Snmp Communities - Nortel Passport 8600 Configuring

Chapter 1 Managing the switch 25
SNMP applications contain manager software that runs on a network management
station (also known as an SNMP client), such as a PC or a workstation. The
manager software implements the protocols used to exchange data with SNMP
agents. SNMP applications issue queries to gather information about the status,
configuration, and performance of external network devices, called network
elements in SNMP terminology. Network elements contain an agent and perform
the network management function that the network management stations request.
The SNMP agent is a software entity that responds to information and action
request messages (SNMP get and set requests) sent by a network management
station (for example, a Device Manager workstation). The messages exchanged
between manager and switch SNMP agents enable you to access and manage
objects in an active or inactive (stored) management information base (MIB) on a
switch.
The agents also send unsolicited reports, called traps, back to the network
management station when certain network activity occurs. An example of a trap is
an overload condition as defined by the packet load's crossing some threshold.
You use the management station to configure, monitor, and receive trap messages
from other network devices configured as SNMP agents. The management station
can get and set objects in the agents and can receive traps from the agents. The
management station, therefore, has the capability to "manage" a number of
agents.

SNMP Communities

For security reasons, the SNMP agent validates each request from an SNMP
manager before responding to the request, by verifying that the manager belongs
to a valid SNMP community. An SNMP community is a logical relationship
between an SNMP agent and one or more SNMP managers (the manager software
implements the protocols used to exchange data with SNMP agents). You define
communities locally at the agent.
The agent establishes one community for each combination of authentication and
access control characteristics that you choose. You assign each community a
unique name (within the agent), and all members of a community have the same
access privileges, either read-only or read-write:
Read-only: members can view configuration and performance information.
Configuring Network Management