To monitor your ESX 3.5 server by using SNMP, we need to enable SNMP on ESX before adding it to your monitoring software. This How-To will show you the steps involved.
Log into your ESX Server either through SSH or through the console of the server.
Use Nano (which is a notepad like text editor) to edit the file /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf file by using the command:
nano /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf
Use the arrow keys to go down to the section "rocommunity public". Replace "public" with your community string for your environment (1). Then use "Ctrl+X" to exit out of Nano. You'll be asked if you would like to save. Type in "y" for yes and hit enter. Press enter again when confirming the filename to save as.
Since SNMP is not started by default, you'll need to type in this command to ensure it will be started after a reboot of the ESX server. The command is:
chkconfig snmpd on
We'll need to allow SNMP traffic through the built-in ESX firewall. To do this, type in the following command:
esxcfg-firewall -e snmpd
Now we're ready to start the SNMP service. Type in:
service snmpd start
At this point, SNMP is enabled on your ESX 3.5 server and you can monitor it using your SNMP monitoring software! Happy monitoring!