Question Regarding SNMP configuration on ESX 3.5i host server

[Elwappo]

I recently set up a new ESX 3.5i host and ran into a stumbling block configuring SNMP.

Like most other IT shops we utilize SNMP to monitor performance and send alerts regarding different aspects of how our servers are performing. I want to be able to monitor this server as I do my ESX 3.0.2 host server.

The problem:

When I attempt to configure the communities and such via the remote command line interface the following error is returned:

failed.faultRestrictedVersion.summary

The command(s) I am running:

vicfg-snmp.pl --server server ip goes here --username root --password insert password here -c insert community name here

The command attempts to run as I see a brief message that says "Configuring community name." But then it faults out with the failed.faultRestrictedVersion.summary error.

Specfics:

This error is returned when I attempt to reset or modify the SNMP configuration. If I do a show command it runs with no problem.

I'm hoping the answer isn't you have to use Virtual Center to monitor and alter something like SNMP. Can anyone help? Thanks!

[Elwappo]

Thanks for the update. I'll let you know what I find out. I thought the issue may be in the pearl package or packages but it doesn't seem to be. This one is really making me scratch my head. I can read info but not write even though the account has same or similar to root access. Very odd.

[sammyc53]

After a long support case with Dell and VMware, we pinpointed the

issue. VMware says there is a licensing glitch with the OEM licenses

that they have been giving out to OEMs such as Dell.

They gave me

a temporary LIC file which solved the problem immediately. Both Dell

and VMware were great at helping me, I highly recommend opening a

ticket with them if you are having this issue.

-Sam Cayze

[Elwappo]

Thanks for the update. The license I have was purchased from VMware and the server from Dell and not together. So I don't have an OEM license but it's good to know that the issue is solvable. I'm also running the 3.5i installable and not the embedded. Were you using the embedded or installable Sam?

VMware guru's that are still following this : Has anyone heard any internal discussion in the VMware halls about license key issues with the installable? I'm running the 3.5i installable on a Dell poweredge 2950 III. Everything works great except for this error.

Again thanks Sam for the follow up. I'm still at a loss on my end. I will explore following the tech support route. But it's starting to sound like it's not an issue on my end and rather something to do with license key files and manufacturer server models.

[bizrisky]

I know this thread is very old but in the interest of helping others, here is a suggestion I found that helped me out with the same issue on esxi 3.5 update4.

Use your VI client to connect to the esxi host and under "configuration", "licensed features", change ESX Server Edition to unlicensed. run your esxcfg-snmp commands and then switch it back to ESX Server Standalone.

[Bacchus1106]

>

I know this thread is very old but in the interest of helping others, here is a suggestion I found that helped me out with the same issue on esxi 3.5 update4.
Use your VI client to connect to the esxi host and under "configuration", "licensed features", change ESX Server Edition to unlicensed. run your esxcfg-snmp commands and then switch it back to ESX Server Standalone.

Thanks so much for your response on this. I was able to get further than I had before whenI followed your step above. However I found that when I configured the community string using the --communities command it would no longer allow me to change back to Standalone. It gave me a licensing error stating that there was not an available license. I took that to mean that ESXi needed to be licensed for that to work.