SNMP Cross Validation

The service provider’s onsite network engineers experienced issues with their large (an expensive) networking switching equipment. Their 10A modules within the Alcatel ESS switches’ sometimes do not work properly; however, the SNMP messages sent out by the module are sent as an ‘Online – Port Up’ status.

Open

Problem:

They are using Solarwinds SNMP monitoring software however it did not detect the failed hardware that the engineers are witnessing. They need a way to record both instances of actual network traffic being sent by the 10A modules and the SNMP messages so that they are able to cross validate and provide the information to the manufacturer (i.e. Alcatel). 

Solution:

By using QP and PureInsight, there are able to classify the SNMP as a flow and the network traffic (coming from module 10A) as a range of flows; using PureInsight’s dashboard, they were able to visualize the SNMP sending out ‘Good’ status while the module failed sending reliable network traffic. The service provider was able to collect all the information into PCAP and report with dashboard screenshots and sent it to the manufacturer.

Since the evidence of a defective switch (captured by the QP) was more than satisfactory, the manufacturer used that information to determine the issue quickly and addressed it with their client. The QP proved to be the “perfect insurance” for the network.