Send netdisco-users mailing list submissions to
[email protected]
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/netdisco-users
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
[email protected]
You can reach the person managing the list at
[email protected]
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of netdisco-users digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Re: [External] Using two or more snmp communities for the
same node? (Beals, Damon G)
2. Re: [External] Using two or more snmp communities for the
same node? (Michael Butash)
--- Begin Message ---
Thanks for the response, I didn't realize this was an issue, I thought it was
just a config issue.
I think I will try to modify the config so that only the Arista switches will
use community@VRF, and the other devices will use community. Right now we only
have one VRF to deal with, but we do plan on doing more.
Damon Beals
Network Architect
Indiana University
317.274.7946
________________________________
From: Christian Ramseyer <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2026 19:02
To: Beals, Damon G <[email protected]>; [email protected]
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Netdisco] [External] Using two or more snmp communities for the
same node?
Hi Damon
The mailing list is still in use but it's not so frequented anymore, so
for visibility github might be a bit better.
Anyways I'm afraid for Arista there is currently no support to use SNMP
this way. Cisco has a similar feature where a vlan can be appended and
Netdisco is using these through special hints in the respective
snmp-info modules, look for cisco_comm_indexing/snmp_comm_reindex to
find out more.
There's also an snmp v3 variant, where the better formalized snmp v3
context can be used in a similar way, even for VRFs
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnetdisco%2Fnetdisco%2Fwiki%2FVendor-Tips%23vrfs-and-nxos&data=05%7C02%7Cdbeals%40iu.edu%7C58b776e3d2c34c28748208deffd83f53%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C639229501421158854%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=S63SD8cZWiULsWHQiVY%2B%2Ftpeb5cJQLaGVcaPiwiJvJ8%3D&reserved=0<https://github.com/netdisco/netdisco/wiki/Vendor-Tips#vrfs-and-nxos>
Lastly there is a third way that is used with many vendors, which is not
using snmp but SSH to run specific commands for arp and mac-address
table collection:
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnetdisco%2Fnetdisco%2Ftree%2Fmaster%2Flib%2FApp%2FNetdisco%2FSSHCollector%2FPlatform&data=05%7C02%7Cdbeals%40iu.edu%7C58b776e3d2c34c28748208deffd83f53%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C639229501421186948%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=kjqImd0oB6oNgsHBEaY4tE4U6zUSZ464Tv2F1xcqPNk%3D&reserved=0<https://github.com/netdisco/netdisco/tree/master/lib/App/Netdisco/SSHCollector/Platform>
But from quickly looking at all of these things it seems there is
nothing already working for Arista. You'd need to either experiment
yourself or get some motivated colleagues/students/LLMs to do it. If you
get it to work, pull requests for snmp-info or Netdisco are of course
highly appreciated. How to get started with hacking is in
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnetdisco%2Fnetdisco%2Fwiki%2FDeveloping%23tldr-i-just-want-to-clone-the-repo-and-get-started&data=05%7C02%7Cdbeals%40iu.edu%7C58b776e3d2c34c28748208deffd83f53%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C639229501421205401%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=kcy49cPzyO%2BgZcebEtH6xHfK%2Bp7JlerreinbgbkKWUw%3D&reserved=0<https://github.com/netdisco/netdisco/wiki/Developing#tldr-i-just-want-to-clone-the-repo-and-get-started>
Cheers
Christian
On 21.08.2026 16:03, Beals, Damon G via netdisco-users wrote:
> Is this email list still active? Or should I just open a ticket on github?
>
> Damon Beals
> Network Architect
> Indiana University
> 317.274.7946
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Beals, Damon G via netdisco-users <netdisco-
> [email protected]>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 18, 2026 13:48
> *To:* [email protected] <netdisco- e
> [email protected]>
> *Subject:* [External] [Netdisco] Using two or more snmp communities for
> the same node?
> This message was sent from a non-IU address. Please exercise caution
> when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources.
>
> So I just discovered our Arista switches can provide information about a
> VRF if you add the VRF to the snmp community. For example
> community@VRF. Doing test via snmpwalks, I do get the information from
> that VRF.
>
> My question is, how do I get netdisco to use both community, and
> community@VRF for the same node, or what if we have 4 or 5 VRF we need
> to collect from? From my test it looks like once netdisco finds a
> working snmp it caches that community and doesn't use others?
>
> >From the docs
> "Each is tried in turn when polling the device, and then the working
> community string will be cached in the database.
>
> Damon Beals
> Network Architect
> Indiana University
> 317.274.7946
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Netdisco mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsourceforge.net%2Fp%2Fnetdisco%2Fmailman%2Fnetdisco-users%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cdbeals%40iu.edu%7C58b776e3d2c34c28748208deffd83f53%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C639229501421228299%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Ed2laTG%2FGykuO9rJvY%2BOpKCbB3%2BilSBiWGgXsHX1ZWY%3D&reserved=0<https://sourceforge.net/p/netdisco/mailman/netdisco-users/>
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
VRF's have been an issue for any snmp management open or commercial since
people started using them in the early 2000's with MPLS, later with
firewall vendor contexts, and mostly screws over management tools where
ever this is used. Most NMS's doing discovery don't expect to hit a single
node pretending to be multiple nodes, almost universally they crap the bed
when you try, and mostly the same situation here. Your best bet is to treat
them as separate, different devices, but if I remember Netdisco will
typically see enough by serial number and such to attribute them as the
same device, and still try to lump them together incorrectly.
