SNMP Polling Load Calculator

Work out snmp polling load instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About SNMP Polling Load Calculator

SNMP load scales with devices times OIDs divided by the interval. The bandwidth is usually trivial; what matters is the data point rate hitting the time-series database and the CPU cost on the polled devices, since SNMP agents are typically single-threaded and a large GetBulk walk can noticeably load a switch's control plane.

Formula

SNMP load

OIDs per second = devices x OIDs per device / interval; bandwidth = OIDs per second x bytes per OID x 8

Worked example

With the default values below, SNMP Polling Load Calculator returns SNMP polling bandwidth of 0.230. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Devices polledminimum 1: 800
OIDs per deviceminimum 1: 120
Poll intervalminimum 1 s: 300 s
Bytes per OID exchangeminimum 1 bytes: 90 bytes

Results

SNMP polling bandwidth: 0.230 Mbps
OID values retrieved per second: 320
Device polls per second: 2.67
Data points collected per day: 27,648,000

Step by step

1Values used
2SNMP load
3SNMP polling bandwidth= 0.230 Mbps
4OID values retrieved per second= 320
5Device polls per second= 2.67
6Data points collected per day= 27,648,000

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does SNMP polling load devices so much?

The agent walks its MIB tree in software on the control-plane CPU. Aggressive polling of large tables such as per-VLAN counters can push a switch CPU to saturation.

What replaces SNMP polling?

Streaming telemetry over gRPC or NETCONF, where the device pushes counters at a subscribed interval. It scales far better and delivers finer granularity.