Monitoring Windows Server 2008 R2 with SNMP and Cacti
So you have a new Windows Server 2008 R2 installed and now you’d like to start gathering statistics about how it’s performing. The SNMP protocol is a great way to get started. In this tutorial I will install the SNMP agent service on a Windows server and configure it to allow queries from a SNMP based management server. On the management server I will use a tool named Cacti that can collect this SNMP information and generate graphs from it in a fairly easy way. I will assume that you have a server with Cacti already set up. If not, details on how to set up an instance of Cacti on a CentOS Linux server can be found here.
Install and Configure Windows SNMP Agent
Okay first of all let’s install the Windows SNMP agent service.
Start Server Manager.
Scroll down to the Features Summary section and click Add Features.
Under Features open up SNMP Services and check SNMP Service. Click Next.
Click Install at the confirmation screen, then click Close when the install is complete.
Now it is time to configure the SNMP Service. Back in the Server Manager in the left pane open up Configuration and select Services. In the middle Services pane scroll down and double click the SNMP Service.
Click the Agent tab and enter your Contact and Location information. Click Apply.
For now we’ll skip any configuration in the Traps tab. This should only be necessary if you want to configure the SNMP agent to notify our monitoring server of any events without the monitor soliciting the information.
In the Security tab under Accepted Community Names click Add.
We’ll only be reading information (and not setting parameters) on the SNMP agent so keep Read Only and type a Community Name. Using a name other than “public” will help keep unauthorized clients from reading SNMP information from the agent but this is still not completely secure. Click OK.
Now click the second Add button under Accept SNMP Packets.
Type the IP address or hostname of the Cacti management server and click Add.
Make sure that “Accept SNMP packets from these hosts” is still selected, then click OK.
Aaron Walrath - Another IT Guy's Meanderings 
Hi,
I did not found the Windows 2008 template in Cacti forums, in your doc you said ”
There is an updated Windows Vista/2008 template available in the Cacti forums which has more functions available”
Can you please help to find it ???
Thanks
Hi Radouan,
I haven’t updated my Cacti installation in a while so unfortunately I have not yet worked with that newer Windows template. I can only imagine that I would write that if I had seen it while researching for this post. Next time I’ll make sure and include a link. I was just looking out on the Cacti web site and unfortunately I haven’t been able to find it either. I’ll let you know if I come across it.
Best Wishes,
Aaron
Dear Aron
We have multiple Customers in different Sites.
I am dreaming about one centralized Monitoring solution. Since we wont be able to have a connection up and running all the time i was thinking about publishing the monitoring (dashboard) to a published, password protected, monitoring Website.
Do you think thats possible to setup with cacti?
cheers
David
Hi David,
I would certainly think that what you want to do you be possible. To me the best and most secure option would be to set up some kind of SSH tunnel to secure traffic between the monitored SNMP host and the Cacti server. Here are some details:
http://fixunix.com/ssh/74002-tunneling-snmp-over-ssh-udp-over-ssh-solution.html
Best Wishes,
Aaron
How to find the SNMP version in Windows Server 2008?
Very helpful
I don’t use cacti, but I still found this helpful. I needed to know how to configure SNMP on Server 2008.
Also, if the tabs don’t appear in the snmp service properties, just logoff out and log back in.
Thanks for the Help! I use Observium which provides lots more info and this helped get the Windows boxes into it ofr SNMP.
Thanks
Ja
Hi Aron,
Can you help with two questions?
How to find SNMP version over Win 2008 r2?
How to upgrade SNMP version Win 2008 r2?
thanks :)
I used Cacti for monitoring Win 2008 R2 and detected it’s version is 1
Harry,
Hi Arron, I have a cacti installed on a server and I use it to monitor switches and routers.Now I now want to use it to monitor my servers which are within the network , what changes do I need to make on the cacti server?