SNMP Anyone?

Simple Network Management Protocol, or SNMP, has been part of the UNIX world for 30 years and the Robot world for more than 10 years. Yet, many customers are just finding out about it. It’s a great protocol and an excellent way to tie IBM i servers into enterprise monitoring. (I am sure many of you already use SNMP in your network outside of your IBM i servers.)

Robot/NETWORK and Robot/CONSOLE, can convert Robot product events from IBM i (OS/400, i5/OS) formats to SNMP traps.

Help/Systems has a registered MIB for each of these products, and we can interface with NETCOOL, BMC, Tivoli, HP OpenView, Remedy, and other enterprise tools. Each MIB is a source file (RSLMIB) in the RBTSYSLIB library on each of your systems. Robot/ALERT adds notification to any person or group of people from any device.

I think the neatest thing customers use this for is to open a problem ticket automatically when a Robot/SCHEDULE job fails. This eliminates the problem of people forgetting to enter a ticket and reduces the time required to troubleshoot a problem. It’s a great use of automation.

I like to remind people that we can receive SNMP traps with Robot/TRAPPER. Robot/TRAPPER converts SNMP traps into IBM i messages, which Robot/CONSOLE handles automatically. You can use alternate text and OPerator Assistance Language (OPAL) in Robot/CONSOLE to make the trap readable. (The trap sends a number that is converted into a meaningful phrase.) For example, a sensor in the data center can notify you if someone opens the door, or if the temperature or humidity increase above a certain level.

So, whether you're opening problem tickets automatically, notifying someone about changes in your data center environment, or responding to critical messages across your enterprise, the Robot products and SNMP are a great match.