MIB Browser Version 7.5 User
Guide
The iReasoning MIB browser is a powerful and easy-to-use tool powered by iReasoning SNMP API. MIB browser is an indispensable tool for engineers to manage SNMP enabled network devices and applications. The iReasoning MIB browser allows users to load standard, proprietary MIBs, and even some mal-formed MIBs. It also allows them to issue SNMP requests to retrieve SNMP agents’ data, or make changes to agents. A built-in trap receiver can receive SNMP traps and handle trap storm.
Major features:
Requirements
Download and Run MIB Browser
1. Download MIB browser installer or zip file. On Windows, run setup.exe to install MIB browser. On Mac OS X, Linux and other UNIX platforms, unzip it to the desired directory.
2. Run MIB Browser:
On Linux/UNIX/MAC OS X, if you login as a non-root user and need to run trap receiver at UDP port 162, start MIB browser using the following command:
sudo browser.sh
Trap receiver and watches functions run as a system service. Watches function supports action, which means you can configure actions (sending email) when a MIB object’s value violates a pre-configured threshold.
On Windows platform, the service
starts up automatically. On Linux/MAC OS X, you need to configure system to
execute $INSTALL_DIR/lib/runserver.sh
on startup.
The Browser GUI
²
Menu
n File menu
Load MIB
Launch a file dialog for picking one or multiple MIB files. You need to hold CTRL key if you want to select multiple files.
MIB Modules
List properties of all loaded MIB modules.
Server
Address (
By default, MIB browser connects to a local server to get trap and watches data. However, you can change the server address so that it can get the data from somewhere else.
Open
Session
Open a previously saved session file.
Open Graph
Data
Open a previously saved graph data file.
Save
Session
Save current settings of open tabs to a session file, which can be opened later to restore tabs.
Exit
Exit browser.
n Edit menu
Find in MIB Tree
Find a node in the MIB tree.
Find in Result Table
Find a string in the result table.
n Operations menu
Get
Issue SNMP GET request against current agent.
Get Next
Issue SNMP GET-NEXT request against current agent.
Get Bulk
Issue SNMPv
Set
Issue SNMP SET request against current agent.
The following window will show up:

Enter a new value in the “Value” field then click “Ok” button.
To set multiple variables, you can hold CTRL key and select multiple rows in the result pane, then choose SET operation.
Note:
1. For BITS data type, you need to use mathematical notation for a set of integers, that is, something like {1, 3, 8}.
2. The
format for hexadecimal string is (0x[0
Get
Subtree
Issue SNMP GET-NEXT requests to get the whole subtree against current agent.
Walk
Do SNMP walk against current agent.
Table
View
Show MIB table data.

Clicking on this menu item will bring up a new table view window. But first, OID field needs to be an OID of a table or entry nodes. For example, it can be ifTable, ifEntry etc.
You can press CTRL key and select multiple tabular variables of the same table, then click “Table View”. In this way, table view only shows the tabular variables you selected rather than the whole table.
Buttons on the toolbar of table view window:
|
Rotate button |
Rotate table 90 degrees. |
|
Refresh button |
Refresh table now. |
|
Export |
Export table data to a CSV file. |
|
Poll button |
Refresh table periodically. |
|
SNMP
SET |
Perform SNMP SET for selected table cells. |
|
Create
Row |
Dynamically create a row. The table must support dynamic row creation, that is, it has a RowStatus or EntryStatus column. |
|
Delete
Row |
Dynamically delete the selected row. The table must support dynamic row creation, that is, it has a RowStatus or EntryStatus column. |
Graph
Plot graph for selected OID. If there is already one graph tab, you will be asked to re-use this tab or open a new tab.

