MIB lookup tool

The snmptranslate.py tool can look up MIB object information at MIB by OID or vice versa. This tool does not require a SNMP agent to operate – it just loads up MIB module(s) and performs the requested lookup.

Its usage is tightly aligned with its Net-SNMP prototype.

Command line syntax is as follows:

snmptranslate.py [options] <mib-object [mib-object […]]>

Options always start with dash (-), other parameters are positional.

Options can be categorized by the part they are tackling e.g.

Past these named options, mandatory positional parameters follow:

MIB options

Pre-load MIBs

You may want to pre-load some of the MIB modules to let the snmptranslate.py tool rendering SNMP responses in a more meaningful way.

The -m option specifies a colon separated list of MIB modules (not files) to load. The snmptranslate.py tool will first try to find pre-compiled pysnmp MIB files (by default in ~/.pysnmp/mibs in UNIX), then try to find required ASN.1 MIB file on local filesystem or on Web (by default it will look it up at http://mibs.snmplabs.com/asn1/). If ASN.1 MIB file is found, it will be compiled into pysnmp form and cached for future use.

The special keyword ALL is used to load all pre-compiled pysnmp MIB modules in the MIB directory search list.

MIB files search path

The -M option specifies a colon separated list of local directories and/or URLs pointing to remote HTTP/FTP servers where to search for MIBs.

Note

Default MIB search path is http://mibs.snmplabs.com/asn1/

Input options

The following one-letter options following the -I option modify the way how snmptranslate.py tool processes its input.

Interpret DISPLAY-HINT

The -Ih option disables snmptranslate.py’s attempt to parse input value or index as a DISPLAY-HINT-rendered value.

Output options

The following one-letter options following the -O option modify snmptranslate.py tool’s output.

Equal sign and type information

The -Oq option removes the equal sign (=) and SNMP value type information from the variable-binding being reported on stdout.

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -Oq snmpsim.try.thola.io sysDescr.0
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 Linux zeus 4.8.6.5-smp #2 SMP Sun Nov 13 14:58:11 CDT 2016 i686
$
$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public snmpsim.try.thola.io sysDescr.0
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = DisplayString: Linux zeus 4.8.6.5-smp #2 SMP Sun Nov 13 14:58:11 CDT 2016 i686

Type information

The -OQ option removes the SNMP value type information from the variable-binding being reported on stdout.

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -OQ snmpsim.try.thola.io sysDescr.0
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = Linux zeus 4.8.6.5-smp #2 SMP Sun Nov 13 14:58:11 CDT 2016 i686
$
$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public snmpsim.try.thola.io sysDescr.0
SNMPv2-MIB::sysDescr.0 = DisplayString: Linux zeus 4.8.6.5-smp #2 SMP Sun Nov 13 14:58:11 CDT 2016 i686

Managed object path

The -Of option prints out the full path of the managed object in the MIB tree rather than MIB name and MIB object name (the default).

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -Of snmpsim.try.thola.io sysDescr.0
iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.system.sysDescr.0 = DisplayString: Linux zeus 4.8.6.5-smp #2 SMP Sun Nov 13 14:58:11 CDT 2016 i686

Managed object name

The -Os option prints out just managed object name (excluding MIB name) rather than MIB name and MIB object name (the default).

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -Os snmpsim.try.thola.io sysDescr.0
sysDescr.0 = DisplayString: Linux zeus 4.8.6.5-smp #2 SMP Sun Nov 13 14:58:11 CDT 2016 i686

Raw OID

The -On option prints out the raw object identifier (OID) rather than human friendly MIB object name:

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -On snmpsim.try.thola.io sysDescr.0
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 = DisplayString: Linux zeus 4.8.6.5-smp #2 SMP Sun Nov 13 14:58:11 CDT 2016 i686

Numeric enumerations

The -Oe option disables symbolic labels rendering for the enumeration values:

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -On snmpsim.try.thola.io IF-MIB::ifAdminStatus.1
1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.7.1 = Integer32: 'up'
$
$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -Oe snmpsim.try.thola.io IF-MIB::ifAdminStatus.1
IF-MIB::ifAdminStatus."1" = Integer32: 1

Break down table index

The -Ob option disables interpreting SNMP table indices and renders just raw OID instead:

$ snmpget.py  -v2c -c public -Ob snmpsim.try.thola.io TCP-MIB::tcpConnState."195.218.254.105"."45632"."10.105.41.179"."3389"
TCP-MIB::tcpConnState.195.218.254.105.45632.10.105.41.179.3389 = Integer32: 'established'
$
$ snmpget.py  -v2c -c public snmpsim.try.thola.io TCP-MIB::tcpConnState."195.218.254.105"."45632"."10.105.41.179"."3389"
TCP-MIB::tcpConnState."195.218.254.105"."45632"."10.105.41.179"."3389" = Integer32: 'established'

Escape table index quotes

The -OE includes extra escaped quotes surrounding SNMP table index parts. This can be useful when UNIX shell is in the processing pipeline.

