How to find OIDs for SNMP
Learn how to find a device’s OIDs for SNMP monitoring using OID resources or a MIB Browser.
Find SNMP OID for Monitoring
OIDs, or Object Identifiers, identify a device and the status of specific variables. If you want to monitor a device’s variables using SNMP, you will most definitely need a device’s OIDs. Furthermore, you can either get them through your software’s OID resources or use a MIB Browser.
SNMP OIDs are obtained automatically, through a network monitoring software like Domotz via our pre-configured SNMP sensors. Furthermore, this enables you to start monitoring SNMP variables immediately, without configuration. Ultimately, this route makes monitoring via SNMP much easier as you will not have to spend time finding the OID values. Alternatively, you can also retrieve the MIB files and the specific OIDs you need for monitoring through a MIB Browser.
Check your Network Monitoring Software’s SNMP OID Resources
Firstly, check if your network monitoring software has the OIDs and MIBs you need for monitoring.
For example, Domotz network monitoring software automatically provides templates that include pre-configured OIDs (Domotz Pre-configured SNMP sensors) for many device types such as NAS, printers, and UPS. In these cases, there will be no configuration required to start monitoring those devices through SNMP.
Additionally, our software also automatically discovers a device’s MIBs, so if those MIBs are present in the Domotz MIB database, you will be able to browse them and add them to the system, without requiring an external MIB Browser software.
In addition, in the rare case, we will not have a MIB and any associated OIDs, you can manually supply this information to the software.
Use a MIB Browser to look up the device’s OIDs
Alternatively, to get a specific SNMP OID that is not listed using the MIBs in the Domotz database, you can use a MIB Browser software. To explain further, a MIB browser allows you to load standard proprietary MIBs.
For example, the MIB Browser iReasoning helps you find a device’s OIDs and their related MIBs. Furthermore, using this tool, for devices that support SNMP, you can navigate the OID tree to find the OID value of a sensor that you want to monitor, and after that use it to define an SNMP sensor in Domotz.
How to find the specific SNMP OIDs using a MIB Browser:
Let’s assume that we do have a Mobotix Camera, and we want to monitor its internal temperature.
The first thing to do is to load the specific MIB which contains the SNMP OID tree for your specific device, in this case, mobotix-mib.mib.
After that we will need to browse the MIB tree and find the OID that we need:
In Domotz we will manually define this OID (without the first dot – 1.3.6.1.4.1.21701.2.7.2.1.1.0) as follows:
To create the SNMP sensors and add them to the Domotz SNMP section click the “Add” button.
The SNMP sensor displays as follows:
Furthermore, you could add more sensors in the same way, for example, the Outside Temperature:
By using the 1.3.6.1.4.1.21701.2.7.2.2.1.0 OID.
In conclusion, once you have found the required OIDs that your network monitoring software requires, you’re ready to start monitoring.
Additionally, you can also set up alerts for when the internal temperature goes above a certain threshold. For
Learn more about how SNMP works, SNMP v2 vs v3, what is SNMP and what is a network management tool.
