TUBS-IBR-XEN-MIB

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Organization: TU Braunschweig

Last Updated: 2006-02-20

Category: Linux and System Monitoring, TU Braunschweig Research MIBs

Description: Monitors Xen hypervisor virtual machine status, resource allocation, and domain performance metrics.

Start monitoring vendor-neutral, standards-based MIB, any SNMPv3-capable network device (SNMP engine identity/boot/clock status) with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor. Import MIBs, browse SNMP OIDs, create custom SNMP monitors, configure alerts, and monitor any SNMP-enabled network device from a single console.

What Is TUBS-IBR-XEN-MIB?

TUBS-IBR-XEN-MIB is an experimental MIB module developed by the Institute of Operating Systems and Computer Networks (IBR) at TU Braunschweig for monitoring Xen hypervisor-based virtualization hosts. It exposes data about the physical hypervisor itself as well as the individual virtual machines (domains) it hosts, covering both host-level and per-domain resource allocation. This MIB is squarely aimed at monitoring hardware and software status of a virtualization server: it reports host memory size, CPU count, and CPU speed, alongside per-domain state (running, blocked, paused), memory usage, and virtual CPU allocation, letting an operator watch for overcommitted memory, stalled or crashed domains, and vCPU imbalance. It has no strong dependency on other MIBs beyond standard SNMPv2-SMI conventions, since it defines its own vendor-experimental object tree. It is typically deployed on Xen dom0 hosts in research or hosting environments where administrators want SNMP-based visibility into hypervisor and guest VM health without relying on a proprietary virtualization management API, with the TUBS-IBR-XEN-MIB MIB providing that visibility over standard SNMP.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in TUBS-IBR-XEN-MIB. Use the built-in SNMP Monitoring Browser to explore available variables, view their current values and descriptions, and select the objects you want to monitor. You can then create SNMP monitors, configure thresholds, and receive alerts when monitored values change.

Supported Devices

Xen hypervisor host
virtualization server

Monitoring Examples

An admin would poll xenHostTotalMemKBytes and xenHostCPUs to baseline the physical host's capacity, then walk xenDomainTable/xenDomainEntry to see each guest's xenDomainName, xenDomainState, and xenDomainMemKBytes. A domain whose xenDomainState shows anything other than 'running', or whose xenDomainMemKBytes approaches xenDomainMaxMemKBytes, signals a VM that is crashing or memory-starved. The xenVCPUTable/xenVCPUEntry can further reveal whether virtual CPUs are unevenly scheduled across a busy host.

What Can Be Monitored

Xen version
host total memory
host CPU count and speed
per-domain state
per-domain memory usage
virtual CPU allocation

Imported Objects

From SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

SnmpAdminString

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
MODULE-IDENTITY
OBJECT-TYPE
Unsigned32

From SNMPv2-TC

TEXTUAL-CONVENTION

From TUBS-SMI

ibr	OBJECT-IDENTITY

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using xenVCPUMilliseconds OID:

Select a Xen hypervisor host, virtualization server (per-domain state/memory/vCPU allocation status) as the target host to create a monitor — the SNMP service should be up and running on it. Click New Monitor, then check SNMP Custom on the Favorites tab, click Next, and confirm the host. On the next page, click Select... to open the built-in SNMP MIB Browser and type xenVCPUMilliseconds into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, selecting the specific row/instance you want to monitor since this is a table column, then select it and click OK. The number milliseconds consumed by the VCPU since the Xen domain has been set up. On the monitor's Main parameters page you can set the target's SNMP port (default 161), credentials, polling interval, and other settings — see the SNMP Monitor help for details. On the State conditions and Alerting tabs, configure when the monitor should change state and trigger an alert; since this is a Counter32-type OID, Value bounds is the most useful condition here — trigger an alert if utilization exceeds 85%, a common warning threshold before sustained high load affects performance. Click Finish to create the monitor; you can adjust any parameter later.

