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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
bsciencefiction.tv Apr 12, 2013 8:32 AM (in response to Leon Adato)This is very timely for us. We are actually putting together this discussion now with Server 2012 stating it will have degraded SNMP and I can only assume after 2012 it will only get worse.
We are really having to dot our i's and cross our t's, because as I have stated in previous posts, our Data Security is run like the TSA and their concept of security is if you tell everyone "no" you have secured the environment.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
byronaApr 12, 2013 10:19 AM (in response to Leon Adato)
WMI is much slower than SNMP. With Server 2012 WMI is even slower than it used to be. I generally always use SNMP when possible and use WMI as my 2nd option when necessary because of the speed. Also, WMI tends to be more "buggy", I have never really had problems with SNMP as it's much more reliable.
Nice list though, I look to what others have to say!
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
mdriskellApr 12, 2013 12:26 PM (in response to byrona)
1 of 1 people found this helpfulI concur with byrona I prefer SNMP. Now that being said I will make some nodes WMI based when I upgrade to 5.5 because of the ability to poll mount points. It's really a shame however that there can't be a blended approach. I mean it's completely possible to build a SAM poller for a WMI query on an SNMP node but if the node is WMI based it's not possible to do any SNMP monitoring unless like the other user said it used to be SNMP at one point.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
familyofcrowes Apr 12, 2013 8:48 PM (in response to mdriskell)4 of 4 people found this helpfulTotally agree.... SNMP is faster and when you have 15,000 elements its much nicer to the CPU and polling intervals.
We use WMI for our almost 700 applications and if there are alot of components it can sometimes timeout.
I say use SNMP for basic monitoring and WMI for the detailed items like applications....
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
cmatrask Jul 22, 2015 12:58 PM (in response to mdriskell)" I mean it's completely possible to build a SAM poller for a WMI query on an SNMP node but if the node is WMI based it's not possible to do any SNMP monitoring unless like the other user said it used to be SNMP at one point."
Mike, would that mean that if we were monitoring the same node via SNMP, and changed it to WMI - we can still monitor it via SNMP?
Just curious.
Thanks much!
Cheryl
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
mdriskellApr 12, 2013 2:42 PM (in response to Leon Adato)
This is something I ran into a while back in regards to WMI having an issue. WMI utilizes reverse lookup for confirmation so an invalid reverse lookup can cause WMI to fail.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
bspencer63 Apr 12, 2013 3:16 PM (in response to Leon Adato)I prefer SNMP and also wouldn't like to lose all of my historical data by converting a node from SNMP to WMI or vice versa. Since most all of my nodes were setup via SNMP I will stay the course barring any tremendous WMI improvement gains that would peak my interest again.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
footerest Apr 25, 2013 12:18 PM (in response to Leon Adato)2 of 2 people found this helpfulAs a DoD admin SNMPv2 is now prohibited from being used. We are being forced to use WMI to poll all our Windows servers. Interface statistics are available via WMI directly. Why can't NPM pull interface statistics using WMI? Any hope for the capability to be added in the future?
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
Leon AdatoApr 25, 2013 1:16 PM (in response to footerest)
From what I've seen, WMI *does* pull interface stats. However, I have both NPM and SAM and it's possible some of what I'm seeing is coming from SAM rather than native NPM.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
netlogix Apr 25, 2013 4:08 PM (in response to Leon Adato)Another PRO for WMI is that it grabs the "Avg. Disk sec/Transfer", "Disk queue length", "Total Disk IOPS", and "Disk Allocation Failures" for volumes - never seen anything in "Disk Allocation Failures", but that a good thing right?
I am not sure what version added that, but I was messing around with adding the new graphs and saw them and played around till I found that they had data if the server was WMI.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
jeykfroze12 Nov 18, 2013 10:41 PM (in response to Leon Adato)4 of 4 people found this helpfulI agree to Leon Adato, You must have both NPM and SAM.
Here's the list resources of NPM only
Here's the list resources after SAM installed (assuming you added application components of this server)
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
keithjen Jun 5, 2013 7:51 AM (in response to Leon Adato)1 of 1 people found this helpfulI’d like to see the option to use both SNMP and WMI methods.
I monitor using SNMP across the board, but I want some of the options that WMI monitoring offers such as an account associated with the node (for service control via Solarwinds etc.) and Disk Performance stats without needing to install “SNMP Informant Standard” on all my servers, or add additional monitors manually.
