Excessive logging for SNMP in the ESX host messages log

Symptoms

• /var/log/messages contains excessive messages similar to:
  
  snmpd[xxxxx]: Received SNMP packet(s) from UDP: [127.0.0.1]:xxxxx

Resolution

This is expected behavior and is normal for a default installation of RedHat net-snmp that is installed on ESX hosts. The agent is configured for this level of logging as a security measure.

Although VMware does not recommend changing the default logging level, you can avoid this excessive logging.

To avoid excessive logging:

1. Log in to the ESX Server service console as the root user.
2. Edit the /etc/init.d/snmpd file in a text editor.
3. Modify the OPTIONS line in the file from:
   
   OPTIONS="-s -l /dev/null -P /var/run/snmpd -a"
   
   to:
   
   OPTIONS="-s -l /dev/null -P /var/run/snmpd"
   
   
4. Restart the snmpd service by running:
   
   service snmpd restart.