OIDs

OID symbolic	OID numeric	Type	Access	Description
xenMIB	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14			Experimental MIB module for Xen Virtual Hosting.
xenObjects	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1
xenHost	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.1
STR xenHostXenVersion	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.1.1	SnmpAdminString	read-only	The version string of the Xen version running on the physical host.
U32 xenHostTotalMemKBytes	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.1.2	Unsigned32	read-only	The total amount of available memory in Kbytes on the physical host.
U32 xenHostCPUs	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.1.3	Unsigned32	read-only	The total number of CPUs on the physical host.
U32 xenHostCPUMHz	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.1.4	Unsigned32	read-only	The CPU frequency in MHz of the CPUs on the physical host.
xenDomainTable	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.2		not-accessible	A list of all Xen domains on the physical host.
xenDomainEntry	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.2.1		not-accessible	An entry describing a particular Xen domain.
STR xenDomainName	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.2.1.1	SnmpAdminString	not-accessible	The name of the Xen domain.
XEN xenDomainState	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.2.1.2	XenDomainState	read-only	The state of the Xen domain.
U32 xenDomainMemKBytes	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.2.1.3	Unsigned32	read-only	The amount of memory in Kbytes currently occupied by the Xen domain.
U32 xenDomainMaxMemKBytes	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.2.1.4	Unsigned32	read-only	The total amount of memory in Kbytes assigned to the Xen domain. A value of zero denotes that there is no limit.
xenVCPUTable	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.3		not-accessible	A list of all VCPUs per Xen domain.
xenVCPUEntry	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.3.1		not-accessible	An entry describing a VCPU of a Xen domain.
U32 xenVCPUIndex	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.3.1.1	Unsigned32	not-accessible	The index of the VCPU.
C32 xenVCPUMillisecondsEx	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.3.1.2	Counter32	read-only	The number milliseconds consumed by the VCPU since the Xen domain has been set up.
xenNetworkTable	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4		not-accessible	A list of all networks per Xen domain.
xenNetworkEntry	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1		not-accessible	An entry describing a network of a Xen domain.
U32 xenNetworkIndex	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.1	Unsigned32	not-accessible	The index of the network.
C32 xenNetworkInKBytes	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.2	Counter32	read-only	The number of Kbytes received on the network interface since the Xen domain has been set up.
C32 xenNetworkInPkts	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.3	Counter32	read-only	The number of packets received on the network interface since the Xen domain has been set up.
C32 xenNetworkInErrors	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.4	Counter32	read-only	The number of erroneous packets received on the network interface since the Xen domain has been set up.
C32 xenNetworkInDiscards	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.5	Counter32	read-only	The number of dropped packets received on the network interface since the Xen domain has been set up.
C32 xenNetworkOutKBytes	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.6	Counter32	read-only	The number of Kbytes sent on the network interface since the Xen domain has been set up.
C32 xenNetworkOutPkts	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.7	Counter32	read-only	The number of packets sent on the network interface since the Xen domain has been set up.
C32 xenNetworkOutErrors	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.8	Counter32	read-only	The number of packets that could not be sent on the network interface because of any errors since the Xen domain has been set up.
C32 xenNetworkOutDiscards	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.1.4.1.9	Counter32	read-only	The number of packets that have not been sent on the network interface even though no errors had been detected since the Xen domain has been set up.
xenTraps	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.2
xenConformance	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.3
xenCompliances	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.3.1
xenCompliance	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.3.1.1			The compliance statement for an SNMP entity which implements the Xen MIB.
xenGroups	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.3.2
xenGeneralGroup	1.3.6.1.4.1.1575.1.14.3.2.1			A collection of all Xen MIB objects.

RFC description

Provides experimental management interface for Xen virtual hosting domains and their operational states.

Start monitoring Xen hypervisor host, virtualization server (per-domain state/memory/vCPU allocation status) with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor. Import MIBs, browse SNMP OIDs, create custom SNMP monitors, configure alerts, and monitor any SNMP-enabled network device from a single console.

Download TUBS-IBR-XEN-MIB