Simple SNMP library

This is the first release of the Simple SNMP library for Java. It is composed of three components: a MIB compiler, the SNMP library itself, and a simple GUI application. This SNMP library only supports version 1 of the SNMP standard as defined in RFC's 1155, 1157, 1212 and 1213.

This package is written to use features of Java 1.1. You should get and install this version of Java for your platform, if you haven't done so already.

Also to run the MIB compiler you need to get Java-Lex and Java Cup run-times and install them. These packages are found in the following locations:

Java-Lex: http://
Java Cup: http://

Installation

Extract the files from the package. You can run the java programs in the directory it creates or move the class files, which are under the directory aka, to your collection of class files.

SNMP Library

This library at the moment supports the following SNMP operations:

Get - get a SNMP object value.
Get Next - get the next SNMP object value.
Set - set a SNMP object value.

Snmp Traps are not supported at the moment, but they will most likely be in a future release.

There is javadoc documentation on the SNMP library in the doc directory. The Snmp class is the Main entry point to the library.

Running the command line demostration

To run the command line demostration:

java aka.snmp.Snmp cmd hostname community-name snmp-variable [set-value]

where:

cmd is one of get, getnext, set and walk.
walk does a getnext walk of the mib on the agent starting at a particular position on the MIB.
hostname is the hostname or IP number of the host where the SNMP agent is running.
community-name is the SNMP community name of the SNMP agent. You need to know this to get SNMP value from the SNMP agent.
snmp-variable this is the SNMP variable to perform the command with.
set-value This is the value to set.

MIB Compiler

The MIB compiler compiles ASN.1 SNMP definitions in a file which is loaded by the SNMP library at run time. The library comes with a file mib-V1.txt which is the MIB definitions from RFC 1213.

The compiler compiles this file and generates a ser Java serialization file for the SNMP library to read in.

Running the compiler

To run the compiler on a UNIX platform:

java aka.mc.Main < mib-V1.txt

This will produce a mibs.ser file.

GUI Application

The GUI application demonstrates the SNMP library by polling a SNMP agent at regular intervals and displaying values.

Running the application

java aka.gui.SnmpTable

The application starts up polling for two SNMP values sysName and sysUpTime, on the localhost. You change the host by replacing localhost in the host text field.

You can change the add a new variable or delete a variable using the menu items under the Edit menu. To delete a variable, select it from the list and then choose the Delete Variable menu item from the Edit menu. Also you can change the polling interval and SNMP community name from this menu item as well.

Future Directions

Some more things that I'm thinking of implementing in this library:

SNMP Trap collector. Collects SNMP trap events.
Better MIB compiler. The current one cheats a bit.
SNMP V2 client implementation. Implements the second version of the SNMP standard.
SNMP Agent implementation, modularized to load at run-time classes implementing SNMP objects.
SNMP GUI tree walker. Displays the SNMP MIB tree and values.
SNMP flavored Java Beans.

Thanks To

The Simple SNMP library uses the following Java tools

Java-Lex, A lexical analyser generator, Version 1.1, by Elliot Joel Berk, Department of Computer Science, Princeton University.
Java Cup, LALR Parser Generator for Java, Version 0.9 by Scott E Hudson, Graphics Visualization and Usability Center Georgia Institute of Technology.

Copyright

All rights reserved.This software maybe be free distributed, any any form, without fee, but may not be modified in any way without express permission of the directors of Alex Kowalenko Associates Pty Ltd.

Alex Kowalenko Associates Pty Ltd makes no representations or warranties about the suitability of the software, not even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.

Alex Kowalenko

Last modified: Mon Jun 9 20:45:05 EST 1997