Clicking on this menu item will bring up performance graph window. But first, OID field needs to be a numerical OID value or a table column node whose instances are numerical values. For example, it can be sysUpTime, ifOutOctets, and ifOutOctets.1, etc.
Buttons on the toolbar:
|
Export to CSV file |
Export chart data to a CSV file. |
|
Import
from CSV file |
Import data from a CSV file. |
|
Save as PNG |
Save chart data to a PNG format file. |
|
|
Print out the chart. |
|
Restart |
Restart plotting chart. |
|
Pause |
Pause plotting chart. |
|
Switch |
Switch between current view and global view. |
|
Display trace |
Display trace lines. |
|
Grid |
Display grid lines. |
|
Rate |
Display delta instead of raw values. |
The polling interval can be changed by clicking the “Set” button.
n Tools menu
Trap
Sender
Open trap sender window:

This window allows
user to send out SNMPv1/v
For SNMPv1/v2 trap nodes in the MIB tree, you can right click on them and select “Send Trap” context menu to bring up this window, and the information from the trap node will be used to fill out the default values.
Watches
Displays a table of variables being watched.

(Professional Edition)

(

(
Add Watch
Add watch item.

(Professional Edition)

(
In enterprise edition, you can configure actions for each watch. Current actions include sending out email when the watch is in alarm or rearm states.
Port View
It shows input/output bandwidth utilization and error percentage of all ports of a node. The tooltips of pie charts show port properties. You can uncheck the checkbox near port’s name to ignore its values.
The color of pie charts indicates severity levels, and it can be customized on the settings page.

It shows mapping of the devices connected to a managed switch, and similar to the port view, bandwidth utilization of ports is displayed.

Configure Settings
· Routers: IP and community of layer 3 routers, which will be used to retrieve MAC to IP mapping data.
· Chart Polling Interval: Data polling interval for plotting charts.
Device
Snapshot
Show a snapshot view of available device data, including system info, interfaces, disks, processes, installed software, etc.

Cisco
Device Snapshot
Show a snapshot view of Cisco devices.

If you have more OIDs to monitor, you can use the settings screen to add additional OIDs. The values of them will be shown in the “Basic Information” panel.
The utilization charts can have two types: meter or pie charts.
Log Window
Open application log window that displays application’s log information. To clear the content, right click on this pane and select “Clear text” menu item.
Open ping tool window:

Enter an IP address and press “
Trace
Route
Open traceroute tool window:

Enter an IP address and press “
Network
Discovery
Open LAN discovery tool window:

Enter a subnet IP address such as 192.168.1.0 and then press “Start” button. It can discover all hosts in the subnet. And if SNMP agent is running on a host, its system table will be queried as well.
Manage
SNMPv3 USM Users

The initial window displays a list of existing SNMPv3 users. You then can edit user’s properties or delete it.
Compare
Devices
Compare the SNMP values of two devices:

If the values of them are different, the font color is changed to blue:

Options
Open options window for customizing MIB browser:

General
tab
|
SNMP Retries |
Number of retries for SNMP queries. |
|
SNMP Timeout |
Timeout value for SNMP queries, in seconds. |
|
Lenient Parsing |
If checked, MIB parser will ignores some syntax errors in MIB files. |
|
Logging Level |
Logging level of the logger. If it is “DEBUG”, the SNMP PDU will be printed in the Log window, but it may degrade the performance of the MIB browser. |
|
|
The port number of trap receiver. |
|
Max
Token Number |
The
maximum number of tokens allowed in the description field of trap receiver.
For instance, if the value is 6, then the message “.iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.interfaces.ifTable.ifEntry.ifAdminStatus |
|
Single
Tree Root |
If checked, MIB tree will have a single root node, that is, the .iso node. Otherwise, each MIB module has its own root node. MIB browser needs to be restarted for this option to take effect. |
|
Agent’s
Character Encoding |
For an SNMP agent on a non western language OS, it may return values in a different character encoding. You can change the charset in order to correctly display values returned from the agent. |
|
Max
Graph Data Count |
Maximum number of data in memory of a graph. |
|
Non
Repeaters |
Non repeaters value for SNMP GET-BULK requests. |
|
Max
Repetitions |
Max repetitions value for SNMP GET-BULK requests. |
|
Minimize
to system tray |
If checked, the MIB browser will be minimized to the system tray when you close it. |
|
Single tree
root |
Each Module has its own root node |
Default
Values tab
This tab allows the user to set default properties for new SNMP agents.
Agent tab

