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Add an SNMP Profile to Gather Performance Data

To supply the information that is required to enable SNMP polling for performance metrics, create SNMP profiles in CA Performance Center. Global administrators and tenant administrators can create SNMP profiles to let CA Performance Center data sources query devices for performance data. You can create these profiles for SNMPv1/v2c or for SNMPv3.

Device models are contributed to CA Performance Center with specific IP Domains. The IP domain may be part of the default tenant or a user created tenant. When you create SNMP Profiles to discover devices that CA Spectrum contributes, verify that the SNMP Profiles are created in the appropriate tenant space

Follow these steps:

  1. Log in to CA Performance Center as a global administrator or tenant administrator.
  2. (Optional) If you have logged in as a global administrator, administer a selected tenant.
  3. Select Admin, SNMP Profiles in the menu bar.

    The Manage SNMP Profiles page displays the current list of SNMP profiles.

  4. Click New.

    The Add SNMP Profile dialog opens.

  5. Complete the fields and change any default settings as needed. Some fields apply only to SNMPv3.
    Profile Name

    Defines a name for the SNMP profile. Profile names must be unique, cannot be duplicated across SNMP versions, and are not case-sensitive.

    SNMP Version

    Specifies the version of SNMP that the profile uses. Because SNMPv1 and SNMPv2C are similar from a security standpoint, they share a single option. SNMPv3 is a separate option.

    Port

    Identifies the port that is used to make SNMP connections to devices associated with this profile.

    Note: Optional parameter for SNMPv1/v2C.

    Default: 161.

    User Name

    (SNMPv3 Only) Identifies the user for the profile, whose secret keys were used potentially to authenticate and encrypt the SNMPv3 packets. The User Name is a character string.

    Context Name

    (SNMPv3 Only) Identifies the collection of management information that is accessible by an SNMP entity. An octet string that is necessary for providing end-to-end identification and for retrieving data from an SNMPv3 agent.

    Community Name

    (SNMPv1/v2C Only) Defines a secure string that lets the data source query the MIB of the associated device. The community that you supply must provide read-only access to the device MIB.

    Note: In the default SNMP profile, the community is 'public'.

    Verify Community Name

    Confirms the secure community string (name).

    Authentication Protocol

    (SNMPv3 Only) Specifies the authentication protocol to use when contacting devices associated with this profile. The following algorithms for authenticating SNMPv3 packets are supported:

    • None (do not attempt authentication)
    • MD5 (Message Digest 5)
    • SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm)
    Authentication Password

    (SNMPv3 Only) Specifies the password for authentication using SNMPv3 and the selected authentication protocol.

    Note: Supply an authentication password that contains at least eight characters. Some data sources do not support authentication passwords or privacy passwords that fall below this minimum length. They treat the SNMP profile as invalid, and some data is not collected. Blank passwords are not supported for SNMPv3 profiles with MD5 or SHA as the Authentication Protocol.

    Verify Authentication Password

    Confirms the authentication password.

    Privacy Protocol

    (Optional) Specifies the encryption protocol to use for data flows sent to any devices or servers associated with this profile, as follows:

    • None (do not encrypt communications)
    • DES
    • AES 128
    • Triple DES

    Note: The privacy protocol option is not enabled until authentication is enabled for this profile.

    Privacy Password

    Defines the password used when exchanging encryption keys. See the Note for a possible length requirement.

    Verify Privacy Password

    Defines the password used when exchanging encryption keys.

    Use by default for new devices

    Specifies whether the information in this profile is used by default. CA Performance Center uses this information to contact any new items that are discovered from monitored traffic. If it fails, the next profile in priority order is used. Disable this parameter to exclude a profile from discovery.

    Note: This parameter does not apply to CA Infrastructure Management Data Aggregator data sources.

  6. Click Save.

    The Manage SNMP Profiles page opens. The new profile appears in the list.

    CA Performance Center automatically performs a global synchronization to send the profile information to all registered data sources.