SNMPv3 timing out

Question

Hello

I'm hoping someone can assist me with the following issue.

I'm trying to get SNMPv3 set up for some devices but am having trouble getting this to work from the web interface in a newer Solarwinds instance we have running.

Using snmpwalk on the server hosting the new platform, I am able to retrieve all MIBs successfully with the credentials for username, authentication and privacy. When the same thing is entered in the web browser, it times out.

If I switch back to SNMPv2 using a simple community string, the web browser suddenly successfully connects as expected so I'm thinking the problem is specifically related to v3.

We still have an old platform (NPM 11.5.2) running which we're trying to retire and using the same v3 username, authentication and privacy details against the same device SNMPv3 works fine in the web browser.

The target device I'm testing against (a network switch) has no restrictions as to what networks SNMP will respond to.

There is no firewall in the way of the new Solarwinds instance as all systems are internal.

As per this article:
https://support.solarwinds.com/SuccessCenter/s/article/SNMPv3-test-fails?r=3&ui-force-components-controllers-recordGlobalValueProvider.RecordGvp.getRecord=1

* There is no SNMPv3 Context added but there isn't when I use the old Solarwinds instance either and this works fine using that.
* The OIDs for 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1, 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.2 and 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3 all return fine in snmpwalker.
* I do not know where to find CollectorService.log looking through the Solarwinds server

As per this post:
https://thwack.solarwinds.com/t5/NPM-Discussions/SNMPwalk-is-fine-but-SNMP-test-fails-on-web-console/td-p/405637

* The polling settings are all default as far as I know. It seems to time out after a few minutes and doesn't try for 1/2 a second before giving up

New platform is Orion Platform 2018.2 HF6, NPM 12.3 which I know isn't 100% up to date.

I'm at a loss as to what could be causing this?

Thank you for any suggestions anyone can offer.

kbnsf · Answer

I've now discovered what the problem is and it turns out the entire server itself was playing up. There was excessive memory usage (maxed out), hundreds of processes relating to "SWJobEngineWorker2" all sat doing nothing, no new alerts were coming through for anything and everything was grinding to a halt.

A simple restart of the server has fixed the SNMPv3 authentication issue and we have engaged with SolarWinds support who have identified database errors which seem to relate to a performance issue we have been experiencing for a while.

Thank you for the suggestions as to what the problem might have been though.

wesleykparker · Answer

I've had trouble in the past with the "Credential Set Library" messing up any manually entered settings.  Because of this I've been religious about making sure no one adds new credentials that aren't supposed to be there.  This can happen automatically when adding a node and changing any setting in the snmpv3 credentials section (I believe even if you change something and change it back).

My advice would be to go under "All Settings" -> "Manage SNMPv3 Credentials" (or <OrionServer>/Orion/Admin/Credentials/SNMPCredentialManager.aspx) and create the credentials you want to use there.  Then assigning these credentials when Add/Editing the node.  Note: Never enter anything manually for SNMPv3 in the Add/Edit Node screen.  Only use the drop down boxes under Credential Set Library, and don't hit the "Save" button.  Only choose the credential you want to use, wait for the browser to fill in the settings and hit "Test".  There are two sections, one for Read-Only and one for Read-Write.  The credential library stores all creds in same place, if you have different creds for read and write, chose the appropriate one from the dropdown box for each section. Also, if you aren't doing ReadWrite, don't fill in credentials.  Solarwinds will test ReadWrite and if that fails, the whole credential test will fail.

When we converted our network from SNMPv2 to SNMPv3 we had tons of issues with getting devices to switch over until I started this tactic.  There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to why it worked in some places and not in others.

kbnsf · Answer

Hello

Thanks for replying. For one device, auth is SHA1 and priv is DES56 (it's an older switch and doesn't support anything newer). For another device, auth is SHA1 and priv is AES128. I've tested both of these devices using SNMPv3 on our old SolarWinds instance using the same settings and they both work fine so I know the SNMP configuration on the devices is correct.

I have C:\ProgramData\Solarwinds\Orion but there is no 'logs' folder in this location? Not sure if this has been moved or whether it's even possible to do this?

Thank you