Router CPU Load tool

The Router CPU Load tool in ETS for the Desktop monitors the CPU load on routers. Each router is displayed as a horizontal bar combining the current load and the highest measured load. Router CPU Load also provides the ability to generate pop-up alert messages when router load exceeds a user-defined point, and the ability to print the current load for all routers.

You can add numerous routers to your Router CPU Load user interface.

Open the Router CPU Load tool

• To launch the tool from the Toolset Launch Pad, locate the Router CPU Load tool and click Launch.

• You can add the tool to a tab in the Workspace Studio, and access it from there.

• To launch the tool from the Windows Start menu:

  1. Click Start > All > SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset.

  2. Right-click Router CPU Load, click More, and click Run as administrator.

Monitor CPU load

1. Click Bar > Add New CPU Load Bar.

2. Enter the router IP address in the Target Router field.

3. Select the read-only or read and write community string for the router in the Community String field.

4. Select a poll time:

   • An average load over the last 5 minutes.
   • An average load over the last minute.
   • Real time can select a polling time from 1 to 60 seconds.

5. Select the name to display for the monitored router. This can be the SysName of the router, or a name you specify.

Set polling options, notifications, and logging

Polling options define the following options and features:

• Caution and warning levels for detected CPU loads.
• SNMP timeout, and number of attempts.
• Notification types.
• Logging.

To modify options:

1. Click Option > Polling Options.

2. Click the Polling tab, and then select thresholds for the caution (yellow) and warning (red) levels.

   When the CPU load surpasses the value, the bar changes color.

3. Click the SNMP tab, and then specify the following values:

   • Specify the milliseconds the tool should wait for an SMNP reply before assuming the packet was lost and trying again.

   • Specify the number of times the tool should retry an SNMP query before stopping.
     This should normally be set to 2.

4. Click the Notification tab, and then select the notifications you want when the router exceeds the thresholds set on the Polling tab:

   • Select Popup on alarm to restore the tool from minimized mode when a threshold is exceeded.

   • Select Beep on alarm to generate a system beep when a threshold is exceeded.

   • Select Open Notification window on alarm to specify messages for exceeding caution and warning thresholds.

5. Click the Logging tab, and then select Logging Enabled to specify a text log file and an interval at which to log CPU load on monitored routers.

6. Click the Options tab to set the Override Graphic Acceleration.

7. Click OK.

Poll monitored routers

To see the current status of your monitored routers, you can collect the current state by immediately polling. Do either of the following:

• Click Bar > Poll all routers now.

• Right-click the bar that corresponds to the router you want to immediately poll, and then click Poll.

Set all routers to a poll interval

You can quickly set all monitored routers to be polled at the same interval.

Click one of the following options:

• Bar > Set all bars to 5 minute decaying average.
• Bar > Set all bars to 1 minute decaying average.
• Bar > Set all bars to real time.

View peak load high-water marks

To view the high-water peak, peak load of a specific monitored router, place your pointer on the bar. A tooltip provides the exact time stamp and peak percentage of the high-water mark.

Reset high-water marks

Router CPU Load provides high-water or max polled value markers within the monitored router bar. When you have corrected an issue, consider resetting your high-water marks to see how changes made affect your maximum CPU loads.

To reset high-water marks, click Bar > Reset peak marker.

Printing CPU Loads

You can print current CPU loads, if required. Printouts include the current load and the high-water marks, including the date and time of the peaks.

To print current CPU loads, click File > Print.

Save loaded routers

After you load routers you want to monitor frequently, consider saving the loaded information as a unique profile.

Click File > Save Profile, then name and save the router profile.

Load a saved router list

If you have saved profiles, you can load your saved profiles.

Click File > Load Profile, then select the router profile to load.

Delete all monitored routers

To delete all currently monitored routers from the Router CPU Load tool, click Bar > Delete all bars.

Troubleshoot router CPU load

If you get an error message such as ".... does not support the Cisco AvgBusy MIB or is not responding to SNMP polls", you probably need to reconfigure your router. Add the following lines to your Cisco router configuration file:

snmp-server community public RO

snmp-server community <YourCommunityString>RW

These lines enable SNMP on your router.

If SNMP is already configured on your router, look for a line in the configuration file similar to this:

snmp-server community public RO 60

The 60 at the end of this line is referring to an access list.

Do one of the following:

• Add your Router CPU Load tool computer IP address to the access list.
• Add your entire range of internal IP addresses.
• Remove the access list entirely.

Confirm that there is no firewall between you and your router that blocks SNMP.