Configuring Alarm Handling via SNMP

Skylight orchestrator can receive SNMP messages (about alarms and other events) from managed elements and send them to various destinations, typically Operations Support Systems (OSS).

Skylight orchestrator's support for handling messages via SNMP includes the following:

• SNMPv2 and SNMPv3 formats.
• Four SNMP destinations with IP addresses in IPv4 or IPv6 format.
• User-based Security Model (USM) users with different security profiles (SNMPv3 only).

Overview of SNMP Configuration on Skylight orchestrator

The following diagram gives an overview of the SNMP messaging you are aiming to set up on the network and how to configure it in Skylight orchestrator. The UDP ports shown are the default settings.

Configuring Skylight orchestrator to handle SNMP messages consists of these tasks:

• Configuring Skylight orchestrator to:
• Receive alarms from managed elements. See Configuring Skylight orchestrator to Receive SNMP Messages from Elements.
• Forward alarms to northbound destinations (up to four OSS). See "Configuring Skylight orchestrator to Send SNMP Messages Northbound".
• For SNMPv3, creating USM users in Skylight orchestrator that match USM users on the OSS systems.
• Configuring managed elements to send SNMP messages to Skylight orchestrator (or to other systems).
• By default, Skylight orchestrator is an SNMP trap receiver for all managed elements. You can check or change this setting. See "Using Skylight orchestrator as Default SNMP Receiver for All Elements".
• If necessary, you can set up a configuration job to configure one or more trap receivers on managed elements. See "Setting Up an SNMP Trap Configuration Job".

Locating the SNMP Configurations

SNMP is configured in the Admin ▶ SNMP page. The SNMP page includes two tabs: Configuration and USM Users.

Configuring Skylight orchestrator to Receive SNMP Messages from Elements

You configure Skylight orchestrator to receive messages from managed elements in the Configuration tab of the Admin ▶ SNMP page.

To configure Skylight orchestrator to receive SNMP traps from elements

1. Select Admin ▶ SNMP to access the SNMP page (the Configuration tab is on top).

2. Enter values in the System name, Community string and UDP port fields. For more information on specific parameters, see the following table.

3. Click Apply.

SNMP configuration (Admin ▶ SNMP Configuration)

Using Skylight orchestrator as Default SNMP Receiver for All Elements

Skylight orchestrator is the default SNMP trap receiver for all its managed elements.

You can change or check this setting in the Admin ▶ SNMP page.

1. Check or uncheck the box to enable or disable the use of Skylight orchestrator as the default trap receiver for all managed elements.

Configuring Skylight orchestrator to Send SNMP Messages Northbound

Skylight orchestrator can forward the alarms that it receives from managed elements or generates internally to four destination systems.
Typically, the destinations are Operations Support Systems (OSS).

You configure Skylight orchestrator to send messages to northbound systems in the four Trap receiver tabs at the bottom of the Configuration page.

Configuring Trap Receivers in the Admin ▶ SNMP (Configuration tab)

The messages sent to the destination system(s) include all events received from managed elements, as well as any loss of connectivity (LOC) events generated by Skylight orchestrator itself. If there are no communication issues between Skylight orchestrator and the destination systems, all events will have a corresponding clear event.

Outgoing SNMP messages can be sent as traps (unacknowledged) or as informs (require acknowledgement) in SNMP version 2c or version 3 format.

You can configure Skylight orchestrator to send keep-alive events to the destination systems periodically. Keep-alive events contain the following information:

• The name of the Skylight orchestrator system
• A counter for all events sent to the destination trap receiver since it was enabled.

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  Note: Restarting Skylight orchestrator or reconfiguring the trap receiver resets the counter to zero.

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• Counters for all active alarms on the network (Total, Critical, Major, Minor, Warning, LoC [Loss of Contact]).

Keep-alive events help detect a lost connection and events missed by the destination system. The destination system can compare its count of received events with the keep-alive event count. It can also compare its current alarm count with alarms reported by Skylight orchestrator. See the Skylight orchestrator Administration Guide for a description of the MIB that defines keep-alive events for SNMP.

To configure northbound destinations (trap receivers)

1. Access the page Administration ▶ SNMP. The Configuration page is displayed.

2. Complete the parameters for one or more destinations (Trap receiver 1 to Trap receiver 4), as required. For more information on specific parameters, see the following table.

3. Click Apply.

Administration ▶ Configuration (Trap receivers for northbound destinations)

Trap receiver 1 to Trap receiver 4 Parameters:

Receiver state:
Check this box to enable sending SNMP messages from Skylight orchestrator to the trap receiver on the destination system.

SNMP version:
Determines the SNMP version that Skylight orchestrator will use when sending messages to the destination system.

Set this to the SNMP version expected by the destination system.

Possible values:

• SNMPV2c
• SNMP3

Notification type:
Determines the type of notification that Skylight orchestrator will send to the destination system.

Set this to the type of SNMP message that the destination system is configured to receive.

Possible values:

• Notification: Select this option to send a trap (a message that does not require an acknowledgment).
• Inform: Select this option to send an inform (a message that requires an acknowledgment).

Community string:
This field is only active if SNMPv2c is selected as the SNMP version.

Community string that Skylight orchestrator uses when sending SNMP messages to the destination system.

The value entered here on Skylight orchestrator must match the value used on the destination system.

Keep-alive:
Check this box to send keep-alive messages to the destination system.

USM user:
This field is only active if SNMPv3 is selected as the SNMP version.

Select a user that is defined on the destination system. A user account with the same credentials and security settings must also be defined in Skylight orchestrator.

The values available in this field are the users that have been defined in the USM Users tab. For more information on creating and managing USM users, see "Managing USM Users (SNMPv3)".

UDP port:
Establishes the port on the destination system to which Skylight orchestrator will send messages.

Set this to the UDP port that is set up on the destination system for receiving SNMP messages.

The default value is 162.

IP address:
IP address of the destination system.

Keep-alive frequency (s):
The frequency at which keep-alive messages are sent.

A value in seconds.

Keep-alive events are not affected by the volume of alarm messages sent.

Inform timeout (ms):
This field is only active if:

• SNMPv2 is selected as the SNMP version; and
• SNMP inform is selected as the Notification type.

The amount of time that Skylight orchestrator will wait for an acknowledgment from the destination system before attempting to resend the message.

Inform retries:
This field is only active if:

• SNMPv2 is selected as the SNMP version; and
• SNMP inform is selected as the Notification type.

The number of times that Skylight orchestrator will attempt to resend the message. If the message is not acknowledged after this number of retries, Skylight orchestrator will stop trying to send the message.