$ snmpget.py  -v2c -c public -OE  snmpsim.try.thola.io TCP-MIB::tcpConnState."195.218.254.105"."45632"."10.105.41.179"."3389"
TCP-MIB::tcpConnState.\"195.218.254.105\".\"45632\".\"10.105.41.179\".\"3389\" = Integer32: 'established'

Brackets around table indices

The -OX option surrounds SNMP table index parts with square brackets instead of quotes (default):

$ snmpget.py  -v2c -c public -OX  snmpsim.try.thola.io TCP-MIB::tcpConnState."195.218.254.105"."45632"."10.105.41.179"."3389"
TCP-MIB::tcpConnState.[195.218.254.105].[45632].[10.105.41.179].[3389] = Integer32: 'established'

Hexified values

The -OT option ensures that rendered values are always in hex:

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -OT snmpsim.try.thola.io sysName.0
SNMPv2-MIB::sysName.0 = DisplayString: 6e 65 77 20 73 79 73 74 65 6d 20 6e 61 6d 65
$
$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public snmpsim.try.thola.io sysName.0
SNMPv2-MIB::sysName.0 = DisplayString: new system name

Rendering just values

The -Ov option removes managed object name from the rendered output:

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -Ov snmpsim.try.thola.io sysName.0
DisplayString: new system name

Units rendering

The -OU option disables units rendering:

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public snmpsim.try.thola.io TCP-MIB::tcpRtoMin.0
TCP-MIB::tcpRtoMin.0 = Integer32: 200 milliseconds
$
$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -OU  snmpsim.try.thola.io TCP-MIB::tcpRtoMin.0
TCP-MIB::tcpRtoMin.0 = Integer32: 200

Raw timeticks

The -Ot option disables TimeTicks values interpretation so that raw values get rendered:

$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public -Ot snmpsim.try.thola.io SNMPv2-MIB::sysORLastChange.0
SNMPv2-MIB::sysORLastChange.0 = TimeStamp: 143145968
$
$ snmpget.py -v2c -c public snmpsim.try.thola.io SNMPv2-MIB::sysORLastChange.0
SNMPv2-MIB::sysORLastChange.0 = TimeStamp: 16 days 13:37:44.82

Debugging options

Release information

The -V flag reports version information for the snmptranslate.py tool and its underlying libraries.

Debug mode

The -d option prints out raw SNMP packets in hex.

The -D option lets you debug one or more specific SNMP sub-systems. The required argument can be one or more (comma-separated) tokens:

  • io - report input/output activity and raw data being exchanged
  • dsp - report high-level SNMP engine operation
  • msgproc - report SNMP message processing subsystem operation
  • secmod - report SNMP security subsystem operation
  • mibbuild - report MIB files loading and processing
  • mibview - report MIB browser initialization and operation (manager role MIB use)
  • mibinstrum - report MIB instrumentation operation (agent role MIB use)
  • acl - report MIB access control subsystem operation
  • proxy - report built-in SNMP proxy operation
  • app - report SNMP standard application operation
  • all - all of the above (verbose!)

You can also negate the token by prepending it with the ! sign.

MIB objects specification

The rest of positional parameters specify SNMP managed objects to work on. Each object can be either:

  • [MIB-name::]object-name[.index[.index]…]
  • MIB-name
  • object-identifier

When MIB name or object-name is referenced, the snmptranslate.py tool will try to locate and load the corresponding MIB module. The OID specification does not require MIB access.

$ snmptranslate.py TCP-MIB::tcpRtoMin.0
TCP-MIB::tcpRtoMin.0
$
$ snmptranslate.py 1.3.6.1.2.1.6.2.0
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.6.2.0
$
$ snmptranslate.py -m TCP-MIB 1.3.6.1.2.1.6.2.0
TCP-MIB::tcpRtoMin.0
$
$ snmptranslate.py TCP-MIB::tcpConnState."195.218.254.105"."45632"."10.105.41.179"."3389"
TCP-MIB::tcpConnState."195.218.254.105"."45632"."10.105.41.179"."3389"

If only MIB name is given, the first MIB object in that MIB will be taken as object name:

$ snmptranslate.py TCP-MIB::
TCP-MIB::tcp

You can look up many MIB objects by specifying them all at the command line:

$ snmptranslate.py -On SNMPv2-MIB::sysName.0 SNMPv2-MIB::sysLocation.0
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.6.0