banshee/network-collection/network/snmp/
sensors
The hardware sensors of a network device by SNMP (ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB): temperatures, fans, voltages, currents, power, and their state.
by banshee1 installation2 versions
v2Latest
Published on October 28, 2026. One naming convention across collections; documentation completed.
Hardware sensors of a network device, by SNMP
Returns, for each hardware sensor of a switch, a router or a firewall, its measure in its unit (temperature, fan speed, voltage, current, power) and the state the device gives it. Five watches are offered, each one set on the probe.
Versions
Generic: any device and any version whose agent serves the standard table, ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB. A brand that keeps its sensors in its own MIB only is read by the collector of that brand (network/cisco/snmp/ios/environment, network/mikrotik/snmp/health).
How it works
The collector reads entPhySensorTable (ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB, RFC 3433), the standard table of the sensors of a device, whatever its brand, and names each sensor by entPhysicalName (ENTITY-MIB), the name the device gives the part it measures.
- The measure is
entPhySensorValue, brought to its unit byentPhySensorScale(milli, units, kilo…) andentPhySensorPrecision(the number of decimals): a sensor reading42500milli-degrees with no decimal returns42.5°C. - Each sensor goes to the output of its type:
celsiustotemperature,rpmtofan-speed,voltsACandvoltsDCtovoltage,amperestocurrent,wattstopower. A sensor of another type (humidity, frequency, a true/false) returns its state only. - The state is
entPhySensorOperStatusin words:ok,unavailable,nonoperational. The measure of a sensor that is notokis not returned: it means nothing. - A sensor without a name takes its index (
sensor 1012); two sensors of the same name each keep their own, the second carrying its index. - A device that serves no sensor stops the collector as misconfigured: never a green light without a measure.
The collector only reads: SNMP sends nothing but reads.
Prerequisites
- The SNMP agent of the device enabled, reachable from the poller (UDP 161), its access restricted to the poller.
- An agent that implements ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB; the view granted to the poller includes
entitySensorMIB(.1.3.6.1.2.1.99) andentPhysicalName(.1.3.6.1.2.1.47.1.1.1.1.7). - Read-only access, SNMPv2c or SNMPv3, set on the host or one of its folders (
protocol:snmp:*variables).
Outputs
| Name | Label | Unit | Per instance |
|---|---|---|---|
temperature | Temperature | °C | yes, per sensor |
fan-speed | Fan speed | rpm | yes, per sensor |
voltage | Voltage | V | yes, per sensor |
current | Current | A | yes, per sensor |
power | Power | W | yes, per sensor |
status | Sensor state | — | yes, per sensor |
Watches
| Name | Title | Kind | Defaults | Checked by default |
|---|---|---|---|---|
hot | High temperature | above a threshold, on temperature | warning above 70 °C, critical above 85 °C, for 3 runs | yes |
fan-stopped | Fan stopped | below a threshold, on fan-speed | critical below 1 rpm, for 2 runs | yes |
failed | Sensor failed | state to avoid, on status | critical on nonoperational | yes |
voltage-low | Low voltage | below a threshold, on voltage | no threshold: each rail has its own, set it on the probe | no |
missing | Sensor missing | expected instances, on status | no sensor named: it raises nothing until names are set on the probe | no |
Limits
- The temperature thresholds, 70 °C and 85 °C, are generic defaults, taken from no maker's documentation: adapt them to the hardware on the probe. An optical transceiver runs cooler than a switching chip; leave out the sensors that do not count in the selection.
- The thresholds the device itself keeps (
entPhySensorThresholdis not in RFC 3433, only in vendor extensions) are not read. - Which devices serve ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB, and with which names, is not verified here without a device: run the probe once and read its sensors.