WhatsUp Gold - Convert SNMP Threshold checks to version 7 SNMP Monitoring plug-in

Question/Problem: In WhatsUp Gold versions 4, 5 and 6 users could monitor particular SNMP values using the "SNMP Threshold" plugin. This was a free download from the IPSWITCH web site.

Answer/Solution: WhatsUp Gold version 7 ships with its own native support for SNMP variable monitoring called "SNMP Monitoring". This is intended to supplant the "SNMP Threshold" plugin and provide more capabilities. However, if you wish you can still use the old plug-in with WhatsUp Gold 7. This can be useful during a transition period.

The new SNMP monitoring has several capabilities that are significantly better than the old threshold plugin, including:

1. Support for service-specific arguments for each host. This allows you to define a single monitor (such as "Interface") and customize it on each host to monitor particular instances of a variable.

2. Support for matching a variable against a range of values.

3. Finer control over rate comparisons. You can enter floating point values such as "0.075" for the rate to handle cases that were impossible before.

4. A "down count" (or "tolerance") value to compensate for packet loss situations or SNMP variables that are "noisy" in nature. See also: 
Spurious down reports from SNMP services such as Interface

5. Simplified configuration user interface.

The new plug in was deliberately designed so that it would not upgrade your existing SNMP Threshold checks, to allow you to more carefully migrate to the new capabilities. For instance, some checks that required two or several checks in SNMP Threshold can be done in one check using SNMP Monitoring.

Note that rates are "per second" in the new monitor, they were "per minute" in the old one. So you will have to divide your comparison value by 60 when converting. You can use decimal values in the new monitor, you could not in the old one.