Network Monitoring
Monitor your entire network infrastructure via SNMP. Get real-time visibility into switches, routers, firewalls, wireless access points, and more with automatic dashboard generation and intelligent alerting.
Complete Network Visibility
From core switches to wireless access points, monitor all your network devices from a single platform.
Switches & Routers
Interface status, traffic, errors, CPU, memory utilization
Firewalls
Connection tracking, throughput, CPU and memory metrics
Wireless APs
Client count, signal strength, channel utilization
Printers
Supply levels, page counts, error states
Metrics We Collect
Device Status
Real-time SNMP connection status and device availability monitoring.
- SNMP device status
- System uptime tracking
- Scrape duration metrics
Interface Metrics
Comprehensive interface monitoring for all network ports.
- Interface operational status
- Connected vs total interfaces
- Port up/down events
Traffic Analytics
Detailed bandwidth and traffic analysis per interface.
- Bits received/sent per second
- Error rates (in/out)
- Packet statistics
Resource Usage
Device health metrics for supported hardware.
- CPU utilization
- Memory usage
- Temperature sensors
Supported Devices
Automatic dashboard generation for major network equipment brands using standard SNMP MIBs.
Cisco
HP
Dell
Ubiquiti
VMware
Custom MIBs
Need support for additional devices? We can add proprietary MIBs for your specific hardware.
Contact us →Easy Setup with SNMP Exporter
Install SNMP Exporter
Install the Prometheus SNMP exporter on your monitoring server.
apt update
apt install snmp-exporterConfigure Glouton Agent
Add your SNMP devices to the Glouton agent configuration.
metric:
snmp:
targets:
- initial_name: Core Switch
target: 192.168.1.1
- initial_name: Office AP
target: 192.168.1.10
- initial_name: Printer
target: 192.168.1.20View Your Network
Devices appear automatically with pre-built dashboards showing interface status, traffic, and device-specific metrics.
Network Monitoring Features
📊 Auto Dashboards
Automatic dashboard generation based on standard SNMP MIBs. No manual configuration needed.
🔔 Interface Alerts
Get notified when interfaces go down, error rates spike, or bandwidth thresholds are exceeded.
📈 Traffic Analysis
Visualize bandwidth utilization across all interfaces. Identify bottlenecks and plan capacity.
🌡️ Hardware Health
Monitor CPU, memory, and temperature on supported devices. Prevent hardware failures.
🔌 Port Monitoring
Track connected vs total interfaces. Know when devices disconnect or ports fail.
📝 Custom MIBs
Support for proprietary MIBs. Send us your snmpwalk file and we'll add your devices.
Network Alerts
Stay informed about network issues before they impact your users.
Connectivity
- Device unreachable
- SNMP timeout
- Interface down
- High latency
Performance
- High bandwidth usage
- Interface errors
- Packet loss
- CPU overload
Hardware
- High temperature
- Memory exhaustion
- Power supply issues
- Fan failures
Supplies
- Low toner/ink levels
- Paper tray empty
- Maintenance required
- Error states
Why Bleemeo for Network Monitoring?
Unified Platform
Monitor network devices alongside servers, containers, and applications in one dashboard.
Historical Data
13 months of metric retention for trend analysis and capacity planning.
Simple Pricing
Transparent per-device pricing. No surprise costs based on metric volume.
Quick Setup
Deploy SNMP monitoring in minutes. Automatic discovery and dashboard generation.
What Is Network Monitoring?
Network monitoring is the practice of observing the health, performance, and availability of network infrastructure — switches, routers, firewalls, wireless access points, and other devices that form the backbone of your organization's connectivity. Unlike server monitoring, which requires an agent on each host, network monitoring is typically agentless, relying on the SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) standard to query devices remotely.
SNMP has been the industry standard for network device management since the late 1980s. Nearly every managed network device — from enterprise-grade Cisco routers to office printers — supports SNMP. The protocol allows monitoring systems to read device statistics (interface traffic, CPU, memory, error counts) and receive alerts (SNMP traps) without installing software on the device itself.
Bleemeo integrates network monitoring into its unified platform through the Prometheus SNMP Exporter, which translates SNMP data into Prometheus-compatible metrics that Glouton collects and sends to the cloud. This means your switches, routers, and access points appear in the same dashboards as your servers, containers, and cloud resources — giving you a complete infrastructure view from a single pane of glass.
How SNMP Monitoring Works
Bleemeo's network monitoring uses a three-component architecture:
SNMP Exporter
The Prometheus SNMP Exporter runs on a server in your network. It translates SNMP queries into Prometheus metrics by walking standard MIBs (IF-MIB for interfaces, HOST-RESOURCES-MIB for CPU/memory, and vendor-specific MIBs for device-specific metrics). You install it once; it polls all your devices.
Glouton Agent
Glouton connects to the SNMP Exporter and collects the translated metrics. It enriches each metric with the device name and target address, then sends the data to Bleemeo Cloud using the same secure, compressed channel it uses for server metrics. No additional firewall rules are needed.
Bleemeo Cloud
The cloud platform stores metrics with 13 months of retention, generates automatic dashboards per device type, applies pre-built alert rules, and presents everything in a unified view alongside your servers, containers, and cloud resources.
