General Information on SNMP Subagent

For Network Management purposes, IBM Firewall supports SNMP-based management. Packaged with the Firewall is a SNMP sub-agent that allows SNMP managers to monitor the firewall. Specifically, the sub-agent allows SNMP managers to access an IBM Firewall Management Information Base (MIB). Traps can be sent that report on critical system log activity and the status of important Firewall daemons. You can use the SNMP Subagent Configuration panel to configure key parameters for the subagent. You can also use this panel to start and stop the subagent.

Notes:

  1. For the IBM Firewall to be managed by an SNMP manager, connection rules must be defined to allow SNMP traffic to pass between the firewall and the SNMP manager.
  2. Upon installation, the SNMP daemon and SNMP Firewall subagent are not started. If you click start on the SNMP panel to activate the SNMP Firewall subagent, the daemon will automatically be activated. If the SNMP Firewall subagent is active and the machine is brought down, reboot the machine to start the SNMP Firewall subagent and the daemon. When an SNMP manager is deleted or added to the IBM Firewall, the daemon will be refreshed if it is running.

Further Information

SNMP (User's Guide)
Using Network Management with the IBM Firewall (Reference)

Definition Type

Choose how this manager will be identified:

IP Address (SNMP Manager)

Enter a dotted-decimal IP Address that identifies an SNMP manager or subnet from which SNMP requests might come. Or, if this entry is defined by Hostname, enter the Hostname here.

IP Mask (SNMP Manager)

Enter a mask that specifies the bits in the IP Address to compare to the IP Address of the request.

The IP Address Mask is very much like a subnet mask. Bits in these masks that are set to 0 indicate the bit positions to be ignored during comparisons of IP Addresses. So, specifying 255.255.255.255 in the mask demands an exact match with the specified IP Address field, whereas a mask of 0.0.0.0 causes a match no matter what IP Address is specified.


OK

Press the "OK" button to save changes and close the window.

Cancel

Press the "Cancel" button to close the window without saving any changes.