BFD MIB Castlerock configuration?

[Larry Sullivan]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out how to configure Castlerock to get BFD session down alerts.  I have the MIB in the Castlerock database.  I configured the 1921 router to send snmp traps for BFD.  I don't know how to set the Castlerock icon up though.  Do I input the interface IP BFD is configured on or the router management address?  I've set the status variable to   "CISCO-IETF-BFD-MIB|ciscoBfdSessDown" with status value set to 2(down).  No go.  When I configure on a link I get error "V1: no such name error' error for Status Variable request".  When configure on router icon nothing happens.  I don't know how to set this up, and of course Castlerock has no documentation on this and we don't have their maintenance contract at the moment.  I have tried other OID options in the MIB as well with no success.  Anyone have any experience with this?  Greatly appreciated. 

[Larry Sullivan · Accepted solution]

I figured it out, for anyone that might run across this in the future. 

Important steps:

-Find your BFD session state variable in the MIB browser or you can just type it in/copy and paste into the table type drop down on the tool bar.

- First though click and highlight the device BFD is configured on.  Then copy and paste or enter "ciscoBfdSessState" into     table type drop down.  Then click the "start table" button.  This will reveal the BFD session state and most importantly the index number you will need to input.

-Right click the link (or new icon) you want to report BFD session state on and click properties.

-Give it the same interface IP BFD is configured on.

-Make sure RW/RO access is your SNMP version and not "icmp/ping" under access tab

--

-Under attributes tab, set poll interval and timeouts.

-For status variable enter "CISCO-IETF-BFD-MIB|ciscoBfdSessState.index number"

-For status value = "up"

And there you have it.  SNMP will poll the device for BFDsession state.

I have included pics to help. 

Made some Edits 4-3-18

[Larry Sullivan]

Bit of an update on this as I'm finding polling via Castlerock is not a reliable method.  Reason being that it is dependent on get requests.  If your timers are too short on the polling and there is any type of packet loss, these connectionless oriented get request returns will be dropped causing Castlerock to trigger a false alert.  Although BFD can be configured for sub ICMP defined timeout parameters, Castlerock still depends on good ole fashion packet timeout parameters that are connection oriented.   If the timers are too long, Castlerock will miss the down notification as BFD sessions are removed from the routers BFD session index altogether after being down for a certain amount of time, and once Castlerock get requests actually get through, there will be no indexed BFD sessions to report back on, so you will get a 'V1 "no such name error", which in and of itself could technically be a valid alert, but not the correct BFD alert. 

My alternate method I am testing is to have the router perform an SNMP inform when BFD goes down.  This coupled with inform retries and timers allow for failover/re-routing times to not impact the receipt of the inform by Castlerock as informs are connection oriented.  The router will keep sending the inform until it gets an acknowledgment from Castlerock (any NMS/SNMPc) or until the user configured timers/retries run out.  That means that even a break in connectivity of 1.5 seconds which might not even cause routing recalculations, all the way up to probably many minutes before routing/connectivity return, will still be able to send that BFD down information to the NMS.