operation. Do Not
set MIB values unless you are sure of the outcome. |
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Adding Rows in MIB Tables
Use the Table Editor (the bottom row of the Results table) to add rows to tables for MIBs that support this feature. You can also use these steps to remove a row from a table.
- Be sure that you have contacted the correct device and that you have selected the protocol which provides you with write access to the desired MIB object.
- Select the MIB table in the tree. The particular MIB table selected must support adding instances to the table. Tables that support this feature typically contain an object that shows the status of table rows and allows you to add or delete rows. For example, in the RMON MIB - etherStatsTable, the object etherStatsStatus indicates the status of the rows for that table. Select the object in the tree.
- In the Table Editor row at the bottom of the Results table, click on the Instance column and type a value for the new instance being added to the table.
- Click on the Formatted Value column and use the drop-down list to select the appropriate syntax
to create a new row. This is often a string such as createAndGo or, as in the case of the RMON example above, valid.
You can also click the Raw Value column and enter the corresponding
numeric value for the syntax.
Tip: When the MIB object is selected in the tree, the Details tab displays a list of valid syntax values (Formatted Value), along with the numerical code for each value (Raw Value). - Once you have edited values as desired, click the Set button. The Status Bar will display the results of the Set. (Refer to the Console event log tab for more status and error messages.)
- Click Query to refresh and update the Results table. If the Set was successful, the new row will be added to the table in the device.
| CAUTION: | Setting certain MIB objects can disable devices and cause interruptions to network operation. Do Not
set MIB values unless you are sure of the outcome. |
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Adding MIBs to the MIB Tools Database
In order to communicate with your network devices, MIB Tools relies on a database of compiled MIB information. This database gives MIB Tools the ability to query and set (as appropriate) any MIB object resident on your devices.
If you wish to use MIB Tools to manage devices other than Extreme Networks devices, you can add the appropriate proprietary MIBs to the MIB database.
For complete instructions, see How to Add MIBs to
NetSight Console.
For information on related windows:
