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AgentQuickstart

Quickstart

Build and run your first SNMP agent in 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.14+
  • Net-SNMP installed and configured
sudo apt install snmpd snmp libsnmp-dev

Configure snmpd

Enable AgentX in /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf:

# Enable AgentX
master agentx
agentXSocket /var/agentx/master

Restart snmpd:

sudo systemctl restart snmpd

Create Your Agent

my_agent.py
import snmpkit
from snmpkit.agent import Agent, Updater
 
 
class SystemInfoUpdater(Updater):
    """Provides system information via SNMP."""
 
    async def update(self):
        # OID suffix -> value
        self.set_OCTETSTRING("1.0", "My Application")
        self.set_OCTETSTRING("2.0", "1.0.0")
        self.set_INTEGER("3.0", 42)
 
 
async def main():
    agent = Agent(agent_id="my-app")
 
    # Register under enterprise OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.12345
    agent.register("1.3.6.1.4.1.12345", SystemInfoUpdater())
 
    print("Agent starting...")
    await agent.start()
 
 
snmpkit.run(main())

Run the Agent

python my_agent.py

Query with snmpwalk

In another terminal:

snmpwalk -v2c -c public localhost 1.3.6.1.4.1.12345

Expected output:

iso.3.6.1.4.1.12345.1.0 = STRING: "My Application"
iso.3.6.1.4.1.12345.2.0 = STRING: "1.0.0"
iso.3.6.1.4.1.12345.3.0 = INTEGER: 42

Understanding the Code

Agent

agent = Agent(agent_id="my-app")

Creates an agent that will connect to /var/agentx/master by default. The agent_id identifies your agent to the master.

Updater

class SystemInfoUpdater(Updater):
    async def update(self):
        self.set_OCTETSTRING("1.0", "My Application")

The update() method is called periodically (default: every 10 seconds). Use set_* methods to provide values:

  • set_INTEGER(oid, value) - 32-bit signed integer
  • set_OCTETSTRING(oid, value) - String or bytes
  • set_COUNTER32(oid, value) - 32-bit counter
  • set_GAUGE32(oid, value) - 32-bit gauge
  • set_TIMETICKS(oid, value) - Time in centiseconds
  • set_COUNTER64(oid, value) - 64-bit counter
  • set_IPADDRESS(oid, value) - IPv4 address string
  • set_OBJECTIDENTIFIER(oid, value) - OID string

Registration

agent.register("1.3.6.1.4.1.12345", SystemInfoUpdater())

Registers the updater for the OID subtree. The OID suffixes in set_* calls are appended to this base OID.

The register() method takes an instance, not a class. This lets you pass configuration to your updater’s constructor.

Next Steps

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