Prometheus SNMP Exporter

How to Integrate Prometheus SNMP Exporter with Apica Ascent

1. Introduction

This guide explains how to send SNMP metrics to Apica Ascent, and how to monitor and visualize them.

You’ll learn:

• How to install Snmp Exporter

• How to configure Prometheus to scrape Snmp Exporter metrics

• How to connect Prometheus with Apica Ascent

• How to visualize metrics in dashboards

2. Install and Run Prometheus Snmp Exporter

If you are new to Prometheus and Snmp Exporter, here is a simple step-by-step guide:

• Binary installation:

  • Follow the Installation Guide.

• Automated installs:

  • Use Ansible playbooks.

By default, Snmp Exporter runs on port 9116 and exposes metrics at:

• http://localhost:9116/metrics

3. Configure Prometheus to Scrape Snmp Exporter

Update your prometheus.yml with a scrape job for Snmp Exporter:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: "Snmp"
    static_configs:
      - targets: ["localhost: 9116"]

Restart Prometheus and check the /targets page to verify that metrics are being scraped.

4. Connect Prometheus to Apica Ascent

To send metrics to Apica Ascent, add the following remote_write configuration to your prometheus.yml:

remote_write:
  - url: "https://<your-ascent-env>/v1/receive/prometheus"
    tls_config:
      insecure_skip_verify: true
    authorization:
      type: "Bearer"
      credentials: "<YOUR_INGEST_TOKEN>"

• More on remote_write

• Generate an ingest token

Optional: Relabel metrics for easier identification:

write_relabel_configs:
  - action: replace
    source_labels: [__name__]
    regex: "(.*)"
    target_label: __name__
    replacement: "ascent_$1"

This will rename metrics to ascent_<metric-name> before sending them.

5. Verify Metrics in Apica Ascent

1. Log in to Apica Ascent

2. Navigate to Queries → New Query

3. Run a query such as:

snmp_scrape_duration_seconds
snmp_scrape_request_errors_total
snmp_sys_uptime

4. Execute and verify that results are populated.

6. Example Dashboards

You can build dashboards for common system metrics:

• System Overview: System uptime, Interface in/outbound traffic, Snmp scrape duration/errors

• Alerts:

  • System uptime > X

  • Interface in/outbound traffic > or < X

  • Snmp scrape duration/errors > or < X

• Dashboard templates: GitHub repository

7. Troubleshooting

• Snmp Exporter not reachable → Check firewall on port 9116.

• Prometheus not scraping → Verify prometheus.yml.

• Metrics not in Apica → Validate remote_write URL and ingest token.