snmpnetstat

Fetch the networking status

$ snmpnetstat -v [version] -c [community] [ip]

$ snmpnetstat [[-h|--help]]

snmpnetstat [COMMON_OPTIONS] [COMMAND_OPTIONS] [AGENT]

-a
    Display all sockets (listening and non-listening connections).

-i
    Display a table of all network interfaces and their statistics.

-r
    Display the kernel IP routing tables.

-s
    Display per-protocol statistics for protocols such as TCP, UDP, ICMP, and IP.

-p
    Display connections or statistics for the specified protocol (e.g., tcp, udp, ip, icmp).

-n
    Display numeric addresses and port numbers instead of attempting to determine symbolic host names or service names.

-Cn
    A compatibility option, similar to -n, primarily used to ensure numeric output and suppress DNS lookups.

-v
    Specify the SNMP version to use for the query (e.g., 1, 2c, 3).

-c
    Specify the SNMP community string for authentication with SNMPv1/v2c agents.

-H
    Specify the hostname or IP address of the target SNMP agent. If omitted, it defaults to 'localhost'.

-L
    Specify the logging level (e.g., n for nothing, v for verbose, d for debug, w for warning, e for error, c for critical, q for quiet).

-t
    Specify the request timeout in seconds before retransmitting the request or giving up.

-r
    Specify the number of retries for the SNMP request before declaring a failure.

-M
    Specify a colon-separated list of MIB directories to search for MIB definition files.

-m
    Specify a colon-separated list of MIB modules to load, overriding the default list.

The snmpnetstat command is a utility from the Net-SNMP suite that provides network statistics similar to the standard netstat command, but retrieves this information by querying a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent. This allows for monitoring network activity and configurations on remote systems that expose SNMP data. It can display active connections, routing tables, interface statistics, and per-protocol statistics, making it a powerful tool for network diagnostics and monitoring in an SNMP-enabled environment.

Unlike netstat which operates locally, snmpnetstat relies on the availability and proper configuration of an SNMP agent on the target machine (local or remote) to fetch network data.

snmpnetstat inherently requires an SNMP agent (e.g., `snmpd`) to be running and properly configured on the target system for data retrieval. Without an active and accessible agent, the command cannot function.

Network connectivity between the machine running snmpnetstat and the target SNMP agent is crucial, as are correct SNMP community strings or user credentials (for SNMPv3) for successful authentication.

Be mindful of security implications: SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c transmit community strings in plain text over the network, making them vulnerable to eavesdropping. SNMPv3 offers improved security features like authentication and encryption.

The specific network statistics available through snmpnetstat are dependent on what the SNMP agent on the target system is configured to expose. For instance, if the agent's configuration (e.g., `snmpd.conf`) restricts access to certain MIBs or does not enable specific information gathering, snmpnetstat will not be able to retrieve that data, even if it's technically supported by the command's options.

snmpnetstat is a component of the Net-SNMP project, a comprehensive suite of tools and libraries for implementing the Simple Network Management Protocol. The Net-SNMP project, originally known as `ucd-snmp` (from the University of California, Davis), began its development in the early 1990s. snmpnetstat was created to extend the functionality of the traditional `netstat` command, enabling network administrators to gather vital network statistics remotely via SNMP, aligning with the project's goal of providing robust SNMP-based network management capabilities.

netstat(8), ss(8), snmpget(1), snmpwalk(1), snmpcmd(1)