Remote Host Monitoring using SNMP with OpenTelemetry & Instana

In this blog, we will learn how to monitor a remote host using SNMP with OpenTelemetry and Instana.

In modern environments, not all infrastructure supports agent-based monitoring. Network devices such as routers, switches, and other remote systems typically expose metrics using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). To bring these systems into a unified observability platform, we can use OpenTelemetry as a bridge and visualize the data in Instana.

Implementation and Working:

To monitor the remote host, we configured the OpenTelemetry Collector with an SNMP receiver and started it using the following command:

• otel-contrib –config remote-host.yaml

In this setup, the collector runs on a local host and polls metrics from a remote SNMP-enabled device such as a router or network system. The configuration includes the SNMP receiver, resource processor, and OTLP exporter to forward the collected data to Instana.

Since the collector is monitoring a remote system, the host identity must be defined explicitly. This is done using the host.name attribute in the configuration: host.name: otelsnmp

This ensures that the remote SNMP device is correctly represented as a separate entity in Instana, rather than being associated with the collector host.

Once the collector is started, it begins polling SNMP metrics such as network utilization, interface statistics, and device health, and sends this data to Instana using the OpenTelemetry protocol.

Key Observations

• The collector successfully retrieves metrics from the remote SNMP host
• A new OTel host entity is created in Instana
• The hostname appears as defined in the configuration (otelsnmp)
• Metrics are visualized in real time within the Instana UI

Benefits:

• Enables monitoring of agentless systems.
• Extends Instana observability to network devices.
• Provides unified visibility across infrastructure.
• Enables quicker issue resolution and more efficient identification of root causes.

Conclusion:

Monitoring remote infrastructure is essential for achieving complete observability. Since many network devices do not support agent-based monitoring, integrating SNMP with OpenTelemetry provides an effective solution.

By using OpenTelemetry Collector and Instana together, we can:

• Collect metrics from remote hosts
• Visualize them in a centralized platform
• Improve visibility across the entire environment

This approach ensures that even traditional infrastructure components are part of a modern observability strategy.