dt-obs-network-devices

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Analyze SNMP-monitored network devices (switches, routers, firewalls, load balancers) in Dynatrace. Three data layers: Smartscape topology (`EXT_NETWORK_DEVICE` / `EXT_NETWORK_INTERFACE` nodes, `belongs_to` and `calls` edges); `com.dynatrace.extension.network_device.*` metrics (CPU, memory, uptime, throughput, saturation, errors); and logs (SNMP traps, syslog, auto-discovery). Use to inventory devices, find down or saturated interfaces, check device CPU/memory/uptime, map topology and neighbors, detect interface errors, and investigate traps and syslog events. Trigger: "network device", "switch", "router", "firewall", "SNMP", "interface status", "interface down", "interface utilization", "link saturation", "device CPU", "device memory", "device uptime", "device neighbors", "LLDP", "CDP", "SNMP trap", "syslog". Do NOT use for network flow/traffic or top talkers (use dt-obs-network-flows), host NIC throughput (use dt-obs-hosts), or service request/latency (use dt-obs-services).

2installs

Sourcedynatrace/dynatrace-for-ai

Added on2026-08-15

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add dynatrace/dynatrace-for-ai dt-obs-network-devices

SKILL.md Content

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Network Devices Skill

Analyze SNMP-monitored network infrastructure in Dynatrace — switches, routers, firewalls, load balancers, access points, and any other device polled by a network device extension (the SNMP-generic and vendor SNMP extensions). This skill covers the device and interface data model and routes each question to the right reference file. All DQL lives in the reference files and was validated against a live tenant with

dtctl query

.

What Network Device Monitoring Tells You

SNMP extensions poll network hardware and expose it in Dynatrace as three layers:

Topology — an inventory of devices and their interfaces as Smartscape nodes (
```
EXT_NETWORK_DEVICE
```
,
```
EXT_NETWORK_INTERFACE
```
), with attributes (vendor, model, OS/firmware, location, contact, IPs, MACs, link speed) and relationships (which interface belongs to which device; which devices are neighbors via LLDP/CDP).
Metrics — time series for device health (CPU, memory, uptime) and per-interface health (operational/admin status, in/out throughput, errors, discards, packet mix), under the
```
com.dynatrace.extension.network_device.*
```
namespace.
Logs — event-driven records: SNMP traps (link-up/down, hardware faults), syslog messages (config changes, authentication, interface events), and auto-discovery activity (devices and neighbors found per poll cycle).

This answers questions such as: Which interfaces are down? Which links are saturated? Is this router's CPU pegged? Which devices rebooted? What is connected to this switch? What traps has this device sent? What syslog errors are recurring?

The Three Layers (and how they join)

Layer Query with Grain Key fields

Layer	Query with	Grain	Key fields
Topology	`smartscapeNodes "EXT_NETWORK_DEVICE"` / `smartscapeNodes "EXT_NETWORK_INTERFACE"`	One row per device / interface (current inventory)	`id` , `name` , `monitoring_mode` , `device_type` , `location` , `ip` , `speed` , edges via `belongs_to` / `calls`
Metrics	`timeseries … com.dynatrace.extension.network_device.*`	Time series per device / interface	grouped by `dt.smartscape.ext_network_device` and (interface metrics) `dt.smartscape.ext_network_interface`
Logs	`fetch logs \| filter dt.openpipeline.source == "…"`	Individual log records (traps, syslog, discovery)	joined to topology by expanding the device `ip[]` array and matching `device.address` / `dt.ingest.source.ip` — see references/logs.md

Topology

smartscapeNodes "EXT_NETWORK_DEVICE"

/

smartscapeNodes "EXT_NETWORK_INTERFACE"

One row per device / interface (current inventory)

id

,

name

,

monitoring_mode

,

device_type

,

location

,

ip

,

speed

, edges via

belongs_to

/

calls

Metrics

timeseries … com.dynatrace.extension.network_device.*

Time series per device / interface

grouped by

dt.smartscape.ext_network_device

and (interface metrics)

dt.smartscape.ext_network_interface

Logs

fetch logs | filter dt.openpipeline.source == "…"

Individual log records (traps, syslog, discovery)

joined to topology by expanding the device

ip[]

array and matching

device.address

/

dt.ingest.source.ip

— see references/logs.md

The join key is the Smartscape ID. Every metric carries a

dt.smartscape.ext_network_device

dimension (and interface metrics also carry

dt.smartscape.ext_network_interface

). Use

lookup [smartscapeNodes …]

to attach human-readable device/interface names to metric results, and to attach live metrics to an inventory listing. Both reference files show this pattern.

