Updated: Why is my Network Management Card losing SNMPv3 communication?

Issue

My Network Management Card (NMC) is losing SNMPv3 connectivity after a certain amount of time but other communication protocols (web, FTP, SSH, Telnet, SNMPv1, etc) continue to work properly.


Product Line

 

• Network Management Card 1 (NMC1) - AP9617, AP9618, AP9619
  Devices with an embedded Network Management Card 1 include (but are not limited to): Metered/Switched Rack PDUs (AP78XX, AP79XX), Rack Automatic Transfer Switches (AP77XX, Environmental Monitoring Units (AP9320, AP9340, NetBotz 200)
   
• Network Management Card 2 (NMC2) - AP9630/AP9630CH, AP9631/AP9631CH, AP9635/AP9635CH
  Devices with an embedded Network Management Card 2 include (but are not limited to): 2G Metered/Switched Rack PDUs (AP86XX, AP88XX, AP89XX), Certain Audio/Video Network Management Enabled products.
   

Environment
 

• All serial numbers
• Any device listed above utilizing SNMPv3
• NMC1 AOS v3.7.0 and below; NMC2 AOS v5.0.X and below
• NMC1 AOS v3.7.3 and higher

Cause

An issue has been identified with the SNMPv3 task on Network Management Card 1 and 2 based devices. SNMPv3 communication will be lost after approximately 49 days and 17 hours. The NMC will continue to run normally, with the exception of the SNMP process, which will not run.

Resolution

Update (July, 2016): Specific to NMC1 products, this issue had previously been fixed for AOS 3.7.3 and higher. The maximum SNMPv3 uptime allowed was modfied from 49.7 days to 497 days. At the 497 uptime day mark, assuming the management uptime had reached this point, the Network Management Card interface would have had to be rebooted though the web, CLI, or SNMPv1 interfaces in order to regain SNMPv3 communication. NMC2 AOS v5.1.X also contained a fix to avoid an SNMPv3 communication loss completely.

With NMC1 AOS v3.9.2 and higher, this issue has been fully resolved and the 497 uptime limitation has been lifted and SNMPv3 communication through StruxureWare Data Center Expert or any third party SNMPv3 NMS will not be affected after 497 days of uptime. This AOS (or newer) will be released for different firmware applications in the coming months which are available at http://www.apc.com/tt/en/tools/download/. Certain applications are available immediately, such as Rack PDU.