CPU and Memory usage disparity between the SSLVA and SolarWinds

Products

• SSL Visibility Appliance Software

Issue/Introduction

The customer has an integration with SolarWinds to monitor the CPU and memory measurements from the SSLVA device. When checked on the SolarWinds, it's observed that the measurements of our SSLVA device were not accurate. What recommendations could help resolve this measurement disparity?

Environment

SSLV 4.5/5.x

Resolution

The assumption here is that SNMP has been implemented on the SSLVA, for this monitoring, as this the recommendation.

For accurate monitoring of Symantec SSLVA device metrics like CPU and memory, you can consider these steps:

1. Verify SNMP Configuration: Ensure SNMP is correctly configured on both the SSLVA and SolarWinds. Double-check SNMP community strings, version compatibility (e.g., SNMPv2 or SNMPv3), and access permissions.

2. OID Verification: Confirm that SolarWinds is using the correct OIDs (Object Identifiers) specific to SSLVA’s CPU and memory metrics. Refer to Symantec's documentation for the exact OIDs to ensure that SolarWinds is polling accurate data. See the Tech. Doc. with the URL below, for the OIDs specific to CPU utilization monitoring.
   
   SNMP MIB and OID Support

3. Polling Interval: Adjust the polling interval in SolarWinds to a shorter duration if possible. Longer intervals may cause metrics to be averaged out, potentially reducing accuracy.

4. Firmware Compatibility: Ensure that the SSLVA firmware is up-to-date. Some firmware versions may have known issues with SNMP reporting accuracy that might have been fixed in later releases.

5. Test with a Different SNMP Tool: Use another SNMP tool (like SNMP-walk or Net-SNMP) to verify the measurements independently. This can help confirm whether the issue is with SSLVA's reporting or SolarWinds’ interpretation of the data.

6. Consult SolarWinds Logs: Check SolarWinds’ logs for any errors or warnings specific to SSLVA. Errors may indicate issues like packet loss, SNMP timeouts, or invalid responses that could affect data accuracy.

For implementing SNMP on Symantec SSL Visibility appliance, please refer to the Tech. Doc. with the URRL below.

implementing SNMP on Symantec SSL Visibility

To further isolate the issue, from the SSLVA side, you may utilize the "Statistics Export" feature, in SSLVA, alongside the "Statistics Monitoring Report", in Management Center, to independently report on key metrics such as CPU/memory usage. See the snippet below, and the Tech. Doc. with the subsequent URL. To ensure that your data analysis is accurate and timely, identify the metrics that are most important to you and run reports regularly.

Following the above guidance would help identify the point(s) of issue and the potential resolution, accordingly. If the CPU/memory usage is accurate as seen in the MC, and differs from the values seen in SolarWinds, and the SNMP  MIB/OID are correct, then this may be linked with the SNMP Manager (SolarWinds). As recommended, test with other SNMP Manager tools also.