---
title: "Adding SNMP Trap Handler on Sensu Server"
slug: "fortanix-dsm-for-adding-snmp-trap-handler-on-sensu-server"
updated: 2026-04-08T08:03:04Z
published: 2026-04-08T08:03:04Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.fortanix.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Adding SNMP Trap Handler on Sensu Server

## 1.0 Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to describe procedure to add a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap handler to forward the traps from Sensu virtual machine (VM) to an SNMP Server.

## 2.0 Terminology References

- **SNMP**- Simple Network Management Protocol
- **TCP**- Transport Layer Security
- **UDP**- User Datagram Protocol

## 3.0 Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the SNMP handler configuration, ensure the following:

- The Sensu server is already set up and monitoring the Fortanix DSM targets.
- The SNMP server is properly configured.
- The Sensu VM has network connectivity to the SNMP server over the required TCP or UDP ports.

### 3.1 List of Required Ports

The following ports must be accessible from the Sensu VM to the SNMP server (one way):

| **Protocol** | **Port Number** | **Purpose** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| TCP | 162 | To receive Sensu Traps over TCP |
| UDP | 161 | To receive Sensu Traps over UDP |

## 4.0 Configure SNMP Trap Handler on Sensu VM

This section explains how to configure the SNMP trap handler on the Sensu VM for forwarding alerts to the SNMP server.

### 4.1 Setting Up SNMP Asset

Perform the following steps:

1. Run the following command to navigate to the `Monitoring-Server-Artifacts` folder on the Sensu VM created in “*Section 5.1: Setting Up Sensu Server” in the* [*Fortanix DSM with Sensu Monitoring and Alerting*](https://support.fortanix.com/v1/docs/sensu-monitoring-and-alerting#51-setting-up-sensu-server)*guide*:

```bash
cd Monitoring-Server-Artifacts
```
2. Run the following command to execute the `add_handlers.sh` script to add an SNMP handler:

```bash
./add_handlers.sh
```

When prompted, select `Y` for SNMP handler:

```bash
./add_handlers.sh
Do you want to create email handler ? (Y/N): N
Do you want to create snmp-trap handler ? (Y/N): Y
Creating SNMP trap handler
Specify the snmp host : <SNMP_HOST_IP>
Specify the snmp port: <SNMP_HOST_PORT>
```
3. Run the following command to check the SNMP trap handler asset details:

```bash
sensuctl asset info sensu-snmp-trap-handler
```

The output may resemble as follows:

```bash
=== sensu-snmp-trap-handler
Name:  sensu-snmp-trap-handler
Namespace: default
URL: http://10.197.188.16/sensu-snmp-trap-handler_0.2.2_linux_amd64.tar.gz
SHA-512 Checksum: c350ec73cee0a38fbe05e8a11e217aae4cc77ced1f2f1c8ba31d287005e34e7f33b09850a4c810d6f1e0309cc569c7ae6ddfd686313e06aa73b2e44b885da61f
Filters: entity.system.os == 'linux', entity.system.arch == 'amd64'
```
4. Verify the SNMP handler configuration from Sensu Web user interface (UI):

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/c3bd85d2-4ad8-4d85-9f60-f1c168a3aad9/Images/Documentation/Select SNMP handler.png)

**Figure 1: Select SNMP handler**

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/c3bd85d2-4ad8-4d85-9f60-f1c168a3aad9/Images/Documentation/SNMP handler specification(1).png)

**Figure 2: SNMP handler specification**

### 4.2 Verification of SNMP Traps

Verify the SNMP traps are received on the SNMP server:

```bash
tcpdump -i any src host <snmp-server-ip> -vv
```

The Sensu SNMP traps are received in the following format:

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/c3bd85d2-4ad8-4d85-9f60-f1c168a3aad9/Images/Documentation/Sensu SNMP traps.png)

**Figure 3: Sensu SNMP traps**

## 5.0 Configure Keepalive Handler

This section explains how the keepalive handler monitors the status of the `sensu-agent` service on each node.

### 5.1 Configure Keepalive Handler on Sensu VM

Perform the following steps on the Sensu VM:

1. Run the following command to navigate to the `Monitoring-Server-Artifacts` folder in the Sensu VM created in “*Section 5.1: Setting Up Sensu Server” in the* [*Fortanix DSM with Sensu Monitoring and Alerting*](https://support.fortanix.com/v1/docs/sensu-monitoring-and-alerting#51-setting-up-sensu-server)*guide*:

```bash
cd Monitoring-Server-Artifacts
```
2. Run the following command to create the `keepalive-handler.yml` file:

```bash
vi keepalive-handler.yml
```
3. Add the following configuration to the `keepalive-handler.yml` file:

```bash
type: Handler
api_version: core/v2
metadata:
  name: keepalive
  namespace: default
spec:
  handlers:
  - snmp-handler
  type: set
  filters:
  - is_incident
  - not_silenced
```
4. Run the following command to create the keepalive handler:

```bash
sensuctl create -f keepalive-handler.yml
```
5. Run the following commands to start and enable the `sensu-backend` service:

```plaintext
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart sensu-backend
```
6. Run the following command to check the status of the `sensu-backend` service:

```plaintext
sudo systemctl status sensu-backend
```

### 5.2 Configuration Changes on Fortanix DSM Node

Perform the following steps on each Fortanix DSM node where the `sensu-agent` service is configured:

1. Add the following values in the `agent.yaml` file present in the `/etc/sensu/` directory:

```bash
keepalive-warning-timeout: 60
keepalive-critical-timeout: 90
```
2. Run the following commands to restart the `sensu-agent` service:

```bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart sensu-agent
sudo systemctl status sensu-agent
```

### 5.3 Verification of SNMP Traps

Run the following command to verify that SNMP traps are being received on the SNMP server:

```bash
tcpdump -i any src host <snmp-server-ip> -vv
```

The SNMP traps in Sensu appears in the following format:

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/c3bd85d2-4ad8-4d85-9f60-f1c168a3aad9/Images/Documentation/SNMP in Sensu.png)

**Figure 4: SNMP traps in Sensu**

###