Deployment Architecture
The SNMP Exporter and Glouton agent are designed to run on the same monitoring server, simplifying deployment and reducing network overhead. The SNMP Exporter listens on TCP 9116 and exposes a Prometheus-compatible /snmp endpoint that Glouton scrapes at a configurable interval (default: 60 seconds). When Glouton queries the exporter, it passes the target device IP as a URL parameter, and the exporter issues SNMP GET/WALK requests to that device on UDP 161. The default configuration uses SNMP v2c with the public community string, which works out of the box for most managed network equipment. Glouton enriches the collected metrics with the device's friendly name (from your configuration) and target address, then sends them to Bleemeo Cloud over a persistent, compressed HTTPS connection. This architecture means you only need one server with network access to your devices — there is no need to install anything on the devices themselves.
Custom MIB Workflow
Standard IF-MIB metrics — interface traffic (bits in/out), error counters, operational status, and admin status — work immediately with any SNMP-capable device. These metrics cover the most common network monitoring needs: bandwidth utilization, link health, and port availability. However, many devices expose additional data through vendor-specific MIBs that the default configuration does not cover. For example, a Cisco ASA exposes active VPN tunnel counts, a Ubiquiti UniFi AP reports connected wireless clients, and an HP printer reports toner levels per cartridge. To unlock these device-specific metrics, run snmpwalk -v2c -c public 192.168.1.1 against the device to capture its full MIB tree. Submit the resulting output file to Bleemeo support, and our team will analyze the OID hierarchy, identify meaningful metrics, and produce a tailored SNMP Exporter configuration file. This configuration maps proprietary OIDs to human-readable metric names and includes matching Bleemeo dashboard templates so the new metrics appear with proper labels, units, and visualizations as soon as the configuration is deployed.
Firewall Considerations
The monitoring server requires UDP 161 outbound access to each device IP address for SNMP polling. If your network devices are on a separate VLAN or behind a firewall, ensure this port is open from the monitoring server to the device management network. The SNMP Exporter listens on TCP 9116 only on localhost by default, so no external access to this port is needed — Glouton connects to it locally. For sending metrics to Bleemeo Cloud, Glouton requires HTTPS (TCP 443) outbound access to Bleemeo's API endpoints. No inbound firewall rules are needed on the monitoring server beyond what the Glouton agent already requires for its standard operation. If you use SNMPv3 with authentication and encryption, the same UDP 161 port is used but the traffic is encrypted end-to-end between the exporter and the device, adding a layer of security even on shared or untrusted network segments.
Supported SNMP Versions
Detailed SNMP Metrics
Standard metrics available for all SNMP devices, plus vendor-specific metrics for supported brands.
Standard Metrics (All Devices)
- SNMP device status (up/down)
- System uptime
- Interface operational status
- Connected vs total interfaces
- Bits received/sent per second
- Interface errors (in/out)
- Packet statistics
- SNMP scrape duration
Cisco (ASA, Catalyst, Nexus)
- CPU utilization per core
- Memory used/free
- Active connections (ASA)
- Temperature sensors
- Fan status
- Power supply health
Ubiquiti (UniFi)
- WiFi client count per AP
- Signal strength
- Channel utilization
- Switch port status
- PoE power delivery
Printers (HP LaserJet, etc.)
- Toner/ink levels per cartridge
- Page count (total printed)
- Paper tray status
- Error states
- Maintenance alerts
Use Cases
Office Network Monitoring
Monitor office switches, WiFi access points, printers, and firewalls from a single dashboard. Track WiFi client counts and signal quality to plan access point placement. Get alerts when a printer runs low on toner or a switch port starts reporting errors that indicate a failing cable or NIC.
Data Center Infrastructure
Monitor core and top-of-rack switches, spine-leaf fabrics, and firewall clusters. Track bandwidth utilization per interface to plan capacity upgrades. Monitor CPU and memory on network devices to detect control plane issues before they cause outages. Correlate network metrics with server metrics for end-to-end troubleshooting.
Multi-Site Networks
Monitor WAN links, VPN gateways, and site-to-site connectivity across branch offices. Track bandwidth utilization on inter-site links to identify congestion. Get alerts when a remote site's network equipment becomes unreachable, indicating a WAN outage that needs immediate attention.
ISP & Managed Service Providers
Monitor customer-facing network infrastructure at scale. Track per-port traffic on customer-facing switches to verify SLA compliance. Monitor CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) health remotely. Use 13 months of historical data to generate bandwidth utilization reports for capacity planning and customer billing.
Hybrid IT Environments
Combine network monitoring with server, container, and cloud monitoring in a unified platform. When a server experiences network-related issues, correlate the symptoms with the switch port it connects to — check for interface errors, bandwidth saturation, or CRC errors that indicate physical layer problems.
Compliance & Audit Reporting
Use 13 months of retained network metrics to generate historical reports for compliance audits. Demonstrate network uptime SLAs with per-device and per-interface availability data. Track firmware versions across all SNMP devices to verify patch compliance. Export bandwidth utilization reports for capacity planning reviews and management reporting.
