Simulating SNMP Agents¶

The snmpsimd.py program performs actual SNMP agent simulation based on the simulation data provided.

Simulation data¶

SNMP agents simulation data ends up in .snmprec files. Once SNMP request comes in, SNMP Simulator constructs .snmprec file path and tries to locate it by searching through the following directories:

~/.snmpsim/data
/usr/local/share/snmpsim/data
{python-package-root}/data

On Windows search paths are:

Document and Settings{user}Application DataSNMP SimulatorData
Program FilesSNMP SimulatorData
{python-package-root}/data

These directories are searched in the specified order till the first match. For example, a set up collection of .snmprec files would look like:

$ cd /usr/local/share
$ find snmpsim/data
snmpsim/data
snmpsim/data/public.snmprec
snmpsim/data/mib2dev
snmpsim/data/mib2dev/ip-mib.snmprec
snmpsim/data/mib2dev/host-resources-mib.snmprec
snmpsim/data/mib2dev/tcp-mib.snmprec
snmpsim/data/foreignformats
snmpsim/data/foreignformats/linux.snmpwalk
snmpsim/data/foreignformats/winxp.sapwalk
snmpsim/data/variation
snmpsim/data/variation/subprocess.snmprec
snmpsim/data/variation/virtualtable.snmprec
snmpsim/data/recorded
snmpsim/data/recorded/linksys-system.snmprec
snmpsim/data/recorded/udp-endpoint-table-walk.snmprec
...

Note

There’re also a bunch of .dbm files created and maintained automatically in a temporary directory. These .dbm files are used by the Simulator for fast OID lookup in a data file.

SNMP Simulator daemon¶

The snmpsimd.py tool hosts multiple independent SNMP Command Responders. It can run multiple SNMP engines exchanging data over multiple network interfaces. Each SNMP engine instance can serve many independent sets of SNMP management objects (MIBs) sourced from local .snmprec files or variation modules.

Multiple network interfaces¶

SNMP Simulator daemon can listen at multiple local IP interfaces and/or UDP ports. Just pass multiple –agent-udpv4-endpoint / –agent-udpv6-endpoint command line parameters carrying addresses to listen on. Whenever you wish Simulator to listen on thousands of local interfaces and/or ports, use the –agent-udpv4-endpoints-list / –agent-udpv6-endpoints-list options. These options expect to refer to a plain text file containing newline-separated list of transport endpoints for Simulator to listen on.

$ snmpsimd.py --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1:1024 \
    --agent-udpv6-endpoint='[::1]:1161'
Scanning "/home/user/.snmpsim/variation" directory for variation modules...
no directory
Scanning "/usr/local/share/snmpsim/variation" directory for variation modules...
  8 more modules found
Initializing variation modules:
    notification...  OK
    sql...  FAILED: database type not specified
    numeric...  OK
    subprocess...  OK
    delay...  OK
    multiplex...  OK
    error...  OK
    writecache...  OK
Scanning "/home/user/.snmpsim/data" directory for  *.snmpwalk, *.MVC,
*.sapwalk, *.snmprec, *.dump data files... no directory
Scanning "/usr/local/share/snmpsim/data" directory for  *.snmpwalk,
*.MVC, *.sapwalk, *.snmprec, *.dump data files...
==================================================================
Index /tmp/snmpsim/usr_local_share_snmpsim_data_public.dbm does not exist
for data file data/public.snmprec
Building index /tmp/snmpsim/usr_local_share_snmpsim_data_public.dbm for data
file /usr/local/share/snmpsim/data/public.snmprec (open flags "n")......
133 entries indexed
Data file /usr/local/share/snmpsim/data/public.snmprec, dbhash-indexed, closed
SNMPv1/2c community name: public
SNMPv3 context name: 4c9184f37cff01bcdc32dc486ec36961
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Index /tmp/snmpsim/usr_local_share_snmpsim_data_recorded_linksys-system.dbm
does not exist for data file /usr/local/share/snmpsim/data/recorded/
linksys-system.snmprec
Building index /tmp/snmpsim/usr_local_share_snmpsim_data_recorded_linksys-
system.dbm for data file /usr/local/share/snmpsim/data/recorded/linksys-
system.snmprec (open flags "n")......6 entries indexed
Data file /usr/local/share/snmpsim/data/recorded/linksys-system.snmprec,
dbhash-indexed, closed
SNMPv1/2c community name: recorded/linksys-system
SNMPv3 context name: 1a764f7fd0e7b0bf98bada8fe723e488
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
...
...
...
SNMPv3 credentials:
Username: simulator
Authentication key: auctoritas
Authentication protocol: MD5
Encryption (privacy) key: privatus
Encryption protocol: DES
Listening at:
  UDP/IPv4 endpoint 127.0.0.1:1024, transport ID 1.3.6.1.6.1.1.0
  UDP/IPv6 endpoint ::1:1161, transport ID 1.3.6.1.2.1.100.1.2.0

