Use SNMP in Wowza Streaming Engine

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a network management protocol that you can use to collect information about your Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software configuration. SNMP, which is widely used in local area networks, lets you monitor Wowza Streaming Engine servers on a network from a management host. You can use third-party SNMP management software to monitor any media server that has SNMP agent software installed. The SNMP agent interacts with the SNMP management software to enable sharing of status information between monitored media servers and the SNMP management system that monitors them. This article describes how to configure and use the SNMP version 2c (SNMPv2c) functionality in Wowza Streaming Engine.

Notes:
  • This article assumes that you've set up an SNMP-managed network and have functional knowledge of its use.
     
  • SNMPv2c capability is supported in Wowza Streaming Engine™ 4.5.0 or later. It enables you to monitor status for different media server SNMP objects but not configure those objects.
  • Wowza Streaming Engine doesn't support SNMPv1.

Configure SNMP in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager


  1. Click the Server tab and then click Server Setup in the contents panel.
  2. On the details page, click the Server Listeners tab.
Note: Access to the Server Listeners tab is limited to administrators with advanced permissions. For more information, see Manage credentials.
  1. Click Edit, and then click the Add Server Listener button.
     
  2. In the Add Server Listener dialog box, in Base Class, enter com.wowza.wms.snmp.server.SNMPServer, and then click Add.
     
  3. Click Save and then restart Wowza Streaming Engine.

The following line now appears in the Wowza Streaming Engine access log, wowzastreamingengine_access.log, which is located in [install-dir]/logs/:

SNMP Agent: Started

Configure SNMP in Server.xml


  1. Navigate to [install-dir]/conf/ and open Server.xml in a text editor
  2. Add the following server listener to the <ServerListeners> container element.
    <ServerListener>
        <BaseClass>com.wowza.wms.snmp.server.SNMPServer</BaseClass>
    </ServerListener>
  3. Save and close Server.xml, and then restart Wowza Streaming Engine.

The following line now appears in the Wowza Streaming Engine access log, wowzastreamingengine_access.log, which is located in [install-dir]/logs/:

SNMP Agent: Started

Customize SNMP properties


After enabling the server listener, you can adjust the default SNMP deployment parameters by adding properties to your server.
 
  1. In Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, click the Server tab, and then click Server Setup.
     
  2. In the Server Setup page, click the Properties tab and then click Custom in the Quick Links bar.
     
    Note: Access to the Properties tab is limited to administrators with advanced permissions. For more information, see Manage credentials.
  3. In the Custom area, click Edit.
     
  4. Click Add Custom Property, specify the following settings in the Add Custom Property dialog box, and then click Add.
     
    Path
    Name
    Type
    Value
    Notes
    /Root/Server snmpCommunity String public The SNMP community string. You should change the default value (public) for your media server that's deployed in a production environment.
    /Root/Server snmpIPAddress String 192.168.1.10 The IPv4 IP address on which the service will respond. The default setting is to respond on all available host IP addresses. (Note: IPv6 addressing is not supported.)
    /Root/Server snmpPort String 161 The UDP port used by the SNMP service. The default is port 161 (the default SNMP port). Port 161 must be available. If it is already in use, the SNMP configuration will fail, and Wowza Streaming Engine returns this message: INFO 200 - SNMP Agent: Failed To Start.
    /Root/Server snmpObjectList String server,vhost,application,appinstance The set of SNMP objects that can be monitored, specified in a comma-separated list. Wowza Streaming Engine enables the SNMP service to access server, VHost, application, application instance, stream, and client information through corresponding SNMP object names (server,vhost,application,appinstance,stream,client). You can configure any combination of the available objects; however, the stream and client objects will add load to the server. Be sure that your media server can handle the additional resource requirements if you add either of these objects to the comma-separated list. The default value is server,vhost,application,appinstance.
  5. Click Save and then restart Wowza Streaming Engine.

Test SNMP functionality using the snmpwalk command (Linux)


  1. Download the Wowza Streaming Engine management information base (MIB) file in a compressed (zipped) folder (Download WowzaStreamingEngineMIB.zip).
     
