The configuration of SNMP on Cisco devices is fairly straightforward, and is handled from global configuration mode. For the purpose of this illustration, I’m going to assume that we’re using a Cisco 2500 router.
The command to enable SNMP on the router is snmp community, followed by the community name. This command also allows you to […]

If there’s one area that’s certain to get people confused when it comes to SNMP, it would have to be the understanding the purpose of a Management Information Base (MIB). The concept isn’t so difficult if you tear away most of the techno-jargon. Every SNMP managed device includes an MIB. Think of an MIB as […]

SNMP is a protocol dedicated to gathering network information with as little overhead as possible; SNMP was never designed with security in mind. For example, in SNMPv1 and SNMPv2, the only true security element was the community string. In effect, if a device was enabled for SNMP write access and someone knew the community string, […]

As part of the configuration of a managed device, you can also identify whether it should be configured for read access, write access, or both. If configured for read access, an NMS like HP OpenView can gather information about the device. If configured for write access, an NMS can also configure the device using SNMP […]

Three versions of SNMP have been standardized – SNMPv1, SNMPv2, and SNMPv3. While the versions all work in a similar manner, they are not directly compatible. Some of the differences between the versions include:

SNMPv2 and SNMPv3 include additional commands not available in SNMPv1.
In SNMPv1 and SNMPv2, security is based on a very simple administrative grouping […]

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an application-layer communication protocol that provides a standardized method for managing network devices. The protocol is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite and uses UDP as its transport protocol.
In order to better appreciate how SNMP works, let’s begin by taking a look at the different components of an […]