This article applies as of PRTG 22

SNMP Dell PowerEdge System Health sensor and the error in power status after iDRAC firmware update

Following an update to your iDRAC firmware to 2.41.40.40, your SNMP Dell PowerEdge System Health sensor may report the following error:

For some reason (we are not sure at this point, most likely it is a bug in the firmware), Power Units previously reported as 3 (OK) are now being reported as 1 (Other). The standard lookup that PRTG uses maps this value to the Down status. This Other status is only reported via SNMP and not visible or apparent in the OMSA.

The standard lookup (prtg.standardlookups.dell.dellstatus) that this channel or sensor uses is based on the ObjectStatusEnum referenced by the relevant OID from the IDRAC-MIB below:

This is the latest version of the MIB that is publicly available:

systemStatePowerUnitStatusCombined              OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      ObjectStatusEnum
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
        "0200.0010.0001.0042 This attribute defines the combined status
        of all power units of this chassis."
    ::= { systemStateTableEntry 42 }


ObjectStatusEnum        ::= TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
    STATUS current
    DESCRIPTION
        "Status of an object."
    SYNTAX              INTEGER {
    other(1),          -- the status of the object is not one of the
                        --  following:
    unknown(2),        -- the status of the object is unknown
                        --  (not known or monitored)
    ok(3),              -- the status of the object is ok
    nonCritical(4),    -- the status of the object is warning, non-critical
    critical(5),        -- the status of the object is critical (failure)
    nonRecoverable(6)  -- the status of the object is non-recoverable (dead)
}

This MIB is dated July 7, 2015. Dell has not yet updated their MIBs, which also leads us to believe that this is a bug and not a change in the MIB. Please contact Dell and report the issue as they are in position to fix or adjust their SNMP agent.

PRTG is behaving correctly and displaying the status exactly as the iDRAC reports it via SNMP.

Check the correctness of the value with SNMP Tester

To confirm the value reported by your iDRAC/Server, we recommend that you download our latest SNMP Tester and follow the instructions below. If you already know that the value is correct, see Workaround: Change the sensor's behavior below.

1. Run SNMP Tester on the PRTG host (or host of the remote probe).
2. Set the Device IP/Port, SNMP Version and Community exactly as set in PRTG.
3. Select Walk as the Request Type.
   • Use the OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.674.10892.5.4.200.10.1.42
4. Check the output. An affected server looks like the following:

----------------------- New Test -----------------------
Paessler SNMP Tester 5.2.3 Computername: MYPROBE Interface: 10.49.12.125
01/02/2017 09:58:49 (2 ms) : Device: MYTARGETSERVERIDRAC
01/02/2017 09:58:49 (3 ms) : SNMP V2c
01/02/2017 09:58:49 (4 ms) : Walk 1.3.6.1.4.1.674.10892.5.4.200.10.1.42
01/02/2017 09:58:49 (5 ms) : 1.3.6.1.4.1.674.10892.5.4.200.10.1.42.1 = "1" [ASN_INTEGER]

If this error is not displayed in the OMSA/iDRAC web interface, but reported as 1 (Other) via SNMP, you are affected. In this case, we advise you to report this discrepancy to Dell to allow them to fix the issue. Refer to Workaround: Change the sensor's behavior below if you wish to modify the alerting behavior of PRTG in the meantime.

Workaround: Change the sensor's behavior

To solve this issue, redefine the sensor behavior in the lookup file that is used for the affected channel.

Warning: With the following instructions, you configure your Dell PowerEdge sensors to ignore the Other status, which applies to all channels and sensors that use this lookup. You may also not be alerted when something goes wrong because you are no longer using the standard status mapping in PRTG.

1. Go to the \lookups folder in the PRTG program directory and copy the file prtg.standardlookups.dell.dellstatus.ovl into the \custom subfolder. This is good practice because the lookups in the \custom subfolder are not overwritten when you update PRTG.
2. Open your copy from the \custom subfolder in a text editor.
3. In the lookup definition, go to line 4:
   <SingleInt state="Error" value="1">
   and change it to
   <SingleInt state="OK" value="1">
4. Save your changes.
5. In PRTG, reload the lookup files: Open Setup | System Administration | Administrative Tools | Load Lookups and click Go!.
6. Starting from the next sensor scan, PRTG reports the value of 1 (Other) on any Dell equipment that uses the ObjectStatusEnum (in PRTG, prtg.standardlookups.dell.dellstatus) as OK (no alerts).

Once the issue has been addressed by Dell and the status of the Power Units is once again reported as OK, simply delete the lookup in the \custom subfolder. Then reload the lookup files from the PRTG web interface. This way, you revert to the original lookup. For more details, see PRTG Manual: Define Lookups, section Customizing Lookups.

Note: If you are familiar with lookups, it is also possible to give a new name and ID to the prtg.standardlookups.dell.dellstatus, for example prtg.standardlookups.dell.dellstatus.psbug, then perform the modification. This requires you to additionally configure the Power Unit Status channel of any affected sensor to use this lookup instead. However, it also allows you to modify the behavior ONLY for the affected channel and not for all sensors and channels that use the prtg.standardlookups.dell.dellstatus.

More

• Value interpretation (aka Lookups)
• PRTG Manual: Define Lookups
• Video: How to configure lookups