Configuring SNMPv3 on Dell iDRAC9 for VMware Aria Operations

I am currently working a lot with VMware Aria Operations and the matching Dell Management Packs that are available.

One of the most interesting is the integration of PowerEdge Servers, from which you can view various alarms about:

• System Health
• Storage
• Configuration
• Audit
• Update

These are exactly the informations I want to integrate into Aria Operations to get/build a dedicated dashboard. In order to send these informations to Aria Operations, SNMPv3 must be configured inside iDRAC, which I would like to describe in this post.

First log into the iDRAC9 web interface using the IP address and login details that were specified while configuring iDRAC. Then navigate to Configuration -> System Settings -> Alert Configuration and enable Alerts overall:

Scroll a little bit down and select the notification options as well as the issue severity under Quick Alert Configuration. Check the SNMP Trap Box for the necessary outputs we need later in Aria Operations and click Apply to save.

Now switch to iDRAC Settings -> Services -> SNMP Agent and enable this Service, provide a unique SNMP Community Name and do not use the default Name for security reasons. Next switch the SNMP Protocol from All to SNMPv3 and click Apply to submit the changes.

!!! Attention: Switching from All to SNMPv3 will disable SNMP v1/v2c !!!

To provide the SNMP Traps to Aria Operations, we will create a User which needs specific permissions. For this go to iDRAC Settings -> Users -> Local Users and click on +Add for a new User.

Under User Account Settings leave the ID number on default, enter an User Name and a secure password for the protocols being administered. Choose the User Role Operator with as less as needed privileges:

• Login to iDRAC
• Test Alerts

Now scroll a little bit down skip the IPMI Settings, which are not necessary for this configuration. Now Enable SNMPv3 in the drop down menu. The following two boxes represent the protocols that will be associated with the previously administered user information. Aria Operations can communicate over both protocols for Authentication (MD5 or SHA) and Privacy Types (DES or AES) and one of them are necessary for Operations, so we need to enable/set Passphrase also and click on Apply to save.

Let’s Return to Configuration -> System Settings -> Alert Configuration -> SNMP Traps Configuration for the final steps. Enter all IP addresses of your Aria Operations Nodes in the Destination Address fields. Check the State boxes to enable SNMP Traps, and try to change the SNMPv3 Users from None to your newly added User, but this will not work.

To enbale SNMPv3 Users, we need to scroll a little bit down and change the SNMP Trap Format to SNMPv3, default is SNMPv1, which will not work with our desired Configuration and again use a unique Community String. After that click on Apply to save the changes.

Now if you now scroll up again, you will be able to change to the newly authorized user.

Once the VMware Aria Operations trap receiver has also been configured, click the Send button under the Test SNMP Trap column, to confirm the receipt of SNMP traps from the iDRAC. In my next Blog post, I will show you How to add Dell PowerEdge Servers into VMware Aria Operations with our configured iDRAC 9 SNMPv3 Settings. So stay tuned and for now, this is it from this Blog Post, if you have any questions please use the comment section below. 🙂