In CentOS, you simply need to install the net-snmp-devel package:

$ sudo yum install net-snmp-devel

See the upcoming section the section called “Recompiling Asterisk with the res_snmp module” for a description of how to recompile Asterisk with SNMP support.

Under Ubuntu, the following package needs to be installed:

$ sudo apt-get install snmp libsnmp-dev snmpd

See the next section for a description of how to recompile Asterisk with SNMP support.

Once you’ve satisfied the dependencies for SNMP, you can recompile Asterisk with SNMP support:

$ cd ~/src/asterisk-complete/asterisk/1.8/
$ ./configure
$ make menuselect  # verify that res_snmp is selected under Resource Modules 
$ sudo make install

You then need to copy the sample config file over to the /etc/asterisk folder:

$ sudo cp ~/src/asterisk-complete/asterisk/1.8/configs/res_snmp.conf.sample \ 
/etc/asterisk/res_snmp.conf

We’ll talk about configuring this file for use with OpenNMS in the next section.

The OpenNMS wiki has detailed instructions for installing OpenNMS, which you can find at http://opennms.org/wiki/Installation:Yum.

Since the OpenNMS wiki provides all the required instructions, we’ll leave it to the experts to lead you through the first part of the installation. Once you’ve installed OpenNMS, come back here and we’ll take you through how to configure it to work with Asterisk.

The instructions for installing OpenNMS on the wiki use SNMPv2c, which is not a secure method of abstracting data from the SNMP protocol. Since we want to build a secure system, our instructions will show you how to enable SNMPv3 support.^[174]

However, because SNMPv3 can be a bit of an unwieldy beast, and because you may not wish to enable SNMPv3 for some reason (e.g., if your version of SNMP was not compiled with OpenSSL support), we will provide instructions for configuring the SNMP daemon for both SNMPv2c and SNMPv3.

It tends to be easier to configure the system for SNMPv2c first and then update it to SNMPv3, as the steps to get SNMPv3 set up properly are more complex.

In the /etc/asterisk/res_snmp.conf file that you’ve copied over from your source directory, there are two lines you must uncomment:

[general]
;subagent=yes
;enabled=yes

Modify the res_snmp.conf file so both the SNMP client and the subagent are enabled:

[general]
subagent=yes
enabled=yes

After modifying this file, you will need to reload the res_snmp.so module in order for the changes to take effect:

*CLI> module unload res_snmp.so

Unloaded res_snmp.so
 Unloading [Sub]Agent Module
  == Terminating SubAgent

*CLI> module load res_snmp.so

Loaded res_snmp.so
  == Parsing '/etc/asterisk/res_snmp.conf':   == Found
 Loading [Sub]Agent Module
 Loaded res_snmp.so => (SNMP [Sub]Agent for Asterisk)
  == Starting SubAgent

Now you can modify the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file for SNMP on the host machine. Rename the current example configuration file and create a new snmpd.conf file:

$ cd /etc/snmp
$ sudo mv snmpd.conf snmpd.sample

The first thing to do is to add the permissions control to the file. We suggest you read the /etc/snmpd/snmp.sample file that you just renamed to get a better idea of how the permissions are being set up. Then, add the following to your snmpd.conf file:

$ sudo cat > snmpd.conf

com2sec notConfigUser  default       public

group   notConfigGroup v1           notConfigUser
group   notConfigGroup v2c           notConfigUser

view all    included  .1
view system included  .iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.system

access  notConfigGroup ""      any       noauth    exact  all    none none

syslocation Caledon, ON
syscontact Leif Madsen lmadsen@shifteight.org

Ctrl+D

Now we need to enable the AgentX subagent support so information about our Asterisk system can be found:

$ sudo cat >> snmpd.conf

master agentx
agentXSocket /var/agentx/master
agentXPerms 0660 0775 nobody root

sysObjectID .1.3.6.1.4.1.22736.1

Ctrl+D

By adding the master agentx line and the agentX options, we’ve enabled Asterisk to communicate with the SNMP daemon. The agentXPerms option is stating that Asterisk is running as root. If your Asterisk system is running in a different group, change root to the group that Asterisk is running as.

Just below the AgentX configuration, we added the sysObjectID option. The purpose of adding the sysObjectID string is so OpenNMS will know that this host system is running Asterisk, allowing it to dynamically grab additional graphing information.

Once you’ve performed these configuration steps, you need to restart the SNMP daemon:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/snmpd restart

To verify that the information can be polled correctly, utilize the snmpwalk application:

$ snmpwalk -On -v2c -c public 127.0.0.1 .1.3.6.1.4.1.22736

You should get several lines of information flowing across your screen if your configuration is correct, much like the following:

.1.3.6.1.4.1.22736.1.5.4.1.4.3 = INTEGER: 2
.1.3.6.1.4.1.22736.1.5.4.1.4.4 = INTEGER: 2
.1.3.6.1.4.1.22736.1.5.4.1.4.5 = INTEGER: 1
.1.3.6.1.4.1.22736.1.5.4.1.4.6 = INTEGER: 1
.1.3.6.1.4.1.22736.1.5.4.1.5.1 = INTEGER: 1
...etc

At this point your host system should be ready for OpenNMS to connect and gather the information it needs. Proceed by adding a node to the system and filling in the appropriate information. After a period of time, OpenNMS will poll the host system and have access to the Asterisk statistics. You should be able to click on Resource Graphs after selecting the node you created and see a selection of graphs available, such as SIP, DAHDI, Local, etc.

