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Basic SNMP Configuration

Basic SNMP Configuration

Section titled “Basic SNMP Configuration”

TL;DR (Quick Start)

Section titled “TL;DR (Quick Start)”

For the impatient: here’s the 30-second version.

# Enable SNMP with read-only community
/snmp set enabled=yes
/snmp community add name=public addresses=192.168.88.0/24 read-access=yes write-access=no

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

This guide demonstrates how to configure SNMP on MikroTik RouterOS for network monitoring.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • A MikroTik router running RouterOS 7.x or later
  • Access to the router via SSH, WinBox, or WebFig

Configuration Steps

Section titled “Configuration Steps”

Step 1: Enable SNMP

Section titled “Step 1: Enable SNMP”

Enable the SNMP service with basic settings:

/snmp set enabled=yes contact="admin@example.com" location="Server Room A"

Step 2: Create an SNMP Community

Section titled “Step 2: Create an SNMP Community”

Create a read-only SNMP community:

/snmp community add name=monitoring addresses=192.168.88.0/24 read-access=yes write-access=no comment="Monitoring system"

Step 3: Create a Write Community

Section titled “Step 3: Create a Write Community”

Create a community with write access for management:

/snmp community add name=management addresses=192.168.88.10/32 read-access=yes write-access=yes comment="SNMP management"

Verification

Section titled “Verification”

Check 1: SNMP Service Status

Section titled “Check 1: SNMP Service Status”
/snmp print

Expected Output:

          enabled: yes
          contact: admin@example.com
         location: Server Room A
       engine-id:
       trap-target:
   trap-community: public
     trap-version: 1
  trap-generators:

Check 2: SNMP Communities

Section titled “Check 2: SNMP Communities”
/snmp community print

Expected Output:

Flags: * - default, X - disabled
 #   NAME        ADDRESSES          SECURITY   READ-ACCESS  WRITE-ACCESS
 0 * public                         none       yes          no
 1   monitoring  192.168.88.0/24    none       yes          no
 2   management  192.168.88.10/32   none       yes          yes

Check 3: Test SNMP (from monitoring system)

Section titled “Check 3: Test SNMP (from monitoring system)”
Terminal window
# From Linux/monitoring server
snmpwalk -v2c -c monitoring 192.168.88.1 system

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

Problem: SNMP queries not working

Section titled “Problem: SNMP queries not working”

Symptoms: Monitoring system cannot poll router, snmpwalk times out.

Causes & Solutions:

  1. Source IP not allowed - Check community addresses:

    /snmp community print

    Add monitoring server IP to allowed addresses.

  2. Wrong community string - Verify community name matches exactly (case-sensitive).

  3. SNMP service disabled - Enable SNMP:

    /snmp set enabled=yes

  4. Firewall blocking SNMP - Allow UDP 161 from monitoring network:

    /ip firewall filter add chain=input action=accept protocol=udp dst-port=161 src-address=192.168.88.0/24

Problem: SNMP traps not received

Section titled “Problem: SNMP traps not received”

Symptoms: Monitoring system doesn’t receive SNMP traps.

Causes & Solutions:

  1. Trap target not configured:

    /snmp set trap-target=192.168.88.50

  2. Trap generators not enabled:

    /snmp set trap-generators=interfaces,start-trap

  3. Firewall blocking outbound traps - Allow UDP 162 outbound.

Problem: Write access not working

Section titled “Problem: Write access not working”

Symptoms: Cannot modify router via SNMP SET commands.

Causes & Solutions:

  1. Community has no write access:

    /snmp community print

    Ensure write-access=yes for the community.

  2. Using SNMPv1 - Some write operations require SNMPv2c or v3.

Problem: High CPU during SNMP polling

Section titled “Problem: High CPU during SNMP polling”

Symptoms: Router CPU spikes during SNMP queries.

Causes & Solutions:

  1. Polling too frequently - Reduce polling interval on monitoring system.

  2. Polling too many OIDs - Query only needed OIDs rather than walking entire MIB.

  3. Many concurrent queries - Stagger polling from multiple monitoring systems

Section titled “Related Topics”

Security

Section titled “Security”

Monitoring Integration

Section titled “Monitoring Integration”
  • Logging - SNMP traps complement logging
  • Graphing - built-in graphing alternative
  • Torch - real-time traffic monitoring
Section titled “Related Topics”
  • Scheduler - scheduled SNMP queries via scripts

References

Section titled “References”