Release Notes - New Features - SNMP Stack Upgrade - NerveCenter Trap Service -
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SNMP Stack Upgrade

NerveCenter 3.8 comes with a new SNMP stack. This new stack improves performance and adheres more closely to industry standards and RFCs. All polling and MIB compilation use this new SNMP Stack. The stack upgrade involves three visible changes to NerveCenter:

• MIB Compiler
• traprcv
• NerveCenter Trap Service

MIB Compiler

NerveCenter 3.8 has a new MIB compiler, mibcomp.bat (Windows) and mibcomp.sh (UNIX). This new compiler is SMIv2 compliant and uses a new mibcomp.txt file that is also SMIv2 compliant. The commands to compile a MIB have changed slightly.

For details on using the new MIB Compiler, see Chapter 13, Managing Management Information Bases (MIB) in Managing NerveCenter.

If you are upgrading from a previous version of NerveCenter, and have a modified MIB, Open recommends that you modify the new NerveCenter 3.8 mibcomp.txt file with any modifications you have made.

However, you can modify your existing mibcomp.txt as to comply with the new MIB compiler requirements. For details, see Upgrading to NerveCenter 3.8.

Adding MIB definitions

The MIB compiler (mibcomp) compiles the MIB definitions referenced in a text file. You can add references to this file to control what definitions are compiled into the NerveCenter MIB.

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Caution    If a MIB module depends on information in another MIB module you must reference it before the module that requires the information in mibcomp.txt. That is, if mymibA depends on mymibB, you must include mymibB before mymibA in mibcomp.txt.

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If dependant MIB module references are out of order, you receive an error similar to the following:

In this example, rfc1573b.asn1 depends upon another mib to define interfaces. You must find the mib that defines interfaces and include it before rfc1573b.asn1 in mibcomp.txt. To find a MIB that defines interfaces, you search the other MIB modules looking for the following:

Now you can name the file that contains this line, in this case rfc1213.asn1, before rfc1573b.asn1.

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Caution    All SMIv1 compliant MIB modules must be included in mibcomp.txt before the line
# * * * End of SMIv1 / SNMPv1 MIB Modules * * *
All SMIv2 compliant MIB modules must be referenced after this line.

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You can tell the difference between a SMIv1 module and an SMIv2 module by searching the *.asn1 file for "MAX-ACCESS.

Sample SMIv1 SysUpTime definition	Sample SMIv2 SysUpTime definition
sysUpTime OBJECT-TYPE SYNTAX TimeTicks ACCESS read-only STATUS mandatory DESCRIPTION "The time (in hundredths of a second) since the network management portion of the system was last re-initialized." ::= { system 3 }	sysUpTime OBJECT-TYPE SYNTAX TimeTicks MAX-ACCESS read-only STATUS current DESCRIPTION "The time (in hundredths of a second) since the network management portion of the system was last re-initialized." ::= { system 3 }

Any use of ACCESS within a *.asn1 named in the SMIv2 area of mibcomp.txt causes an error. Any use of MAX-ACCESS within a *.asn1 named in the SMIv1 area of mibcomp.txt causes an error.

traprcv

The traprcv command displays the SNMP Trap messages received by the NerveCenter Trap service. This utility can be useful when debugging behavior models.

On UNIX, you must be a member of the ncadmins group to use traprcv.

Traprcv prints standard output messages in the command window where it is running about the notifications it has received.

Traprcv can receive the following traps and informs:

• SNMPv1 Traps
• SNMPv2c Traps
• SNMPv2c Informs
• SNMPv3 Traps
• SNMPv3 Informs

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  Caution    Only use traprcv when your trap source is NerveCenter.

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  To use traprcv:

  From a Windows or UNIX shell command prompt, type:
   traprcv

The command returns Waiting for traps. Whenever a trap is received, traprcv prints the contents of the trap to the window or session.

There are no arguments for traprcv.

Troubleshooting

If you receive the error message Could not initialize ARL application, the NerveCenter trap service is not running. Restart the NerveCenter trap service by running the command ncstart on UNIX or selecting NerveCenter Service from the Start Menu on Windows.

NerveCenter Trap Service

NerveCenter^TM 3.8.08 has a new trap service, which replaces the 'nctrapper' from prior releases. There should be no noticeable difference to you as a user, except when switching your trap source from NerveCenter Trap service to MS Trap service or from MS Trap service to NerveCenter Trap service. For more details about changing the NerveCenter trap source, see Chapter 5, Managing the NerveCenter Server in Managing NerveCenter.

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Caution    If you use NerveCenter as your trap source, you must make sure OpenView's ovtrapd (on UNIX and Windows) is disabled and that the MS Trap Service (on Windows only) is disabled.

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Note    When viewing processes on UNIX, the trap service is called brassagt. It runs whenever you have NerveCenter's server (ncserver) running regardless of your selection of trap source.
When viewing processes on Windows, the NerveCenter SNMP Service runs as brassagt.exe. It runs whenever you have NerveCenter's server (ncserver.exe) running regardless of your selection of trap source.

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The NerveCenter trap service logs errors and warnings to /var/tmp/ncsnmp.log (UNIX) or the Event Log (Windows).