This table stores the properties of visited SNMP agents. You can add or delete agents from this table.
For SNMPv1/v
MIB Files
tab

This table stores file names of loaded MIBs. You can add or delete MIBs from this table.
n Bookmarks menu
This menu contains all your stored bookmarks. Bookmarks are links to OIDs and their associated operations that you use frequently. By adding an OID to your bookmarks, you can use it by simply clicking its name, instead of having to type it again.
²
Toolbar

n Address field
Enter the IP address and port number of SNMP agent, in the format of “ipAddress@port” or “ipAddress:port” (Ipv4 only). The “@port” or “:port” are not necessary if the port number is 161.
Address Group is a group of IP addresses, including their port numbers. It starts with “g ” in the address field. Address group makes it much easier to perform SNMP operations against multiple agents.
Other properties of an SNMP agent, such as community, SNMPv3 parameters, cannot be specified in the group address dialog. To change these properties, you can enter the IP address into the address field, and press “Advanced” button to change other properties. Then the IP address in the group will automatically reflect the changes.
n Advanced button
Customize the properties of current SNMP agent, such as community names, SNMPv3 USM parameters, etc.
For an SNMPv3 agent, its engineID, authKey and privKey properties will be updated after first successful query.
![]()
Object identifier to be used for SNMP queries. This field is updated when the user selects a node in MIB tree or a row in the result table. You can also type new value directly in this field.
n Operations
Select one of the SNMP operations from the list. Operation will be performed immediately when it is selected.
n Go button
Press this button to perform the selected operation.
²
MIB Tree Pane

It is divided into two panes: Tree pane on the top and properties pane on the bottom.
n Tree Pane
Display MIB trees. Right click on a node, a popup menu shows up. Depending on the node properties, if right clicking on a root node of a MIB module, popup menu includes three menu items: Find, Expand and Unload MIB. On other nodes, their respective popup menus have only two menu items: Find and Expand.
|
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Table node |
|
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Table entry node |
|
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Read-write node |
|
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Read-create node |
|
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Index node |
|
|
Leaf node, usually read-only |
Table:
Icon descriptions
Double click on a scalar node, its value will be queried against the agent specified on the toolbar. If double click on a tabular node (such as ifSpeed), then its subtree values will be queried against the agent.
n Node Properties Pane
Display properties of selected node. Tooltips of second column show more information.
²
Result Pane

Display the
result of SNMP queries in a table.
There are three buttons on the right toolbar:
|
Stop button |
Stop pending SNMP queries. |
|
Clear Table button |
Clear the result table. |
|
Raw Data button |
Launch a new dialog window showing the raw results of SNMP queries. |
|
Find
button |
Find strings in the result pane. |
|
Save
button |
Save values in result pane to an XML file. |
|
Open
button |
Load values from an XML file to the result pane. |
Trap Receiver
²
Main Window
Trap receiver can be opened from MIB browser window or started independently.

Trap receiver window is divided into two panels. The upper panel displays summaries of traps. The lower panel displays details of selected trap.
There are three buttons on the right side toolbar:
|
Trap
Filter button |
Apply filter to all received traps. Only traps that meet the conditions will show up. |
|
Start Trap Receiver button |
Start the trap receiver. It’ll be grayed out if trap receiver is running. Trap receiver is not started automatically when the window is opened. |
|
Stop button |
Stop the trap receiver. |
|
Clear Table button |
Clear the content of the trap table. |
|
Export Table to CSV |
Export table data to a CSV file. |
|
Options |
Trap receiver’s settings. |
²
Options
n General Tab

|
|
The port number of trap receiver. |
|
Forward
Trap To |
Forward traps to another trap receiver in SNMPv1 PDUs. |
|
Save
trap data to database |
If enabled, received traps will be saved to the bundled database. Then they can be loaded again. |
|
Show
trap message window |
If enabled, a trap message window will show up around system tray when a new trap is received. |
|
Play
sound |
Play sound when a trap is received. |
n SMTP Tab

