DHCP Messages Test

This test monitors the Infoblox appliance and reports the statistics relating to the messages received/transmitted through DHCP protocol.

Target of the test : An Infoblox appliance

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Infoblox appliance that is to be monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the Infoblox appliance for which this test is to be configured.
SNMPPort	The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; The default value is 161.
SNMPVersion	By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.
SNMPCommunity	The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.
UserName	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter.
Context	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.
AuthPass	Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.
Confirm Password	Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.
AuthType	This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options: MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit
EncryptFlag	This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option.
EncryptType	If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types: DES - Data Encryption Standard 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard AES - Advanced Encryption Standard AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit
EncryptPassword	Specify the encryption password here.
Confirm Password	Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.
Timeout	Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.
Data Over TCP	By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.
EngineID	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Discovery messages received	Indicates the rate at which the DHCPDiscover messages were received.	Msgs/sec	The first time a DHCP client computer attempts to log on to the network, it requests IP address information from a DHCP server by broadcasting a DHCPDiscover packet. The source IP address in the packet is 0.0.0.0 because the client does not yet have an IP address. The message is either 342 or 576 bytes long—older versions of Windows use a longer message frame.
Request messages received	Indicates the rate at which the DHCPRequest messages were received.	Requests/sec	When a DHCP client receives a DHCPOffer packet, it responds by broadcasting a DHCPRequest packet that contains the offered IP address, and shows acceptance of the offered IP address. The message is either 342 or 576 bytes long, depending on the length of the corresponding DHCPDiscover message.
Release messages received	Indicates the rate at which the DHCPRelease messages were received.	Releases/sec	A DHCP client sends a DHCPRelease packet to the server to release the IP address and cancel any remaining lease.
Offer messages transmitted	Indicates the rate at which DHCPOffer messages were transmitted.	Msgs/sec	Each DHCP server that receives the client DHCPDiscover packet responds with a DHCPOffer packet containing an unleased IP address and additional TCP/IP configuration information, such as the subnet mask and default gateway. More than one DHCP server can respond with a DHCPOffer packet. The client will accept the first DHCPOffer packet it receives. The message is 342 bytes long.
Ack messages transmitted	Indicates the rate at which DHCPAcknowledge (DHCPAck) messages were transmitted.	Msgs/sec	The selected DHCP server acknowledges the client DHCPRequest for the IP address by sending a DHCPAck packet. At this time the server also forwards any optional configuration parameters. Upon receipt of the DHCPAck, the client can participate on the TCP/IP network and complete its system startup. The message is 342 bytes long.
Negative ack messages transmitted	Indicates the rate at which DHCPNak (negative acknowledgement) messages were transmitted.	Msgs/sec	If the IP address cannot be used by the client because it is no longer valid or is now used by another computer, the DHCP server responds with a DHCPNak packet, and the client must begin the lease process again. Whenever a DHCP server receives a request for an IP address that is invalid according to the scopes that it is configured with, it sends a DHCPNak message to the client.
Declined messages received	Indicates the rate at which DHCPDecline messages were received.	Msgs/sec	If the DHCP client determines the offered configuration parameters are invalid, it sends a DHCPDecline packet to the server, and the client must begin the lease process again.
Informational messages received	Indicates the rate at which DHCPInform messages were received.	Msgs/sec	When the DHCPInform message type is used, the sender is already externally configured for its IP address on the network, which may or may not have been obtained using DHCP.