SNMP and Streaming Telemetry

Kentik’s non-NMS implementation of SNMP and Streaming Telemetry is covered here.

Note: For information about NMS implementations, see SNMP Polling for NMS and NMS via Streaming Telemetry.

SNMP vs. Streaming Telemetry

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) provides a standardized protocol for remotely monitoring and managing devices on IP networks. It uses a pull model where the network monitoring system polls the devices at regular intervals. SNMP codifies network management information as objects represented by identifiers (OIDs). Network managers can get and set these object properties (see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1155).

While SNMP has been effective for three decades, is speed and scale have changed. The pull model can have significant overhead, and the polling interval compromises efficiency. If it's too long, resources may be missed; if it's too short, overhead and performance are impacted.

Streaming Telemetry (ST) is an alternative to SNMP. Instead of polling, devices publish a continuous stream of data that network monitoring systems subscribe to. Each device’s ST data model specifies which data to track and how frequently to publish it. Incremental updating increases efficiency by transmitting only changed values.

Despite its advantages, the replacement of SNMP with ST will be gradual due to its entrenched deployment and the lack of a unified ST standard. Instead, ST has emerged as a range of non-standardized approaches with different vendors using techniques to define data collection, transmission, and extraction elements and interfaces.

Note: For more insight into Kentik's perspective on Streaming Telemetry, see our blog post Streaming Telemetry for Network Monitoring and Analytics.

SNMP and ST KDE Support

Kentik’s core backend technology, KDE (see About Kentik Data Engine), is a scalable, columnar datastore that ingests and stores traffic data. In addition to flow data like NetFlow and sFlow, KDE correlates various data, including SNMP and Streaming Telemetry data (see What traffic data is collected?).

SNMP Data in KDE

If your devices are configured to accept SNMP polling from Kentik (see SNMP OID Polling), SNMP is included in the information stored in KDE flow records. Kentik currently polls two basic kinds of OIDs:

• Counter OIDs: Generally represented as SNMP Metrics in the Kentik portal, these objects are listed in the table at Counter SNMP OIDs.

• Information OIDs: Generally represented as SNMP Dimensions in the Kentik portal, these objects are listed in the table at Information SNMP OIDs.

Streaming Telemetry Data in KDE

If your devices publish ST data to Kentik, ST is included in KDE flow records. KDE stores two basic ST-related data types:

• ST metrics available in the Kentik portal (listed in Streaming Telemetry Metrics) correspond to SNMP metrics and their publication paths are shown in Counter SNMP OIDs.

• ST dimensions available in the Kentik portal when querying ST-derived data are listed in Streaming Telemetry Dimensions.

Note: For information about Streaming Telemetry for Kentik NMS, see NMS via Streaming Telemetry.

Streaming Telemetry Device Support

While SNMP support is universal, vendor support for streaming telemetry is still evolving. Kentik’s ST support will continue to evolve as vendor support matures.

Note: For information about Streaming Telemetry device support for Kentik NMS, see NMS Device Support).

ST Via Agent or Direct

Kentik offers two ways to send ST to KDE:

• ST via agent: Kentik's software proxy agent, kproxy, collects ST data from devices and forwards it to KDE.

• ST direct: Devices send ST data directly to KDE.

The topics below explain how these two approaches are implemented for Kentik’s supported devices.

ST for Junos

Routers running Juniper's Junos OS (version 18.4R2.7 or later) can send streaming telemetry as UDP to Kentik via kproxy or directly:

• To send ST via kproxy:

  • Configure ST using https://github.com/kentik/config-snippets/blob/master/Juniper/MX-series/telemetry_dialout-agent.conf.

  • Set kproxy to collect ST data using the dialout_listener argument documented in kproxy for Streaming Telemetry.

• To send ST directly:

  • Configure ST using https://github.com/kentik/config-snippets/blob/master/Juniper/MX-series/telemetry_dialout.conf.

ST for IOS-XRv 9000

Cisco IOS-XRv 9000 routers (version 6.2.3 or later) can send ST as UDP to Kentik via kproxy or directly:

• To send ST via kproxy:

  • Configure ST using https://github.com/kentik/config-snippets/blob/master/Cisco/IOS-XR/telemetry_dialout-agent.conf.

  • Set kproxy to collect ST data using the tcp_bind argument documented in kproxy for Streaming Telemetry.

• To send ST directly:

  • Configure ST using https://github.com/kentik/config-snippets/blob/master/Cisco/IOS-XR/telemetry_dialout.conf.

• Note: To request ST collection on your account, see Customer Care.

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