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I've noticed that documentation for SNMP reporting that is built-in to devices (i.e. doesn't need an agent running in an OS) usually doesn't include a list of performance counters that are available for monitoring. It seems like the MIB for the device would reveal what counters are available, but I'm not sure and I haven't been able to find authoritative sources of MIB anyway. A possibly representative MIB I did find was rather cryptic.

So, I'm left with these questions:

  • How do you tell what performance counters (or any data over SNMP for that matter) are available for a device?
  • Suppose I did have an MIB for a device, how do I interpret what each of the MIB objects means?


Right now I'm looking at the Dell MD3200. I'm shooting for some sequential read and write targets, and would like to instrument the storage array in case I'm not meeting those targets. This is the first time I've attempted performance monitoring with SNMP.

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up vote 4 down vote accepted

Contact the vendor and request the details that you want.

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Yep, only way to tell for sure is to ask the vendor.for something like a storage array where you're paying a substantial amount of money, I've never had any problems getting the details I needed from them. Sometimes it will tell you in the manual(s), but not often. Don't go by what the MIBs say - just because there's a definition for it, doesn't mean the array uses it. –  Grant Apr 17 '13 at 23:12
Thanks John and Grant. I guess I needed someone to tell me what I probably should have deduced. –  alx9r Apr 17 '13 at 23:16
No problem. Vendors are bad about putting "real" tech docs online. –  John Apr 17 '13 at 23:58
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