SNMP

The SNMP Exporter translates SNMP polling results into Prometheus metrics, enabling monitoring of network devices such as routers, switches, and printers that expose SNMP OIDs.

Pattern: SNMP Exporter → Prometheus scrape → xScaler remote_write

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Dashboards

SNMP Overview

Device-level SNMP metrics including interface traffic, error rates, and system uptime.

SNMP Fleet

Fleet-wide view across multiple SNMP-monitored devices.

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Prerequisites

• Network devices reachable via SNMP v1/v2c/v3
• snmp_exporter binary (GitHub)
• A snmp.yml file generated with the generator tool for your target MIBs
• xScaler remote_write credentials (Bearer token + tenant ID)

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Option A — Prometheus Exporter

1. Generate snmp.yml for your MIBs

git clone https://github.com/prometheus/snmp_exporter
cd snmp_exporter/generator
# edit generator.yml to list the MIBs you need
make generate
cp snmp.yml /etc/snmp_exporter/

2. Start snmp_exporter

snmp_exporter \
  --config.file=/etc/snmp_exporter/snmp.yml \
  --web.listen-address=0.0.0.0:9116

3. Configure Prometheus with target parameter

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: snmp
    static_configs:
      - targets:
          - 192.168.1.1   # device IP
          - 192.168.1.2
    metrics_path: /snmp
    params:
      module: [if_mib]
    relabel_configs:
      - source_labels: [__address__]
        target_label: __param_target
      - source_labels: [__param_target]
        target_label: instance
      - target_label: __address__
        replacement: localhost:9116

remote_write:
  - url: https://euw1-01.m.xscalerlabs.com/api/v1/push
    authorization:
      credentials: <token>
    headers:
      X-Scope-OrgID: <tenant-id>

---

Option B — Grafana Alloy

prometheus.scrape "snmp" {
  targets = [
    { "__address__" = "localhost:9116", "__param_target" = "192.168.1.1", "__param_module" = "if_mib" },
    { "__address__" = "localhost:9116", "__param_target" = "192.168.1.2", "__param_module" = "if_mib" },
  ]
  metrics_path = "/snmp"
  forward_to   = [prometheus.remote_write.xscaler.receiver]
}

prometheus.remote_write "xscaler" {
  endpoint {
    url = "https://euw1-01.m.xscalerlabs.com/api/v1/push"
    authorization {
      type        = "Bearer"
      credentials = "<token>"
    }
    headers = { "X-Scope-OrgID" = "<tenant-id>" }
  }
}

---

Option C — OpenTelemetry Collector

receivers:
  snmp:
    collection_interval: 60s
    target_address: udp://192.168.1.1:161
    target_name: network-device
    version: v2c
    community: public
    oids:
      - name: ifInOctets
        oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.10"
        metric_type: gauge
      - name: ifOutOctets
        oid: "1.3.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.16"
        metric_type: gauge

processors:
  memory_limiter:
    check_interval: 1s
    limit_mib: 256
  batch:
    timeout: 10s

exporters:
  otlphttp/xscaler:
    endpoint: https://euw1-01.m.xscalerlabs.com
    headers:
      Authorization: "Bearer <token>"
      X-Scope-OrgID: "<tenant-id>"
    compression: gzip

service:
  pipelines:
    metrics:
      receivers: [snmp]
      processors: [memory_limiter, batch]
      exporters: [otlphttp/xscaler]

---

Logs

Collect snmp_exporter log via systemd journal. Add the following to your Alloy config:

loki.source.journal "snmp_journal" {
  forward_to    = [loki.write.xscaler.receiver]
  relabel_rules = loki.relabel.snmp_journal.rules
  labels = {
    job      = "integrations/snmp",
    instance = constants.hostname,
  }
}

loki.relabel "snmp_journal" {
  forward_to = []
  rule {
    source_labels = ["__journal__systemd_unit"]
    target_label  = "unit"
  }
}

loki.write "xscaler" {
  endpoint {
    url = "https://euw1-01.l.xscalerlabs.com/api/v1/logs/push"

    http_client_config {
      authorization {
        type        = "Bearer"
        credentials = env("XSCALER_TOKEN")
      }
    }

    headers = { "X-Scope-OrgID" = env("XSCALER_TENANT_ID") }
  }
}

Key metrics

Metric	Description
ifInOctets	Total bytes received on an interface
ifOutOctets	Total bytes transmitted on an interface
ifInErrors	Number of inbound packets with errors
sysUpTime	Time since the device was last initialized
ifOperStatus	Operational status of each interface (1=up, 2=down)
hrProcessorLoad	CPU load percentage per processor