I’m not saying that the same info should be gathered by both methods. I’m sure that the bods at Solarwinds know which data is best pulled from SNMP and which from WMI? If not, they could give the admin the choice of setting one as the primary method.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
familyofcrowes Jun 5, 2013 8:09 AM (in response to keithjen)1 of 1 people found this helpfulCreated request here: http://thwack.solarwinds.com/ideas/2287
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
hameed264@gmail.com Nov 18, 2013 11:59 PM (in response to keithjen)1 of 1 people found this helpful -
Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
designerfxOct 24, 2014 12:49 PM (in response to hameed264@gmail.com)
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
pjcarter Oct 23, 2014 11:50 PM (in response to Leon Adato)Hello all,
I'm looking for a definitive answer to just one thing.
Which monitoring protocol, WMI or SNMP, will affect performance of the monitored Windows 2008R2/2012R2 the least? WMI or SNMP? In the context of this question, it is not relevant which reveals any specific metric or health, only which puts more load on the monitored machine(s).
Thank you!!!
Pjc
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
rob.hock Oct 24, 2014 9:12 AM (in response to pjcarter)Typically SNMP would be considered lighter weight from a host / query / network perspective.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
pjcarter Oct 24, 2014 11:13 AM (in response to rob.hock)Thanks!
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
Leon AdatoOct 24, 2014 11:43 AM (in response to rob.hock)
Agreed.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
aaswi Oct 24, 2014 11:39 AM (in response to Leon Adato)to reiterate what Rob stated above:
it has has determined that it takes roughly the same amount of resources to complete a single (1) WMI poll as it does to complete five (5) SNMP polls.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
Leon AdatoOct 24, 2014 11:46 AM (in response to aaswi)
Yes, but to be clear - the difference in impact on the target is (generally speaking) negligible. If an SNMP request takes .001% of a machine's resources, and WMI takes .005% (I just made that value up, don't quote me on it) nobody is going to pitch a fit when you turn on WMI. And the value you get from WMI monitoring (windows volume mount points, hardware details, seamless addition of SAM monitors without providing additional permissions, etc) may be worth the nominal hit to the system.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
glsmith67 Nov 5, 2015 7:50 AM (in response to Leon Adato)Can you speak of what impact you will see on the polling server? Is there any resource that should be increased (memory, cpu's, etc...) on the Orion server when changing a large number of nodes from SNMP to WMI?
In our environment we currently have about 500 Windows servers and are looking to get away from SNMP and change them all to WMI. Currently we are only polling about 80 through WMI the rest are still on SNMP. When I make that change will this put more of a stress on the poller?
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
designerfxOct 24, 2014 12:56 PM (in response to Leon Adato)
1 of 1 people found this helpfuladatole There is a missing pro & con of SNMP polling a windows server:
You will see (and can monitor) all of the virtual interfaces, thus causing UX/UI confusion to other users who are doing SNMP walks via "list resources" in Orion and making it harder than it should be to identify actual interfaces. On the plus side, you can monitor traffic across said interfaces. This is a windows server with 1 physical interface highlighted.
rob.hock One thing I always wondered with regards to WMI, how is the polling actually being done? Is it just a RPC using WMI credentials, or is it via powershell?
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
mdecima Oct 24, 2014 8:36 PM (in response to Leon Adato)You are forgetting the native integration with propietary apps from Microsoft, APP Insight from SAM is built around this freature, (SQL, Exchange, IIS)
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
Scott Sadlocha Oct 28, 2014 2:43 PM (in response to Leon Adato)Great list Leon, glad I stumbled upon it.
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
Malik Haider Nov 1, 2014 4:30 AM (in response to Leon Adato)Just adding the KB under the same post will help others.
What polling method should I use?
http://knowledgebase.solarwinds.com/kb/questions/3613/What+polling+method+should+I+use%3F
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
borganApr 7, 2015 1:39 PM (in response to Leon Adato)
Leon,
Now that NPM 11.5 and SAM 6.2 are out there, I would like to re-visit this thread - but add Agent polling to the PRO/CON discussion. What are the considerations when deciding how to poll a Windows node? How do the various features (in particular some of the new ones) in NPM and SAM impact that decision?
