[SNMP4J] Engine time synchronization question

[Kevin J. Schmidt]

Can anyone comment on how network management systems like OpenView,
NerveCenter, and others, deal with configuring SNMPv3 entities? What I
am curious about is how they do engine ID discovery. Do you do it when
you add the device to the console? Or do they do it the first time a
SNMPv3 notification/trap is received from the device?

I'm trying to mimic in SNMP4J how these sort of systems operate in the
real world so my own SNMP application will work with these systems.

Thanks,
-Kevin


On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 14:49:35 -0500, Kevin J. Schmidt
<kjschmidt at gmail.com> wrote:
> So in the 1.2RC2 src, I see Snmp.discoverAuthoritativeEngineID(). The
> Java doc states:
> 
> " ... This method does not need to be called for normal operation,
> because SNMP4J automatically discovers authoritative engine IDs and
> also automatically synchronize engine time values."
> 
> I can't find anywhere in the SNMP4j source where this is called, which
> leads me to believe that SNMP4j may not be discovering engine IDs
> automatically. What am I missing here?
> 
> Thanks!
> -Kevin
> 
> On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 10:42:03 -0600, Ronald.Madsen at utstar.com
> <Ronald.Madsen at utstar.com> wrote:
> >
> > I have never written an application to send SNMPv3 traps - mainly because I
> > don't know of any "Manager" ready to accept them.  But here is my
> > understanding of the situation...
> >
> > From a SNMPv3 USM point of view, your application will be considered an
> > "authoritative" SNMP Engine.  As such, the application is required to
> > response to snmpEngine discovery queries - BUT - I believe the SNMP4J stack
> > takes care of all of this for you.
> >
> > I'm not real clear on port usage when just sending traps.  You might need
> > to use port 161 when sending the traps - allowing the manager application
> > to do the engine discovery as necessary.  If the manager application forces
> > engine discovery to port 161 - then you will have to "listen" on 161.
> >
> > Note that all engine discovery transactions are handled by SNMP4J.  You
> > application will never see the queries.  I do not believe you need to
> > actually implement the CommandResponder interface.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Ron
> >
> > "Kevin J. Schmidt" <kjschmidt at gmail.com> on 03/28/2005 09:37:49 AM
> >
> > Please respond to "Kevin J. Schmidt" <kjschmidt at gmail.com>
> >
> > To:    Ronald Madsen/UTStarcom at UTStarcom
> > cc:    snmp4j at agentpp.org
> > Subject:    Re: [SNMP4J] Engine time synchronization question
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > This brings up a good question for me. I'm writing an application that
> > can send SNMP v1, v2c, and v3 traps/notifications. It's meant to
> > interface with our product and provide external alerting capabilities
> > to OpenView, et al. I wasn't planning on developing agent-like
> > capabilities, i.e. have a process listen on port 162 and respond to
> > SNMP requests. Can I get away with doing this or do I need to be able
> > to respond to requests for engineID, boots, and time?
> >
> > On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:24:04 -0600, Ronald.Madsen at utstar.com
> > <Ronald.Madsen at utstar.com> wrote:
> > > I'm experimenting writing a SNMPv3 Agent using SNMP4j.
> > >
> > > My "Manager" sends a normal Request to discover the authoritative
> > engineID
> > > - SNMP4j responds with a REPORT with its engineID just fine.
> > >
> > > The Manager then sends an authorative Request to discover the engineBoots
> > > and engineTime - SNMP4j responds with a REPORT with both engineBoots and
> > > engineTime set to zero.
> > >
> > > Subsequent transations eventually Report "not in time window".
> > >
> > > I searched the SNMP4j archives and did not find a similar discussion.
> > >
> > > I may very well be using SNMP4j incorrectly.
> > >
> > > Does anyone have a small snippet fo code that properly initializes Snmp,
> > > USM, etc.  correctly?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > SNMP4J mailing list
> > > SNMP4J at agentpp.org
> > > http://lists.agentpp.org/mailman/listinfo/snmp4j
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Kevin J. Schmidt
> >  <kjschmidt at gmail.com>
> >
> >
> 
> --
> Kevin J. Schmidt
> <kjschmidt at gmail.com>
> 


-- 
Kevin J. Schmidt
<kjschmidt at gmail.com>