SNMP

Introduction

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is used for a management station to access and operate the devices on a network, regardless of their vendors, physical characteristics, and interconnect technologies.

SNMP enables network administrators to read and set the variables on managed devices for state monitoring, troubleshooting, statistics collection, and other management purposes.

SNMP framework

The SNMP framework contains the following elements:

·     SNMP manager—Works on an NMS to monitor and manage the SNMP-capable devices in the network.

·     SNMP agent—Works on a managed device to receive and handle requests from the NMS, and sends notifications to the NMS when events, such as an interface state change, occur.

·     Management Information Base (MIB)—Specifies the variables (for example, interface status and CPU usage) maintained by the SNMP agent for the SNMP manager to read and set.

SNMP versions

The device supports SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3. For an NMS and an SNMP agent to establish an SNMP connection, they must use the same SNMP version.

·     SNMPv1—Uses community names for authentication. To access an SNMP agent, an NMS must use the same community name as set on the SNMP agent. If the community name used by the NMS differs from the community name set on the agent, the NMS cannot establish an SNMP session to access the agent or receive traps from the agent.

·     SNMPv2c—Uses community names for authentication. SNMPv2c is compatible with SNMPv1, but supports more operation types, data types, and error codes.

·     SNMPv3—Uses a user-based security model (USM) to secure SNMP communication. You can configure authentication and privacy mechanisms to authenticate and encrypt SNMP packets for integrity, authenticity, and confidentiality.