SNMP v3 trap packets not sent by the vCenter Server 8.0u2

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• vCenter Server fails to send SNMP v3 traps.
• The configuration is validated with a successful test trap using the command  : snmp.test 
  
  
  

Environment

vCenter Server 8.0u2

Cause

This issue occurs due to 2 separate agents on the vCenter Appliance - one for vpxd and one for snmp. Alarms use the vpxd agent to send traps whereas the snmp agent allows for traps to be sent to servers outside of the VCSA.

This failure in the installation of vmwspp RPM on 8.0u2 is because of we have moved to FIPS compliant RPM version in this release, which enforces stricter rules for RPM header digest and file digest. Which means, any usage of SHA1 and MD5 is dis-allowed. Hence same package works on 7.0 which is having older RPM version (non FIPS compliant) but fails on 8.0 because of FIPS compliant RPM version.

Resolution

1. Install the newly built RPM specifically for vCenter 8.0 U2
   1. Check the RPM validity

      rpm -qi vmware-spp-1.1.0-Linux.rpm

   2. Install the RPM after taking a snapshot of the vCenter Server  ( Snapshot of all vCenter Servers in linked mode in the power off state if applicable )

      rpm -Uvh  vmware-spp-1.1.0-Linux.rpm

   3. Check the status of the spp service

      systemctl status vmwspp

   4. Start the spp service

      systemctl start vmwspp

   5. Verify that the service has started

      systemctl status vmwspp

2. To configure the SNMP Agent :
   1. In the vCenter GUI, ensure that vpxd SNMP configuration is the same as below. The configuration is found under vCenter -> Configure -> SNMP receivers

      Primary Receiver : 127.0.0.1
      Enable Receiver : Enabled 
      Receiver Port : 162 
      Community String : Public

   2. Check if SNMP configuration is as expected

      snmp.get

   3. Setup the VCSA SNMP agent to send SNMPv3 traps as per the following documentation if required
      • Configure vCenter Server Appliance for SNMP v3

Additional Information

MD5SUM of the RPM file  

d0d632dec78914fdb12048c44ea815de *vmware-spp-1.1.0-Linux.rpm