Note

An unprivileged port 1024 has been chosen in this example to avoid running snmpsimd.py process as root.

By this point you can run you favorite SNMP Manager to talk to either of the two simulated devices through whatever transport you prefer. For instance, to talk to simulated Linux box over SNMP v2 through UDP over IPv4 run:

$ snmpwalk -On -v2c -c recorded/linksys-system localhost:1161 1.3.6
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 = STRING: BEFSX41
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.2.0 = OID: .1.3.6.1.4.1.3955.1.1
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0 = Timeticks: (638239) 1:46:22.39
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.4.0 = STRING: Linksys
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0 = STRING: isp-gw
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.6.0 = STRING: 4, Petersburger strasse, Berlin, Germany
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.8.0 = Timeticks: (4) 0:00:00.04
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.8.0 = No more variables left in this MIB View
...

To walk simulated 3com switch over SNMPv3 we’d run:

$ snmpwalk -On -v3 -n recorded/linksys-system \
    -l authPriv -u simulator -A auctoritas -X privatus \
    localhost:1161 1.3.6
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 = STRING: BEFSX41
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.2.0 = OID: .1.3.6.1.4.1.3955.1.1
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0 = Timeticks: (638239) 1:46:22.39
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.4.0 = STRING: Linksys
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0 = STRING: isp-gw
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.6.0 = STRING: 4, Petersburger strasse, Berlin, Germany
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.8.0 = Timeticks: (4) 0:00:00.04
.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.8.0 = No more variables left in this MIB View
...

Note

The -n <snmp-context> parameter passed to the snmpwalk tool addresses specific simulated device at SNMP Simulator daemon.

Multiple USM users¶

It is also possible to configure many SNMPv3 (USM) users to Simulator. Each set of –v3-user, –v3-auth-key, –v3-priv-key parameters adds one SNMPv3 user to Simulator.

There is no correlation between SNMPv3 users and simulated resources, all users have the same view of the Simulator and the same access permissions. But you can use SNMPv3 contextNames and/or transport endpoints for addressing different data files e.g. simulated SNMP agents.

$ snmpsimd.py --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1  \
  --v3-user=wallace --v3-auth-key=testkey123 --v3-priv-key=testkey839 \
  --v3-user=gromit --v3-auth-key=testkey564 --v3-priv-key=testkey6534
Scanning "/home/user/.snmpsim/variation" directory for variation modules...
...
SNMPv3 EngineID 0x80004fb8056372617927fb76cc
------------------------------------------------------------------
SNMPv3 USM SecurityName: wallace
SNMPv3 USM authentication key: testkey123, authentication protocol: MD5
SNMPv3 USM encryption (privacy) key: testkey839, encryption protocol: DES
------------------------------------------------------------------
SNMPv3 USM SecurityName: gromit
SNMPv3 USM authentication key: testkey564, authentication protocol: MD5
SNMPv3 USM encryption (privacy) key: testkey6534, encryption protocol: DES
Listening at UDP/IPv4 endpoint 127.0.0.1:161, transport ID 1.3.6.1.6.1.1.0
...

SNMP simulator supports many SNMPv3 authentication and encryption algorithms. For each user you can configure any authentication and any encryption (privacy) algorithm.