Netdisco just requires some fundamental changes to allow multiple of the
same devices as separate instances, and I'm not at all sure how hard that
would be. I'd say ask an LLM and see these days if something that can be
cleanly done.
-mb
On Tue, Aug 25, 2026 at 8:55 AM Beals, Damon G via netdisco-users <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Thanks for the response, I didn't realize this was an issue, I thought it
> was just a config issue.
>
> I think I will try to modify the config so that only the Arista switches
> will use community@VRF, and the other devices will use community. Right
> now we only have one VRF to deal with, but we do plan on doing more.
>
> Damon Beals
> Network Architect
> Indiana University
> 317.274.7946
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Christian Ramseyer <[email protected]>
> *Sent:* Friday, August 21, 2026 19:02
> *To:* Beals, Damon G <[email protected]>; [email protected]
> <[email protected]>
> *Subject:* Re: [Netdisco] [External] Using two or more snmp communities
> for the same node?
>
> Hi Damon
>
> The mailing list is still in use but it's not so frequented anymore, so
> for visibility github might be a bit better.
>
> Anyways I'm afraid for Arista there is currently no support to use SNMP
> this way. Cisco has a similar feature where a vlan can be appended and
> Netdisco is using these through special hints in the respective
> snmp-info modules, look for cisco_comm_indexing/snmp_comm_reindex to
> find out more.
>
> There's also an snmp v3 variant, where the better formalized snmp v3
> context can be used in a similar way, even for VRFs
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnetdisco%2Fnetdisco%2Fwiki%2FVendor-Tips%23vrfs-and-nxos&data=05%7C02%7Cdbeals%40iu.edu%7C58b776e3d2c34c28748208deffd83f53%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C639229501421158854%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=S63SD8cZWiULsWHQiVY%2B%2Ftpeb5cJQLaGVcaPiwiJvJ8%3D&reserved=0
> <https://github.com/netdisco/netdisco/wiki/Vendor-Tips#vrfs-and-nxos>
>
> Lastly there is a third way that is used with many vendors, which is not
> using snmp but SSH to run specific commands for arp and mac-address
> table collection:
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnetdisco%2Fnetdisco%2Ftree%2Fmaster%2Flib%2FApp%2FNetdisco%2FSSHCollector%2FPlatform&data=05%7C02%7Cdbeals%40iu.edu%7C58b776e3d2c34c28748208deffd83f53%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C639229501421186948%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=kjqImd0oB6oNgsHBEaY4tE4U6zUSZ464Tv2F1xcqPNk%3D&reserved=0
> <https://github.com/netdisco/netdisco/tree/master/lib/App/Netdisco/SSHCollector/Platform>
>
> But from quickly looking at all of these things it seems there is
> nothing already working for Arista. You'd need to either experiment
> yourself or get some motivated colleagues/students/LLMs to do it. If you
> get it to work, pull requests for snmp-info or Netdisco are of course
> highly appreciated. How to get started with hacking is in
>
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnetdisco%2Fnetdisco%2Fwiki%2FDeveloping%23tldr-i-just-want-to-clone-the-repo-and-get-started&data=05%7C02%7Cdbeals%40iu.edu%7C58b776e3d2c34c28748208deffd83f53%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C639229501421205401%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=kcy49cPzyO%2BgZcebEtH6xHfK%2Bp7JlerreinbgbkKWUw%3D&reserved=0
> <https://github.com/netdisco/netdisco/wiki/Developing#tldr-i-just-want-to-clone-the-repo-and-get-started>
>
> Cheers
> Christian
>
>
>
> On 21.08.2026 16:03, Beals, Damon G via netdisco-users wrote:
> > Is this email list still active? Or should I just open a ticket on
> github?
> >
> > Damon Beals
> > Network Architect
> > Indiana University
> > 317.274.7946
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > *From:* Beals, Damon G via netdisco-users <netdisco-
> > [email protected]>
> > *Sent:* Tuesday, August 18, 2026 13:48
> > *To:* [email protected] <netdisco- e
> > [email protected]>
> > *Subject:* [External] [Netdisco] Using two or more snmp communities for
> > the same node?
> > This message was sent from a non-IU address. Please exercise caution
> > when clicking links or opening attachments from external sources.
> >
> > So I just discovered our Arista switches can provide information about a
> > VRF if you add the VRF to the snmp community. For example
> > community@VRF. Doing test via snmpwalks, I do get the information from
> > that VRF.
> >
> > My question is, how do I get netdisco to use both community, and
> > community@VRF for the same node, or what if we have 4 or 5 VRF we need
> > to collect from? From my test it looks like once netdisco finds a
> > working snmp it caches that community and doesn't use others?
> >
> > >From the docs
> > "Each is tried in turn when polling the device, and then the working
> > community string will be cached in the database.
> >
> > Damon Beals
> > Network Architect
> > Indiana University
> > 317.274.7946
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Netdisco mailing list
> > [email protected]
> >
> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsourceforge.net%2Fp%2Fnetdisco%2Fmailman%2Fnetdisco-users%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cdbeals%40iu.edu%7C58b776e3d2c34c28748208deffd83f53%7C1113be34aed14d00ab4bcdd02510be91%7C1%7C0%7C639229501421228299%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Ed2laTG%2FGykuO9rJvY%2BOpKCbB3%2BilSBiWGgXsHX1ZWY%3D&reserved=0
> <https://sourceforge.net/p/netdisco/mailman/netdisco-users/>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Netdisco mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://sourceforge.net/p/netdisco/mailman/netdisco-users/
>
--- End Message ---
_______________________________________________
Netdisco mailing list - Digest Mode
[email protected]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/netdisco-users