Network Monitoring Best Practices
Use SNMPv3 for Security
SNMPv1 and v2c transmit community strings in plain text, making them vulnerable to interception on shared networks. Use SNMPv3 with authentication and encryption (authPriv) for all devices, especially those accessible over untrusted networks. Compliance frameworks like PCI-DSS require encrypted management protocols — SNMPv3 meets this requirement.
Monitor Errors and Traffic Together
High traffic alone is not a problem — high traffic combined with rising error rates indicates an issue. Monitor interface errors (CRC, runts, giants, frame errors) alongside bandwidth utilization. A spike in errors on a high-traffic interface often points to a failing cable, SFP module, or NIC that needs replacement before it causes a complete link failure.
Establish Bandwidth Baselines
Use historical traffic data to establish normal utilization baselines for critical links. Alert when utilization exceeds 80% of link capacity sustained over 5 minutes. Bleemeo's 13-month retention lets you compare current traffic patterns with the same period last year, enabling accurate capacity planning and identifying unexpected traffic growth.
Add Custom MIBs for Your Hardware
Standard SNMP metrics cover interfaces and basic device health, but vendor-specific MIBs unlock deeper visibility — wireless client counts, PoE power delivery, VPN tunnel status, and hardware sensor readings. If your device has proprietary metrics, send Bleemeo an snmpwalk output file and we will create custom dashboards for your specific hardware.
Cross-Correlate with Server Metrics
Network issues often manifest as server problems — a failed switch port looks like a server going offline. By monitoring network devices and servers in the same platform, you can instantly determine whether the root cause is the server (process crash, kernel panic) or the network (interface down, CRC errors, bandwidth saturation). This unified view eliminates finger-pointing between network and systems teams.
Want to learn more about SNMP monitoring setup?
Read the DocumentationFrequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Bleemeo's network monitoring
How does Bleemeo monitor network devices?
Bleemeo uses SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) to collect metrics from network devices. The Glouton agent connects to the Prometheus SNMP Exporter running on your network, which queries your devices using standard SNMP MIBs. This provides metrics on interface status, traffic, errors, and device-specific data like CPU and memory utilization.
What network devices are supported?
Bleemeo supports any device that speaks SNMP. We have optimized dashboards for major brands including: Cisco (ASA, Catalyst, Nexus), Ubiquiti (UniFi switches and APs), Dell (PowerConnect), HP (LaserJet printers), and VMware (ESXi). Standard SNMP metrics (interfaces, traffic) work with any SNMP-enabled device. We can add support for custom MIBs on request.
What metrics can I collect from network devices?
Bleemeo collects comprehensive network metrics: Device status (SNMP connectivity, uptime, scrape duration), Interface metrics (operational status, connected/total count), Traffic analytics (bits in/out per second, errors, packets), and Resource usage (CPU, memory, temperature on supported devices). Printers also report supply levels and page counts.
How do I set up SNMP monitoring?
Setup involves three steps: 1) Install the Prometheus SNMP Exporter on your monitoring server. 2) Configure Glouton with your device targets (IP addresses and names) in the metric.snmp.targets configuration. 3) Ensure your devices have SNMP enabled and the correct community string. Devices appear automatically in Bleemeo with pre-built dashboards.
Can I add support for my specific hardware?
Yes, we can add support for proprietary MIBs. If your device isn't fully supported, send us an snmpwalk output file from your device, and we'll create custom metrics and dashboards for it. Standard SNMP interface metrics work immediately with any device; custom MIB support adds device-specific metrics like CPU, memory, and vendor-specific features.
What alerts are available for network monitoring?
Bleemeo provides alerts for Connectivity (device unreachable, SNMP timeout, interface down), Performance (high bandwidth, error rates, packet loss, CPU overload), Hardware (high temperature, memory exhaustion, power/fan issues), and Supplies (low toner, paper tray empty). Alert thresholds are customizable to match your environment.
Can I monitor network devices alongside servers?
Yes, this is a key advantage of Bleemeo's unified platform. Network devices, servers, containers, and applications all appear in the same dashboard. You can correlate network interface metrics with server metrics to troubleshoot issues - for example, seeing if a server's network problems correspond with switch port errors or high traffic on specific interfaces.
Do I need an agent on each network device?
No, network devices don't need an agent. Bleemeo uses agentless SNMP polling. You only need the SNMP Exporter running on one server (which can be the same server running Glouton). This server queries all your network devices over the network using SNMP protocol. Devices just need SNMP enabled in their configuration.
What SNMP versions are supported?
Bleemeo supports SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3. SNMPv2c is most common and uses community strings for authentication. SNMPv3 provides enhanced security with username/password authentication and encryption, recommended for sensitive environments. Configure the appropriate credentials in the SNMP Exporter configuration.
How often are network metrics collected?
By default, SNMP metrics are collected every 60 seconds through the SNMP Exporter. This provides sufficient granularity for most network monitoring needs while minimizing SNMP traffic and device load. The collection interval can be adjusted in the configuration. Interface status changes are detected within the polling interval.
Start Monitoring Your Network
Get complete visibility into your network infrastructure in minutes.