Enabling SNMPv3 allows you to securely connect and transmit data from the SNMP daemon to the SNMP client. This may not be necessary in a local environment, especially if the client and the daemon are running on the same machine. However, when traversing public networks it is important to secure this data.

First, you need to stop the SNMP daemon, using the init script or the service command:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/snmpd stop

After stopping the daemon, you need to add the initial user to the /var/net-snmp/snmpd.conf file. This file is dynamic in nature and should only be modified when the SNMP daemon has been stopped.

You need to create a bootstrap user that you will be able to use to create the administration user in the next step. Add the following line to the /var/net-snmp/snmpd.conf file:

createUser initial MD5 setup_passphrase DES

After adding it, save the file and exit. Next, you need to add permissions to the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file. Add the following line to give the initial user read/write permissions:

rwuser initial

After making these modifications, you can restart the SNMP daemon:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/snmpd start

Starting snmpd:                                            [  OK  ]

Using your initial user, you now need to create a user for OpenNMS to connect to. You’ll do this with the snmpusm^[175] application. Execute the following command, which will clone the opennmsUser user from the initial user. We configured the password setup_passphrase for the authentication and privacy settings when we added the initial user to the /var/net-snmp/snmpd.conf file:

$ sudo snmpusm -v3 -u initial -n "" -l authPriv \
-a MD5 -A setup_passphrase \
-x DES -X setup_passphrase \
localhost create opennmsUser initial

User successfully created.

Now change the passphrase for the opennmsUser with the following command:

$ sudo snmpusm -v 3 -u initial -n "" -l authPriv \
-a MD5 -A setup_passphrase \
-x DES -X setup_passphrase \
-Ca -Cx localhost passwd setup_passphrase \
0p3nNMSv3 opennmsUser

SNMPv3 Key(s) successfully changed.

You can now test to make sure you’re getting results from your user by utilizing the snmpwalk application:

$ sudo snmpwalk -v 3 -u opennmsUser -n "" -l authPriv \
-a MD5 -A 0p3nNMSv3 \
-x DES -X 0p3nNMSv3 \
localhost ifTable

IF-MIB::ifIndex.1 = INTEGER: 1
IF-MIB::ifIndex.2 = INTEGER: 2
IF-MIB::ifIndex.3 = INTEGER: 3
IF-MIB::ifDescr.1 = STRING: lo
IF-MIB::ifDescr.2 = STRING: eth0
IF-MIB::ifDescr.3 = STRING: sit0

Now that you have data being returned, lock down the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file to make sure only the opennmsUser can read data from the SNMP daemon.

The file will look quite similar to the one in the previous section, for configuring SNMPv2c. We’ve commented out the lines you no longer need with the hash symbol (#) and added new group and access lines to control access to the SNMP daemon:

com2sec notConfigUser  default       public

#group   notConfigGroup v1            notConfigUser
#group   notConfigGroup v2c           notConfigUser
group   notConfigGroup usm           opennmsUser

#view    systemview    included   .1.3.6.1.2.1.1
#view    systemview    included   .1.3.6.1.2.1.25.1.1
view    all           included   .1

#access  notConfigGroup ""      any       noauth    exact  all    none none
access  notConfigGroup ""       usm       priv      exact  all    none none


syslocation Caledon, ON
syscontact Leif Madsen lmadsen@shifteight.org


#rwuser initial

master agentx
agentXSocket /var/agentx/master
agentXPerms 0660 0775 nobody root

sysObjectID .1.3.6.1.4.1.22736.1

On the group line, we’ve configured the system to use usm (the User-based Security Model) and permitted the opennmsUser to connect. We control how it can connect with the access line, where we’ve enabled access via the notConfigGroup using usm and the priv model, which makes sure we connect using both authentication and privacy settings. These in turn make sure that we authenticate securely and transmit data encrypted.

After modifying the /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file, restart the SNMP daemon one last time:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/snmpd restart

Then verify that you can still access data via snmpwalk:

$ sudo snmpwalk -v 3 -u opennmsUser -n "" -l authPriv \
-a MD5 -A 0p3nNMSv3 \
-x DES -X 0p3nNMSv3 \
localhost ifTable

and that Asterisk is still able to connect via AgentX with snmpwalk:

$ sudo snmpwalk -v 3 -u opennmsUser -n "" -l authPriv \
-a MD5 -A 0p3nNMSv3 \
-x DES -X 0p3nNMSv3 \
localhost .1.3.6.1.4.1.22736

If all goes well, you should get lots of lines back, including:

SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.2.1 = STRING: "SIP"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.2.2 = STRING: "IAX2"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.2.3 = STRING: "Bridge"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.2.4 = STRING: "MulticastRTP"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.2.5 = STRING: "DAHDI"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.2.6 = STRING: "Local"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.3.1 = STRING: "Session Initiation Protocol(SIP)"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.3.2 = STRING: "Inter Asterisk eXchange Driver"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.3.3 = STRING: "Bridge Interaction Channel"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.3.4 = STRING: "Multicast RTP Paging Channel"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.3.5 = STRING: "DAHDI Telephony Driver"
SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.22736.1.5.4.1.3.6 = STRING: "Local Proxy Channel Driver"

If you don’t get data returned right away, it could be because the Asterisk res_snmp.so module has not reconnected to the SNMP daemon. You can force this either by restarting Asterisk, or by unloading and reloading the res_snmp.so module from the Asterisk CLI.