System Restart Requirements for SNMP

NewNet Lithium makes use of SNMP for configuration, monitoring, and sending event notifications (traps).  Because of this reliance on SNMP, a problem can develop if the system is left running for longer than 497 days.

What TimeTicks Are

• In SNMP, there’s a data type called TimeTicks.

• It represents time in hundredths of a second (1/100 sec = 10 ms).

• Devices often use it to report uptime since last reboot or similar counters.

The 497-Day Problem

• TimeTicks is defined as a 32-bit unsigned integer.

• Maximum value: 2^32 - 1 = 4,294,967,295.

• In hundredths of a second, that equals about 4.29 billion ticks.

• Converting that:

  • 4,294,967,295 ÷ 100 = 42,949,672.95 seconds

  • ÷ 60 = 715,827.88 minutes

  • ÷ 60 = 11,930.46 hours

  • ÷ 24 = 497.1 days

So after ~497 days, 2 hours, 27 minutes, 52 seconds, the counter reaches its max.

Impact of Hitting the Limit for TimeTicks

In NewNet Lithium, hitting the TimeTicks limit by allowing a server to run for more than 497 days causes SNMP communication to fail. This, in turn, can cause the SNMP-based actions that NewNet relies on to stop working.

You may see errors in the logs like this:

Aug 11 07:39:59 SPF-01 SPF-SOAP[32447]: Error sending SNMP trap: The TimeTicks value "14016221700" is out of range (0..4294967295)

How can I check if my system is affected?

To verify whether your system has been running longer than 497 days, run the following command on each node: uptime .  This will show how long the system has been continuously running.

Solution

We recommend restarting your system after 450 days of uptime to prevent SNMP issues.

⚠️ Note: This requires a full operating system restart, not just a restart of TextPass.
You can find detailed instructions here: How to safely perform OS restart on a server/node

 How to safely perform OS restart on a server/node