VMware vSphere ESXi SNMP agent log entries for informs

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The VMware vSphere ESXi SNMP agent logs messages to /var/log/syslog.log. This article describes log messages that you can use to verify that the SNMP agent is sending informs properly.

For more information on setting up the ESXi SNMP agent, see KB 2033377: Configuring SNMP inform users for the ESXi SNMP agent.

For more information on SNMP error messages that appear in syslog.log, see KB 2033526: SNMP inform configuration errors.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0

Resolution

• Log entry indicating that the SNMP agent retries sending informs up to 3 times with a five second timeout:

2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: Sr_init_inform: Initializing to send InformRequest serial 2. timeout=500 retry=3

• Log entry for the SNMP agent attempting to discover the remote engine ID, which is unknown initially. It queries the server for the engine ID:

2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: Sr_init_inform: remote engine id is unknown for '10.112.170.205:2264', will attempt discovery
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: Sr_init_inform: notification queue now at 1 items
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: SendToIpTransport: sendto(fd=6, length=69) rc = 69
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: Sr_send_inform: discovery inform {secLevel: noAuthNoPriv, serial: 2, user: '', authSnmpEngineID: ''} pdu sent to 10.112.170.205:2264 size 69 retries left: 3

• Log entry for the response from Net-SNMP snmptrapd of the SNMP client which returns the engine ID : 80:00:1f:88....:

2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformResponse: Got response/report to InformRequest from 10.112.170.205:2264
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: ReceiveFromIpTransport: recvfrom(fd=6, length=2048) rc = 99
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformProcessResponse processing packet size 99
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: SrParseV3SnmpMessage: zero length userame in a response pdu, assume a report
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: SrParseV3SnmpMessage: parsed message header:authSnmpEngineID: 80:00:1f:88:04:30:##:##:##:##:##:#4, contextSnmpEngineID: 80:00:1f:88:04:30:78:30:##:##:##:##:##:#4, conte
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformProcessResponse: rx pdu reports authBoots:1, authEngineTime:55
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformProcessResponse: Incoming inform has serial/request id of 2
2012-07-05T09:01:06Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformProcessResponse: discovery complete Inform 2 response returned engine id '80001f88043###########34' for ip address '10.112.170.205:2264'

• Log entry for the SNMP agent sending an inform using the configuration data from a remote user with a matching engine ID:

2012-07-05T09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: SendToIpTransport: sendto(fd=6, length=150) rc = 150
2012-07-05T09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: Sr_send_inform: inform {secLevel: authPriv, serial: 3, user: 'user3', authSnmpEngineID: '80001f88043###########34'} pdu sent to 10.112.170.205:2264 size 150 retries left: 2

• Log entry indicating that informs that were delivered are acknowledged:

09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformResponse: Got response/report to InformRequest from 10.112.170.205:2264
09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: ReceiveFromIpTransport: recvfrom(fd=6, length=2048) rc = 152
09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformProcessResponse processing packet size 152
09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: SrParseV3SnmpMessage: parsed message header:authSnmpEngineID: 80:00:1f:88:04:30:##:##:##:##:##:#4, contextSnmpEngineID: 00:00:00:63:00:##:##:##:##:##:##:77, contextName: -
09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformProcessResponse: rx pdu reports authBoots:1, authEngineTime:134
09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformProcessResponse: Incoming inform has serial/request id of 3

• Summary report for retries taken for inform acknowledgement:

09:02:24Z snmpd: snmpd: SrInformProcessResponse: Inform with serial 3 acknowledged, delivered with 2 retries left.

• Corresponding log entry in syslog.log when you execute esxcli system snmp test to send an inform or trap on demand:

09:02:19Z snmpd: snmpd: Sending warmStart notification at operator request