I'm looking for a way to distribute OID Libraries for specific SNMP-enabled devices to installations at several remote sites that are not interconnected.

Instead of having all of the sensors show up, I'd like to modify the MIB or OID libraries to just include a few sensors, and to also relabel funky names like "(003) eth0" to "WAN port on router" so local junior techs can more easily diagnose issues.

I've tried using the MIB importer, but its results aren't working and I'm also getting more useful sensors from some of PRTG's built-in libraries than the MIBs for our ancient SNMP devices.

Please tell me there's a way to do this without having to learn how to write MIB files from scratch!

Article Comments

Hi Pete,

I think the best way will be to use device templates. This way you will be able to create a collection of sensors and also move them to other PRTG installations. The naming of the traffic sensors can be changed in the settings of the device via the SNMP Compatibility Options.

Best regards, Felix


Oct, 2015 - Permalink

Ahh! Thanks.

This seems very close to what I want, but the naming of the traffic sensors is still not quite what I'm after. The SNMP Compatibility Options still does not allow me to automatically have "eth0" labeled as "WAN port", "ath0" as "SSID1", etc. How can I accomplish this?

When I use ifAlias and ifName, both produce the same value. Where does PRTG get these values? Is it all from the compiled MIBs, or from elsewhere? If it's from the compiled MIBs, what field is it mapping to ifName and ifDescr?


Oct, 2015 - Permalink

Hi Pete,

PRTG will perform a meta scan before adding the SNMP traffic sensors. It will not be possible to assign fix names for particular interfaces.

The ifName, ifAlias and iDescription values are part of the IF-MIB and can be managed directly on the device. So it will depend on the manufacturer of the device which field changes and might require some testing in the SNMP Compatibility Options.

Best regards, Felix


Oct, 2015 - Permalink

Thanks! I'm still learning SNMP and was not aware that ifAlias was supposed to be set on the device by the network admin.

Researching what you told me above led me to this article, which helps explain a lot of things: http://cric.grenoble.cnrs.fr/Administrateurs/Outils/MIBS/

Also, it looks like none of the devices I'm monitoring have had their ifDescr field set by the manufacturers, so there is no plain-language explanation of what each port's cryptic ifName really is.

For those interested, look at the section "Pattern 2 (Fully Compliant)" in the above article for an example of what good ifDescr and ifName fields are.

Felix--for those devices that do not provide the ability to modify the ifAlias string, is there any way for me to create one with PRTG that will be kept with a template or honored during auto-scan?


Oct, 2015 - Permalink

Dear Peter

I am sorry, this is not possible.


Oct, 2015 - Permalink