Allied Telesis AT-S83 - Manual (Page 41)

AT-S83 Management Software Command Line Interface User’s Guide
41
SNMP Settings
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an OSI Layer 7
(Application Layer) designed specifically for managing and monitoring
network devices. SNMP enables network management stations to read
and modify the settings of gateways, routers, switches, and other network
devices. Use SNMP to configure system features for proper operation,
monitor performance and detect potential problems in the switch, switch
group, or network.
Managed devices that support SNMP include software (referred to as an
agent), which runs locally on the device.A defined set of variables
(managed objects) is maintained by the SNMP agent and used to manage
the device.These objects are defined in a Management Information Base
(MIB), which provides a standard presentation of the information controlled
by the on-board SNMP agent. SNMP defines both the format of the MIB
specifications and the protocol used to access this information over the
network.
The AT-10408XP supports SNMP versions 1, 2c, and 3.You can specify
which version of SNMP you want to use to monitor and control the
switch.The three versions of SNMP vary in the level of security provided
between the management station and the network device.
In SNMP v1 and v2, user authentication is accomplished using
“community strings,” which function like passwords.The remote user
SNMP application and the switch SNMP must use the same community
string. SNMP packets from any station that has not been authenticated are
ignored or dropped.
The default community strings for the switch used for SNMP v1 and v2
management access are:
ˆ public – Allows authorized management stations to retrieve MIB
objects.
ˆ private – Allows authorized management stations to retrieve and
modify MIB objects.
SNMP v3 uses a more sophisticated authentication process that is
separated into two parts.The first part is to maintain a list of users and their
attributes that are allowed to act as SNMP managers.The second part
describes what each user on that list can do as an SNMP manager.
The switch allows groups of users to be listed and configured with a
shared set of privileges.The SNMP version may also be set for a listed
group of SNMP managers.Thus, you may create a group of SNMP
managers that are allowed to view read-only information or receive traps
using SNMP v1 while assigning a higher level of security to another group,
such as granting read/write privileges using SNMP v3.