  2. Extract the MIB file and then copy it to the directory used by your SNMP tools.
     
  3. Use the following snmpwalk command example to verify the functionality in Linux environments. This example polls Wowza Streaming Engine for the available SNMP objects:
     
    snmpwalk -v 2c -c [snmpCommunity] -m ./WOWZASTREAMINGENGINE.mib <snmpIPAddress> .1

    Where:
    • -m ./WOWZASTREAMINGENGINE.mib loads this specific MIB before beginning the snmpwalk.

    For example:
     
    snmpwalk -v 2c -c public -m ./WOWZASTREAMINGENGINE.mib 192.168.1.10 .1

    The output, if no clients are connected to Wowza Streaming Engine, might look similar to the following:

    WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterCreationTime.1 = Counter64: 1458655349313 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetAdminGUID.1 = STRING: 53082e51-1c5b-4222-81ad-15bffb0ca3f2 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetClientIdGeneratorRecycleDelaySize.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetClientIdGeneratorRecycleSize.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetClientIdGeneratorTimeout.1 = Counter64: 600000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetCommittedVirtuallMemory.1 = Counter64: 225574912 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetConnectionsMaximum.1 = Counter64: 18446744073709551615 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetCoreHandlerPoolSize.1 = INTEGER: 120 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetCoreTransportPoolSize.1 = INTEGER: 80 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetCryptoPoolActiveCount.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetCryptoPoolMaxSize.1 = INTEGER: 100 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetCurrentHeapSize.1 = Counter64: 113349168 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetDateStarted.1 = STRING: Tue, Mar 22 2016 14:02:26 +0000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetDefaultStreamPrefix.1 = STRING: mp4 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetGUID.1 = STRING: 307ec00c-75c5-4c2d-89bb-ece159468d55 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetHTTPHeaderServer.1 = STRING: WowzaStreamingEngine/9.9.9.99 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetLiveStreamTranscoderSessionCount.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetLiveThreads.1 = Counter64: 68 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetMaxHeapSize.1 = Counter64: 715849728 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetPeakThreads.1 = Counter64: 68 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetPublishersMaximum.1 = Counter64: 18446744073709551615 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetRTMPTHeaderServer.1 = STRING: FlashCom/3.5.7 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetServerGUID.1 = STRING: 307ec00c-75c5-4c2d-89bb-ece159468d55 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetSessionGUID.1 = STRING: c8e04841-5324-436d-aa46-9fc99fd93b5a WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetTimeRunning.1 = STRING: 22 seconds 145 milliseconds WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetTranscoderLicenseInUse.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetTranscoderLicenseTotal.1 = Counter64: 18446744073709551615 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverCounterGetVersion.1 = STRING: Wowza Streaming Engine 4 Monthly Edition 9.9.9.99 build12056 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectCreationTime.1 = Counter64: 1458655349319 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetCurrent.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastConnectAcceptedStamp.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastConnectAcceptedStampString.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastConnectAcceptedTimeString.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastConnectRejectedStamp.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastConnectRejectedStampString.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastConnectRejectedTimeString.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastDisconnectStamp.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastDisconnectStampString.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetLastDisconnectTimeString.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetTotal.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetTotalAccepted.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverConnectGetTotalRejected.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformCreationTime.1 = Counter64: 1458655349321 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetFileInBytes.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetFileOutBytes.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesInBytes.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesInCount.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesInCountRate.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesLossBytes.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesLossCount.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesLossCountRate.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesOutBytes.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesOutCount.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::serverPerformGetMessagesOutCountRate.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterCreationTime.1.1 = Counter64: 1458655353003 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetApplicationTimeout.1.1 = INTEGER: 60000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetByteArrayOutputStreamBaseClassPath.1.1 = STRING: com.wowza.util.FasterByteArrayOutputStream WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetClientCount.1.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetClientIdleFrequency.1.1 = INTEGER: 250 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetClientTimeout.1.1 = INTEGER: 90000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetConnectionLimit.1.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetCoreHandlerPoolSize.1.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetCoreTransportPoolSize.1.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetDateStarted.1.1 = STRING: Tue, Mar 22 2016 14:02:32 +0000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetFileIOPoolSize.1.1 = INTEGER: 20 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetHTTPStreamerMaxPathLen.1.1 = INTEGER: 2048 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetHomePath.1.1 = STRING: C:/WowzaGitTree/wse/wms/../install WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetIdleCheckFrequency.1.1 = INTEGER: 50 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetIdleMinimumWaitTime.1.1 = INTEGER: 5 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetIdleWorkerCount.1.1 = INTEGER: 4 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetKeepAliveTimeout.1.1 = INTEGER: 2000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetLiveStreamTranscoderSessionCount.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetMaximumPendingReadBytes.1.1 = INTEGER: 524288 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetMaximumPendingWriteBytes.1.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetMaximumSetBufferTime.1.1 = INTEGER: 60000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetName.1.1 = STRING: _defaultVHost_ WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetNetConnectionIdleFrequency.1.1 = INTEGER: 250 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetNetConnectionProcessorCount.1.1 = INTEGER: 6 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetNextMediaCasterId.1.1 = INTEGER: 101 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetNextNetConnectionId.1.1 = INTEGER: 101 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetPingTimeout.1.1 = INTEGER: 12000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetRTPIdleFrequency.1.1 = INTEGER: 75 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetRTSPMaxPathLen.1.1 = INTEGER: 2048 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetScheduledReadMaxSessionBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetScheduledWriteBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetScheduledWriteMaxSessionBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetScheduledWriteMaxSessionClientId.1.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetScheduledWriteRequests.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetScheduledWriteSessions.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetStartupStreamsDelayTime.1.1 = INTEGER: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetTimeRunning.1.1 = STRING: 16 seconds 128 milliseconds WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetUnidentifiedSessionTimeout.1.1 = INTEGER: 30000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetValidationFrequency.1.1 = INTEGER: 20000 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetWaitingReadBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostCounterGetWebRTCIdleFrequency.1.1 = INTEGER: 25 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectCreationTime.1.1 = Counter64: 1458655353006 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetCurrent.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastConnectAcceptedStamp.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastConnectAcceptedStampString.1.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastConnectAcceptedTimeString.1.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastConnectRejectedStamp.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastConnectRejectedStampString.1.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastConnectRejectedTimeString.1.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastDisconnectStamp.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastDisconnectStampString.1.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetLastDisconnectTimeString.1.1 = STRING: never WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetTotal.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetTotalAccepted.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostConnectGetTotalRejected.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformCreationTime.1.1 = Counter64: 1458655353007 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetFileInBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetFileOutBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesInBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesInCount.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesInCountRate.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesLossBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesLossCount.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesLossCountRate.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesOutBytes.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesOutCount.1.1 = Counter64: 0 WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::vhostPerformGetMessagesOutCountRate.1.1 = Counter64: 0