Monitoring Mode Determines What Data Exists

Every device has a

monitoring_mode

. This is the first thing to check — it decides whether metrics exist at all:

`monitoring_mode`	Meaning	Has metrics?	Has full attributes?
`Extension`	Directly polled by an SNMP extension	Yes — full `com.dynatrace.extension.network_device.*` set	Yes
`Discovery`	Discovered on the network but not directly polled	No	Partial
`Neighbor`	Known only because a polled device names it as an LLDP/CDP neighbor	No	Minimal (name, chassis MAC)

If a device has no metrics, check its
monitoring_mode
before assuming a data gap — only
Extension
-mode devices are polled. When listing "monitored devices," exclude
Neighbor
(and usually
Discovery
).

Routing

Inventory, attributes, or topology (list devices, find a device's interfaces, map neighbors, read model/firmware/location) → references/topology-model.md.
Health or performance (CPU, memory, uptime, interface up/down, throughput, saturation, errors) → references/metrics.md.
Event-driven signals (SNMP traps, syslog messages, discovery activity) → references/logs.md.
Most real questions combine layers (e.g. "which interfaces on the core router are down" = metric status filtered to one device, joined to interface names). The metrics and logs references show these joined queries.

Related Skills

Network device monitoring is one part of Dynatrace network observability. Route elsewhere when the question is not about device/interface health or topology:

The user wants…	Use
Traffic between entities, top talkers, conversations, connection health (the flows through the network)	dt-obs-network-flows — including NetFlow/IPFIX/sFlow that these same devices export
Host NIC throughput / packet drops on OneAgent-monitored hosts (not SNMP devices)	dt-obs-hosts → `references/host-metrics.md`
Service request rate, latency, error rate	dt-obs-services
Setting up or configuring an extension (this skill covers the resulting data model, not extension authoring)	dt-obs-extensions
General Smartscape traversal syntax ( `traverse` , `smartscapeEdges` , `references[…]` )	dt-dql-essentials

Network devices vs. network flows. This skill answers "what is the state of the box and its ports" (SNMP device/interface health and topology).
dt-obs-network-flows
answers "what traffic is crossing the network" (conversations, bytes, talkers). The same router appears in both: here as an
EXT_NETWORK_DEVICE
with interface counters, there as a NetFlow exporter. A future macro dt-obs-network
skill may unify them; until then, cross-link.

Reference Files

references/topology-model.md — Validated. The Smartscape model:
```
EXT_NETWORK_DEVICE
```
and
```
EXT_NETWORK_INTERFACE
```
node types with full field reference, monitoring modes, and the
```
belongs_to
```
/
```
calls
```
edges. DQL for device inventory (with filtering by mode/type/location/vendor), listing a device's interfaces, resolving an interface to its device, and mapping device/interface neighbor topology.
references/metrics.md — Validated. The
```
com.dynatrace.extension.network_device.*
```
metric catalog with units, dimensions, and field-typing rules. DQL for device health (top CPU, memory % with fallback, uptime and reboot detection) and interface health (down interfaces, throughput and saturation vs. link speed, error/discard counts, per-device interface detail), each joined to device/interface names.
references/logs.md — Validated. The three log sources: SNMP traps (
```
extension:com.dynatrace.extension.snmp-traps-generic
```
), syslog (
```
extension:syslog
```
), and auto-discovery activity (
```
extension:com.dynatrace.extension.snmp-auto-discovery
```
). Covers the IP-to-Smartscape join pattern (
```
device.address
```
/
```
dt.ingest.source.ip
```
→
```
snmp.ip
```
), field references for all three sources, and DQL for recent traps with device names, trap frequency by OID, error syslog, top event patterns, combined per-device view, and LLDP/CDP neighbor discovery logs.