Monitoring network infrastructure using Splunk Connect for Simple Network Management Protocol (SC4SNMP)
As your on-premises network infrastructure expands in both size and complexity, monitoring thousands of devices becomes increasingly challenging. Whether overseeing firewalls at a branch office or managing the routing and switching systems in your data center where all customer transactions occur, having visibility across your entire network is essential for effective maintenance.
Data required
Solution
Splunk Connect for Simple Network Management Protocol (SC4SNMP) allows you to efficiently monitor and receive alerts on the health and performance of your network infrastructure, alongside the rest of your technology stack, from a single centralized platform.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) allows administrators to remotely adjust settings and view data from network devices - such as routers, switches, or servers - across local and wide-area networks. SC4SNMP collects SNMP data from these devices by polling object identifiers (OIDs) and converting the responses into metrics. These metrics can then be visualized, correlated, and alerted within the Splunk platform, making it easier to identify the root cause of issues.
Monitoring network devices in conjunction with the rest of your infrastructure helps eliminate organizational silos that often complicate troubleshooting across the hardware-to-application spectrum. For instance, high network latency could stem from overheating interfaces or application layer errors that disrupt data flow between applications. The Splunk platform enables comprehensive monitoring across all network components, helping to break down data silos.
Monitor network devices with metrics
With the Splunk platform, you can visualize, correlate, and set alerts based on metrics from your SNMP-managed devices, providing greater visibility into your network’s health and performance. For example, you can track metrics like inbound packet error counts on a custom dashboard to ensure your network devices are transmitting data successfully. A spike in inbound packet errors could indicate issues with data transmission, potentially leading to unexpected stoppages in data flow.
The diagram below shows the architecture of SC4SNMP.
Troubleshoot network devices with confidence
After you have enabled the SC4SNMP integration, you can set up its troubleshooting dashboard for an in-depth look at the performance of your network devices. The overview section of the dashboard displays a selection of key metrics to help you analyze the overall health and performance of your network at a glance. After adding the SC4SNMP Monitoring dashboard, you can observe the status of your traps, walks, and polling. Additionally, you can customize the dashboard to help you evaluate device performance at a glance.
The image below shows example visualizations for SNMP walk status and SNMP schedule for work tasks.
The image below shows data from the metrics monitoring interface.
Identify device-level problems with traps
By monitoring SNMP trap events, you can receive alerts for device issues in real-time. When a problem occurs, you can easily access the trap name, OID, and namespace, allowing you to quickly pinpoint the source of the issue and troubleshoot. This solution will help you to proactively monitor your network and help you minimize downtime, as you detect and address problems before they escalate. Detailed logs and real-time notifications ensure that your team is always aware of potential issues, enabling faster response times and more efficient network management.
Universal connector for all Splunk platforms
SC4SNMP was designed to work seamlessly with all Splunk distributions. You can send data to Splunk platform or Splunk Cloud Platform, ensuring flexibility and scalability for your data management needs. Additionally, SC4SNMP allows for easy integration with Splunk Observability Cloud, leveraging the power of OpenTelemetry to provide comprehensive monitoring and analytics. Whether you're managing on-premises infrastructure or cloud-based environments, SC4SNMP ensures that your data is always accessible and actionable.
Next steps
If you want to try Splunk Connect for SNMP on your own Splunk platform instance, check our GitHub repository.
After the initial release, we’ll continue enhancing Splunk Connect for SNMP with new features and capabilities to make it even easier to monitor network infrastructure with Splunk platform. We are committed to growing open-source connectors to enrich Splunk platform’s capabilities and make data ingestion user-friendly for everyone.