Frequently Asked Questions

Agent Development Tools

General

What are the tools provided by AdventNet SNMP Agent Toolkit? Can each tool function as a separate application?
Where do I find the tools packaged in the toolkit?
Does the code get generated each time when I compile the file in the Agent Toolkit Compiler tools?
How do I disable the logging feature from my working directory using the tools?
How do I specify storage types for different nodes through the GUI tool?

SNMP Agent Tools

Multi-Protocol Agent Tools

TL1 Agent Tools

General

1.What are the tools provided by AdventNet Agent Toolkit? Can each tool function as a separate application?

The tools provided by AdventNet Agent Toolkit are:

SNMP Agent

MIB Editor- SNMP Editor used to create and edit MIB files.
MIB Compiler- SNMP agent developer that provides an SNMP agent framework after reading MIB files.
MIB Browser- SNMP Manager that is used to view and operate on data available through an SNMP agent on a managed device.
SNMP V3Admin- Tool for viewing and manipulating USM and VACM tables in the SNMPv3 agent at runtime.

Multi-Protocol Agent

MIB Editor- Editor tool used to create and edit MIB files.
JMX Compiler- Developer tool that generates stub files for building Multi-Protocol agent after reading MIB files.
MBean Browser- Management tool used for testing Multi-Protocol agent using the protocols such as RMI, CORBA, and HTTP.
MIB Browser- SNMP Manager that is used to view and operate on data available through an SNMP agent on a managed device.
TL1 Browser- TL1 Management console that allows the user to view and operate on data available through a TL1 agent on a managed device.

TL1 Agent

TL1 Message Builder- It is an editor tool that can be used for defining the TL1 CommandSet (.tcs file) for a TL1 agent.
TL1 Compiler- It is a TLI agent developer tool that takes the tcs file as input and generates code for it to form a TL1 agent.
TL1 Browser- It is a TL1 Management console that allows the user to view and operate on data available through a TL1 agent on a managed device.

Yes. Each SNMP/ Multi-Protocol/ TL1 tool can function as a separate application. You can use the .bat/.sh file to load each application separately.

Questions

2.Where do I find the tools packaged in the toolkit?

The complete set of AdventNet Agent Toolkit tools is available in the <AdventNet/JavaAgent>/bin directory. The tools can also be started from the Agent Toolkit Launcher that is located at <AdventNet/JavaAgent>/AgentToolkit.bat.

Questions

3. Does the code get generated each time when I compile the file in the Agent Toolkit Compiler tools?

No. Code will be generated only when you do code generation for the loaded files and not while compilation. Source Code can be generated once, and instrumentation and compilation can be done any number of times without having to regenerate the code.

Questions

4. How do I disable the logging feature from my working directory using the tools?

The log messages in the log files can be disabled by choosing DISABLED option from the combo box of Project->Settings->General->debug level dialog given in the MIB Compiler. By disabling the level, the log file will be created but the messages will not be written in it at runtime. Since the log file is empty, there will not be any impact on the memory size.

Questions

5. How do I specify storage types for different nodes through the GUI tool?

To specify storage types for different nodes,

Right-click on the node in the MIB tree and select the required storage type from the options provided. (or)
Specify the required storage option in the Project -> Settings -> Source code generation -> Storage Model dialog.

Questions

Back To Module

SNMP Agent Tools

1. What is a MIB?

A MIB (Management Information Base) is defined as a database of management information called managed objects. Each object represents some resource to be managed. It is used and maintained by a network management protocol such as SNMP. The values of the MIB object can be changed or retrieved using SNMP commands, usually through a GUI network management system.

Questions

2. What are the SNMP versions supported by each SNMP tool?

The supported SNMP versions are SNMP v1, SNMPv2, and SNMPv3.

Questions

3. How do I convert an SMIv1 MIB to SMIv2 MIB?

MIB Editor is used to convert an SMIv1 MIB to SMIv2 MIB or vice versa. This is enabled by selecting File->Convert As option provided in the MIB Editor.

Questions

4. How do I add a MIB to the agent? Can I load more than one MIB file in the MIB tree?

Agent Toolkit provides MIB Compiler that takes the MIB as input and generates the agent for its managed objects. Yes, it allows to load and generate agent for more than one MIB file.

Questions

5. Can the agent be generated for particular managed objects of a MIB?

Yes. The Agent Toolkit provides the flexibility to generate SNMP agents for particular managed objects of a MIB. This is implemented by using the "Selected Nodes" option in the MIB Compiler. To invoke this,

Right-click on the selected nodes and choose "Add To List" which adds it to the Selected Nodes block.
Then generate the agent using the "Generate Source->Selected Nodes" option.

