SNMP integration

The SNMP integration provides network device monitoring for hardware that can’t run agents, such as switches, routers, firewalls, and UPS units.


What it’s for	Monitoring network interfaces, device health, and hardware status
Who uses it	Network engineers, data center teams, anyone managing network infrastructure
Under the hood	Polls devices via SNMP v2c or v3 using standard and vendor MIBs

Metrics collected

Interfaces — Traffic, errors, status per port
Device — CPU, memory, uptime
Hardware — Temperature, fans, power
UPS — Battery, load, runtime

Trade-offs

Best for: Network infrastructure—switches, routers, firewalls, UPS, environmental sensors

Pros	Cons
Pre-built dashboards: device overview, interfaces	MIB configuration complexity
Pre-built alerts: interface status, device health	SNMP version/security setup
No agent needed on devices	Limited to what devices expose

Documentation

View the full documentation. Learning path coming soon!

SNMP integration

Some devices can’t run agents, like network switches, routers, firewalls, UPS units, and environmental sensors. But they still need monitoring. That’s where SNMP comes in.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is supported by virtually all network hardware. The integration polls devices via SNMP and brings that data into Grafana Cloud.

What can you collect? Interface statistics showing traffic on every port. Device CPU and memory for switches and routers. Hardware health like temperature, fan speeds, and power supply status. UPS battery levels and load. Environmental sensors for data center monitoring.

The integration supports both SNMP v2c and v3. Use v3 whenever possible. It adds authentication and encryption that v2c lacks.

Configuration requires understanding MIBs (Management Information Bases), which define what metrics each device exposes. Standard MIBs cover common things like interfaces and work across vendors. Device-specific features need vendor MIBs.

One thing to watch: polling overhead. Thousands of devices with dozens of metrics each generates significant SNMP traffic. Plan your polling intervals accordingly.

For network operations teams, this integration fills a critical gap, monitoring infrastructure that traditional agents can’t reach.

SNMP integration