The following authentication algorithms are currently supported (via –v3-auth-proto=<ID> option):

ID	Algorithm	Reference
NONE		RFC3414
MD5	HMAC MD5	RFC3414
SHA	HMAC SHA-1 128	RFC3414
SHA224	HMAC SHA-2 224	RFC7860
SHA256	HMAC SHA-2 256	RFC7860
SHA384	HMAC SHA-2 384	RFC7860
SHA512	HMAC SHA-2 512	RFC7860

The following privacy (encryption) algorithms are currently supported (via –v3-priv-proto=<ID> option):

ID	Algorithm	Reference
NONE		RFC3414
DES	DES	RFC3414
AES	AES CFB 128	RFC3826
AES192	AES CFB 192	RFC Draft
AES256	AES CFB 256	RFC Draft
AES192BLMT	AES CFB 192 Blumenthal	RFC Draft
AES256BLMT	AES CFB 256 Blumenthal	RFC Draft
3DES	Triple DES EDE	RFC Draft

Note

The AES192, AES256 and 3DES are implemented based on Blumenthal and Reeder draft RFCs.

Another configurable parameter is SNMPv3 snmpEngineId value. It’s normally automatically generated but can also be configured through command line.

$ snmpsimd.py --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1 --v3-engine-id=010203040505060809
Scanning "/home/user/.snmpsim/variation" directory for variation modules...
...
SNMPv3 EngineID 0x010203040505060809
------------------------------------------------------------------
SNMPv3 USM SecurityName: simulator
SNMPv3 USM authentication key: auctoritas, authentication protocol: MD5
SNMPv3 USM encryption (privacy) key: privatus, encryption protocol: DES
Listening at UDP/IPv4 endpoint 127.0.0.1:161, transport ID 1.3.6.1.6.1.1.0

Note

The SnmpEngineId value has to follow certain format.

Multiple SNMP engines¶

SNMP Simulator could run many independent SNMP engines all within a single daemon process. SNMP managers could address particular SNMP Engine instance by querying it at a transport endpoint to which SNMP Engine is bound.

Each SNMP Engine will have its own set of USM users and could serve its own –data-dir (or they can share a single directory).

The logic of configuring specific parameters to different SNMP engines is to “scope” SNMP Engine parameters (like users, transports, data directory) within its –v3-engine-id fragment of Simulator command-line sequence of options. For example:

$ snmpsimd.py \
  --v3-engine-id=010203040505060809 \
  --v3-user=wallace --v3-auth-key=testkey123 \
  --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1:1161 \
  --v3-engine-id=090807060504030201 \
  --v3-user=gromit --v3-auth-key=testkey564 \
  --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1:1162
Scanning "/home/user/.snmpsim/variation" directory for variation modules...
...
SNMPv3 EngineID: 0x010203040505060809
------------------------------------------------------------------
SNMPv3 USM SecurityName: wallace
SNMPv3 USM authentication key: testkey123, authentication protocol: MD5
Listening at UDP/IPv4 endpoint 127.0.0.1:1161, transport ID 1.3.6.1.6.1.1.0
...
SNMPv3 EngineID: 0x090807060504030201
------------------------------------------------------------------
SNMPv3 USM SecurityName: gromit
SNMPv3 USM authentication key: testkey564, authentication protocol: MD5
Listening at UDP/IPv4 endpoint 127.0.0.1:1162, transport ID 1.3.6.1.6.1.1.1

Likewise, to make particular SNMP Engine working with specific data directory, another, more specific, –data-dir option could be passed after the –v3-engine-id option.

Invocation options¶

To make Simulator listening on SNMP-standard UDP port 161 on a UNIX system, you have to invoke it as root but in the same time have to specify some non-privileged UNIX user and group to switch into upon port allocation:

# snmpsimd.py --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1:161 \
    --process-user=simulator --process-group=simulator

On UNIX systems Simulator can be run as a daemon. Make sure to re-direct its console output into syslog:

# snmpsimd.py --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1:161 \
    --process-user=simulator --process-group=simulator \
    --daemonize --logging-method=syslog:local1:debug

Logging options¶

Most of the scripts shipped with the SNMP Simulator package can log to a remote syslog server over TCP or UDP:

# snmpsimd.py --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1:161 \
    --process-user=simulator --process-group=simulator \
    --daemonize --logging-method=syslog:local1:debug:192.168.1.1:514:udp

Finally, Simulator can simply log to a local log file:

# snmpsimd.py --agent-udpv4-endpoint=127.0.0.1:161 \
    --process-user=simulator --process-group=simulator \
    --daemonize --logging-method=file:/var/log/snmpsimd.log

Navigation

Related Topics

Simulating SNMP Agents¶

Simulation data¶

SNMP Simulator daemon¶

Multiple network interfaces¶

Multiple USM users¶

Multiple SNMP engines¶

Invocation options¶

Logging options¶