Add a Network Device Without an Agent

Not every device can run an agent — network switches, routers, firewalls, printers, NAS and UPS units, and internet gateways all sit on your network without one. octoja can still monitor them: you register the device once, choose one of your existing agents to probe it on your behalf, and octoja reaches it over SNMP or, for a FRITZ!Box-class gateway, TR-064. This guide covers adding an agentless network device, testing the connection, and where the device shows up afterwards.

Before you start

• You need at least one device with the octoja agent already installed and online on the same network as the device you want to monitor — this becomes the monitoring asset that probes it. There is no separate appliance to deploy.
• You need permission to manage the agent you pick as the monitoring asset. Device permissions are granted per group under Administration → Groups, on the group's Device Access tab.
• Have the device's IP address or hostname ready, plus the credentials it needs: an SNMP community string (SNMP v2c) or SNMP v3 user and passwords for most equipment, or the TR-064 login for a FRITZ!Box. Make sure SNMP (or TR-064) is enabled on the device itself.

Open the add-device form

1. Go to Devices.
2. Select Add network device. The form opens.

Enter the basics

These fields apply to every network device, whichever protocol you use:

Connect over SNMP

SNMP suits switches, routers, firewalls, printers, NAS and UPS devices.

1. Turn on Enable SNMP. (If you chose SNMP as the online-state check, it is already on.)
2. Choose the SNMP version:
   • v2c — enter the Community string (often public for read access).
   • v3 — enter the User (v3), Auth password (v3) and Privacy password (v3).
3. Select Test connection to confirm octoja can reach the device with these settings before you save.

Connect a FRITZ!Box over TR-064

When SNMP is not available — as on a FRITZ!Box-class internet gateway — octoja can read the device over TR-064 instead.

1. Turn on Enable TR-064.
2. Fill in the login: Username (optional), Password, Port, and Use TLS (HTTPS) if the gateway serves TR-064 over HTTPS.
3. Select Test connection to verify access before saving.

SNMP and TR-064 are alternatives — turning one on turns the other off. Choose whichever the device supports.

Add a VMware ESXi host or vCenter

If you set the device type to ESXi or vCenter, the form asks for VMware credentials instead of SNMP or TR-064:

1. Enter the VMware user (for example administrator@vsphere.local), the VMware password, and the VMware API port (defaults to 443).
2. Leave Verify TLS certificate on unless the host uses a self-signed certificate you cannot validate.
3. Select Test connection to check host access before saving.

Finish and find the device

1. Optionally assign a Customer and Site so the device lands in the right place in your inventory.
2. Select Add device.

The new device appears in Devices alongside your agent-managed machines, showing its IP address. On the home dashboard you can narrow the fleet to these devices with the Network role filter. To change any setting later — including rotating credentials — open the device and choose Edit network device; leave the credential fields blank there to keep the stored values.

Work with the device

From an agentless device's hover card or the command menu you can reach it directly through its monitoring device:

• SNMP — run ad-hoc SNMP queries against the device.
• Shell — open an SSH session to the device.
• Web Console — open the device's own admin web interface, tunnelled securely through the monitoring asset. The Web Console is experimental and needs a browser that supports service workers.

Tips

• Pick a monitoring asset that stays online and sits close to the target on the network — it does all the probing, so if it goes offline the network device stops being monitored too.
• Prefer SNMP v3 where the device supports it: v2c community strings are sent unencrypted, while v3 authenticates and encrypts.
• Once the device is added, assign checks to it the same way you do for any device — for example the Network Firewall (Appliance), VMware or printer checks — to monitor beyond a simple online state.
• Use Test connection before saving whenever you change credentials, so you catch a wrong community string or password immediately instead of waiting for a failed check.