Questions

6. How can I develop and access the SNMPv3-related information using SNMP Agent Toolkit?

The key feature of SNMP Agent Toolkit is that it provides an easy and user-friendly GUI tools for building SNMP agent that renders complete support to SNMPv3. Additionally the SNMP agent test tool such as MIB Browser makes it evenmore easier to access SNMPv3-related management information. Please refer to "Configuring SNMPv3 settings" of the help documentation for details on SNMPv3 agents.

Questions

7. How is the selection of SNMP V2 Compliance/SNMP V3 Compliance related to Version V1/V2/V3 option in Project->Settings menu of MIB Compiler UI?

The "Version" in Project -> Settings menu of MIB Compiler UI allows you to create an agent of your choice. On the other hand, any agent created as a v2c agent is by default V2 compliant.

However if the option is unchecked, the necessary codes for the SNMP V2 compliance will not be generated. This holds good for SNMP V3 compliance also and the RFCs implemented for v3 are different. Please refer to SNMP v2 compliance and SNMP V3 compliance section for detailed information about the SNMP standard compliance.

Questions

8. Can i compile the MIB to produce MIB.cds and MIB.cmi using Agent Toolkit?

Yes. Agent Toolkit provides MIB Browser that generates MIB.cds and MIB.cmi files under the <AdventNet/JavaAgent>/mibs directory. Please follow the given steps to generate these files:

Choose Edit->Settings
Select Mib Settings and enable Compiled File option in the Mib Loading Options.

Questions

9. How do I view the trap and its details sent by the SNMP agent?

The MIB Browser provides Trap viewer to view the trap and its details sent by the SNMP Agent.

Questions

10. Is there any tool available for manipulating USM and VACM tables of Snmp v3 agent during runtime?

Yes, the contents of the USM and VACM related tables can be viewed and manipulated using Snmp v3 Administration tool during agent runtime. For more details, refer the SNMPv3 Admin Tool section of our help documentation.

Questions

Back To Module

Multi-Protocol Agent

1.How do I implement my defined MIB variables as different MBeans?

This can be implemented by providing the MIB file as input to the JMX Compiler. It generates MBeans for each group in the MIB. Refer to "Creating a Simple Multi-Protocol agent Using JMX Compiler" of our help documentation for further details.

Questions

2.Can I use my own MIBs for generating source from the JMX Compiler or do I have to use the AdventNet MIB Editor to create a MIB ?

No, you don't have to create MIBs using the MIB Editor. MIBs created by other sources can also be used to generate code in the JMX Compiler.

Questions

3.Is it possible to register and then monitor an MBean from a remote URL?

Yes, it is possible to register an MBean from a remote URL. This can be done using the Management Applet (MLet) service. The Mlet service allows you to instantiate and register an MBean from a remote URL with the MBean server. Please refer to the topic, "Loading MBeans dynamically using MLet service" for more information.

Questions

4.Can I invoke the testing tools from the JMX Compiler?

Yes, you can invoke the testing tools using the option Tools->MIB/MBean/Web/TL1 Browser from the toolbar menu of JMX Compiler.

Questions

5.What are the different protocols supported by MBean Browser?

RMI/CORBA/HTTP

Questions

6.Does Agent Toolkit support dynamically registering/unregistering of MBeans in the multi-protocol agents?

Yes. It can be acheived through MBean Browser by using Settings->Register/Unregister MBean option provided in its toolbar.

Questions

7.How do I view the trap and its details sent by the multi-protocol agent?

The trap and its details can be viewed using Trap Viewer in MIB Browser and JMX Notification Viewer in MBean Browser.

Questions

Back To Module

TL1 Agent

1.What are TCS files? Suggest me a tool that is used to generate TCS files?

TCS files holds commands which specify the action to be taken at NE. Agent Toolkit provides TL1 Message Builder to create/edit TCS files.

Questions

2.How do I develop and use TL1 technology?

To deploy and use TL1 technology for management, follow the given steps:

Decide what aspects of your products you want to manage via TL1
Select the standard TL1 messages to implement
Create TCS files for your device using TL1 Message Builder
Generate TL1 agent stub files using TL1 Compiler
Instrument and then implement the instrumented TL1 agent in your devices
Test the agent using TL1 Browser

Questions

Back To Module