This tab specifies whether to enable forwarding SNMP traps via email. If it is enabled, at lease the primary SMTP server should be configured. If the secondary SMTP server is also configured, it will be used for sending emails when the primary SMTP server fails.
n SNMPv3 Trap Receiver Tab

This table stores the properties of SNMPv3 trap senders.
You can add or delete items from this table.
Command Line Options
Command line tools are located at $INSTALL_DIR\bin
directory.
u MIB browser can be launched from the command line with the following options:
|
browser.bat -h (or –help, -?) |
Print usage |
|
-h
<h> |
Specify the host name or IP address of SNMP agent. |
|
-p
<p> |
Specify the port number of the SNMP agent. Default value is 161. |
|
-v
<1|2|3> |
Specify the SNMP version number. Possible values are 1, 2, and 3. |
|
-c
<c> |
Specify the SNMP community name. Default value is public. |
|
-o
<o> |
Specify OID. |
|
-a <a> |
Specify the SNMP action. Possible values are (get|getnext|getsubtree|walk|gettable). |
|
-f <filename> |
Output CSV file name. Used with gettable action. |
|
-s <filename> |
Open a saved session on startup. |
u Command Line Graph Tool
graph.bat script is used to record an SNMP agent’s values to a file, which can be opened by the MIB browser using the “File/Open Graph Data” menu.
Running graph.bat without any arguments will print usage and examples.
u Command Line SNMP Tools
snmpget.bat script is used to issue SNMP GET request.
snmpgetnext.bat script is used to issue SNMP GET-NEXT request.
snmpset.bat script is used to issue SNMP SET request.
Keyboard Shortcuts
|
CTRL-L |
Load MIB file |
|
CTRL-F |
Find a MIB node. |
|
CTRL-G |
Perform SNMP GET operation. |
|
CTRL-N |
Perform SNMP GET-NEXT operation. |
|
CTRL-E |
Perform Get-Subtree operation. |
|
CTRL-S |
Perform SNMP SET operation. |
|
CTRL-W |
Perform walk operation. |
|
CTRL-P |
Stop current operation. |
|
Enter |
If Operations or Go button have focus, pressing “Enter” key will repeat last operation. |
|
CTRL-T |
Table view |
|
CTRL-R |
Plot graph. |
|
CTRL-D |
Add to watches |
|
CTRL-O |
Open watches panel |
|
CTRL-I |
Open trap receiver panel |
About different editions
The free personal edition is intended exclusively for private use on a single workstation. You may copy the complete program package and pass it on to others for private use only. The free personal edition may not be used for commercial or professional purposes.
The professional edition has many more features and can be used for commercial or professional purposes.
The enterprise edition has more powerful trap receiver and monitoring features.
Features table
|
Feature |
Personal Edition |
Professional Edition |
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Runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and other UNIX platforms |
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Supports basic SNMP operations |
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Table view for MIB tables |
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SNMPv3 USM user management |
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Trap Receiver |
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Trap Sender |
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Supports IPv6 |
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Supports
SNMPv1/v |
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Supports loading any standard or private MIB |
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Maximum number of MIBs loaded |
10 |
No restrictions |
No restrictions |
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Free |
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Supports SNMPv3 |
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Watches |
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Address Group |
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Network discovery |
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ICMP Ping tool |
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ICMP Traceroute tool |
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Performance graph |
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Port view |
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Switch port mapper |
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Device snapshot |
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Cisco device snapshot |
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Compares devices |
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Forwards traps via email |
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Periodically refreshes MIB table |
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Dynamic table row creation and deletion |
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Run as service (Trap Receiver & Watches) |
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Watch actions |
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