SuperMicro SuperoDoctor sensors -- update April 12, 2007

ehall · Cacti User Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 160

[Apr 12 update--added text description for manually fixing "missing GPRINT" errors, and updated tarball with additional graph templates]

I have been working to get different kinds of hardware monitoring working in a consistent manner. This is the SuperMicro SuperoDoctor sensors package.

Here is what the final result looks like for one of my systems, and shows the fan speeds, thermal probe temperatures, and voltage levels for all of the available sensors on that server:

This model uses a script query which uses SNMP to ask the target for all known sensors of the requested type. Add the appropriate data query to a device that has the supereodoctor SNMP extensions, and then create new graphs for each of the sensors that you want. Each selected sensor will be created as an individual data-source and graph, like with interfaces.

NOTE: If you encounter problems with an unmet dependency complaint from a missing "(GPRINT Preset) Exact Numbers", you will need to create the GPRINT Preset manually before importing the templates. To do so, click on the Graph Management cacti menu item, and then click on the (new) GPRINT Presets sub-menu underneath. Create a GPRINT Preset with the exact name of "Exact Numbers" and the GPRINT Text value of "%8.0lf". That should allow the graph templates to be imported successfully.

Graphs can be consolidated by editing and/or using one of the bundled "8x" graph templates, once the underlying data-sources and graphs have been created. If you have 8 items on a host, simply use the Graph Management menu to "add" a new graph, choose the target system, and then point to the data sources you created with the data query. If you have fewer or more than eight items, you can make a copy of the 8x template and add/delete however many more rows you want. Once the consolidated graphs are working, you can delete the sensor-specific one-off graphs, but DO NOT DELETE THE DATA SOURCES.

The screenie below uses the 5x template for fans, but as you can see in the large image above, the other sensor groups on this host use 2x and 5x graphs.

There are some caveats here. Obviously, you must have the superodoctor SNMP extensions installed and working. I have tested this with SuperoDoctor III running on Windows Server 2003 (using native SNMP extensions) and SuperoDoctor II on Linux (using net-snmp extensions) and both seem to work fine.

Note that the SuperoDoctor stuff does some sensor normalization. You may be able to get more/better readings from a hardware monitor if you can get it to work. In the case of this server, for example, it uses an LM93 sensor that has private readings for things like DIMM voltage, which SuperoDoctor does not report. However, I haven't been able to find anything which supports that sensor which also has an SNMP interface.

If there are any additional updates to this, I will replace the attachment below.

This was exported from cacti 0.8.6i, using PHP 5. Other combinations may not work.

Other helpful links:

SuperoDoctor II for Linux
SuperoDoctor III for Windows

ivanp · Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 3

Which SuperMicro model is this template for?
From my experience (with MRTG and supermicro superodoctors) OID-s vary from model to model (as some have 10 fans, other 2, etc).

Edit: Ignore my incompetence - I am new to cacti

I saw it reads and determinates available monitoring items - very nice!

ehall · Cacti User Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 160

The posted update contains a fix that converts the SNMP timeout value from Cacti's millisecond format to PHP/Net-SNMP microsecond format. The lack of conversion in the earlier script would sometimes result in excessive retries or complete failure.

apperrault · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:44 pm Post subject:

THanks for these great scripts, I have a little problem though. I copied the XML from Script_queries to the script_queries folder, the scripts to the scripts folder, and i imported the templates into Cacti, but one of the templates (cacti_graph_template_sensors_supermicro_fan_sensors_8x.xml) gave me some errors: Unmet Dependencies (See Pic). I assume that it is because of this that my fan and termal sensor graphs are not working.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the help

app

ehall · Cacti User Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 160

Cacti does not seem to export GPRINT definitions, so you will need to manually create the missing GPRINT preset.

Click on the Graph Management cacti menu item, and then click on the (new) GPRINT Presets sub-menu underneath. Create a GPRINT Preset with the exact name of "Exact Numbers" and the GPRINT Text value of "%8.0lf". That should allow the graph templates to be imported successfully.

apperrault · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:59 am Post subject:

hmmm, that GPRINT Preset was already there. Any other thoughts? In looking at what happens on the import, the GPRINT shows good, but the unmet dependencies appear to be on Data Template Items. Am i doing this right? I just import the 7 XML templates, correct?

app

ehall · Cacti User Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 160

The tarball contains cacti_data_template_* files so it should be working. Did you import those before you imported the graph templates?

I don't have any ideas beyond that--there doesn't appear to be any hard dependencies in the graph templates so it should be working.

apperrault · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:55 pm Post subject:

hmmm, yeah, imported all the data templates before the graph templates. Maybe i will just go through all the steps again.

Thanks for the help

app

ehall · Cacti User Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 160

I noticed the tarball did not have the default 1X graph templates so I rebuilt the tarball. This shouldn't have been the cause of your problem but who knows.

ivanp · Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 3

I am having the same problem as apperrault from above post with the screenshot when importing. I tried both cacti 0.8.6i and 0.8.6j versions - no difference.

Single graphs work just fine for me, but I can't get the 8x versions to work. I am thinking I am doing something incorrectly. Here is what I do:
uppon 'devices' I select the desired host, then at "associated graph templates" I add the supermicro (8x) templates (fan/voltage/thermal), then "create graphs for this host" highlight the new "sensors - supermicro ..." graph templates, click create button at the bottom.
However I always get broken image for that graph.

Any help will me much appreciated!

Ivan