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
designerfxApr 7, 2015 1:45 PM (in response to borgan)
Hmm. It should still technically be the same, although it's actually possible to generate a much more significant load on the machines with agents because you're not just doing basic polling.
TLDR: Maybe that should be a separate question like, what polling method should I use when:
(conditions)
Such as:
access limitations
security restrictions
on domain/off domain
consistent set of credentials/not
etc
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
cmatrask Jul 20, 2015 7:45 PM (in response to Leon Adato)Hi!
We use SNMP as our mainstay. We actually leverage WMI in templates for monitoring our Exchange Mount Points!
The templates use an AD Service Account for Solarwinds to poll the servers. It seems to work fine.
These Exchange Mount Point templates were created by Matthew LaSota of Sentinel Technologies! Leon I know you worked with him!
You were actually here in Chicago, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and helped us construct our current Solarwinds system!
You did a wonderful job!!!
Is there a difference in what information SNMP pulls from devices versus WMI?
At this time, I only see WMI as another method of polling. But will I see a difference in what information I will be able to get from polling WMI than SNMP?
Will I still be able to pull BIOS information, SN, etc.?
We currently have (4) pollers. Using NPM, SAM, NCM, UDT, QoE, IVIM, VNQM.
We will have our WPM on the pollers soon and getting it off of it's own server, so it is integrated with everything.
Soon, we will have a separate web server. Lots of people are using Solarwinds now.
Thanks much!
Cheryl
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
bspencer63 Jul 22, 2015 1:08 PM (in response to cmatrask)1 of 1 people found this helpfulLeon has created a very thorough comparison and posted it here on Thwack: SNMP_vs_WMI_20130412.docx
and also here: Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
These two documents should give you a good grasp on the SNMP or WMI debate!
I use them both depending on what data I am retrieving and demand on the server.
Hope this helps!
Butch
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
cmatrask Jul 22, 2015 12:35 PM (in response to bspencer63)Thanks bspencer63! Appreciate it!
Cheryl
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
fe_iara Nov 6, 2015 12:52 PM (in response to Leon Adato)Hello Everyone!
For people that use snmp (like me), What are you do about Software Inventory? Because using snmp I cant get all software installed
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
keithjen Apr 6, 2016 4:09 AM (in response to Leon Adato)As I have said elsewhere, I would like to be able to configure nodes to use both SNMP and WMI. Using SNMP for those monitored items that are more efficiently monitored with SNMP (or not available via WMI). Having both WMI credentials and SNMP community strings associated with each node eases administration and makes using some of the GUI features, like service control so much easier.
Unless & until the enhancement request to offer dual monitoring becomes available, our policy is to monitor physical servers using SNMP, virtual Windows servers using WMI. For virtual Windows servers connected via NAT addresses, we plan to use the Agent. -
Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
Parker RobinsonMar 17, 2017 2:13 PM (in response to Leon Adato)
I want to start off by saying how great this thread is! Extremely useful information when it comes to resource utilization and objects available for monitoring via snmp vs wmi. What about from a security stand point? I have heard many times that WMI is more secure than SNMP, and I assume the people that say that are referring to SNMPv2c.
Only the WMI Service Account password is encrypted, correct? Or is the username also encrypted when sent across the wire?
I know for a fact that SNMPv2c sends a plaintext community string, which is not secure at all. SNMPv3 uses username/pw that is encrypted, but does Windows support SNMPv3?
What are your thoughts from a security stand point?
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
Malik Haider Mar 19, 2017 7:40 AM (in response to Parker Robinson)Windows Server 2016 does not support SNMPv3. Microsoft officially states that SNMP is deprecated in Windows Server 2012 and up, so I doubt you'll be seeing anything from Microsoft in the future either.
How to achieve Windows Server SNMP v3 Security Compliance
3rd Party Solutions:
- MG-SOFT – Commercial
- SNMP-Informant – Commercial
- Net-SNMP – Open Source
How to achieve Windows Server SNMP v3 Security Compliance | The Official E-SPIN Blog
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Re: SNMP vs WMI polling - pros and cons
schiebj1 Jan 11, 2018 9:58 AM (in response to Leon Adato)I wanted to throw another pro/con in. It looks like at least in 12.1, if you go from SNMP to WMI the snmp-location field is no longer used to auto map on the world map and rather the AD Site name is used. The problem is is uses cn= and not location= so you might break your mapping.