    The output example doesn't show application and application instance information because no clients are actually connected to Wowza Streaming Engine. The information would appear if a client connects to the server, which causes an the application and application instance to start automatically. 

Note: Wowza Streaming Engine updates the SNMP objects every 10 seconds. If you use the snmpwalk command to poll Wowza Streaming Engine more frequently, you may get identical results in the output.

About the Wowza Streaming Engine SNMP object hierarchy


All the SNMP objects available to monitor in Wowza Streaming Engine are described in the management information base (MIB) and have the following hierarchical octet index:

Octet SNMP Object
First Server - instance number
Second VHost - instance number
Third Application - instance number
Fourth Application instance - instance number
Fifth Stream/Client - instance number


Typically, there's only one server instance running, so only .1 is returned as the first octet number after the variable in the SNMP output when you poll the media server. If multiple instances of the same object types are running, each object instance is indexed with sequential numbers in their octet position after the variable in the output. For example, an octet number sequence of .1.2.1.1 would appear after an application instance variable running on VHost instance 2 (two VHost instances running on the server).

When an object is either created or destroyed in SNMP, its instance number is incremented. For example, an application would start with the instance number 1, and after it's stopped and restarted, it would have the instance number 2.

The following is an example of returned application instance information, where one server/VHost/application (.1.1.1) instance is running two application instances (.1.1.1.1) and 3 (.1.1.1.3). In this case, application instance 2 (.1.1.1.2) is stopped.

WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::applicationInstanceCounterGetName.1.1.1.1 = STRING: mine WOWZA-STREAMING-ENGINE-MIB::applicationInstanceCounterGetName.1.1.1.3 = STRING: _definst_ .