Configuring Snmp; Snmp Mechanism; Snmp Protocol Version - HP 5820X Switch Configuration Manual

Configuring SNMP

SNMP offers the communication rules between a management device and the managed devices on the
network; it defines a series of messages, methods and syntaxes to implement the access and
management from the management device to the managed devices. SNMP has the following
characteristics:
Automatic network management: SNMP enables network administrators to search and modify
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information, find and diagnose network problems, plan for network growth, and obtain reports on
network nodes.
SNMP shields physical differences between various devices and realizes automatic management of
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products from various vendors. Offering only the basic set of functions, SNMP makes the
management tasks independent of both the physical features of the managed devices and the
underlying networking technologies. SNMP achieves effective management of devices from different
vendors, especially in small, high-speed and low-cost network environments.

SNMP mechanism

An SNMP-enabled network comprises the following elements:
NMS—An NMS is a station that runs the SNMP client software. It offers a user-friendly interface,
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facilitating network administrators to perform most network management tasks.
Agent—An agent is a program resides in the device. It receives and handles requests sent from the
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NMS. Only under certain circumstances, such as interface state change, will the agent inform the
NMS.
An NMS is a manager in an SNMP enabled network, whereas agents are managed by the NMS. The
NMS and agents exchange management information through the SNMP protocol.
SNMP provides the following basic operations:
Get operation—NMS gets the value of one or more objects of the agent.
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Set operation—NMS can reconfigure the value of one or more objects in the agent MIB
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(Management Information Base) by means of this operation.
Trap operation—Agent sends traps to the NMS through this operation.
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Inform operation—NMS sends traps to other NMSs through this operation.
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SNMP protocol version

SNMP agents support the following protocol versions: SNMPv1, SNMPv2C and SNMPv3.
SNMPv1 uses community names for authentication, which defines the relationship between an
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SNMP NMS and an SNMP agent. SNMP packets with community names that did not pass the
authentication on the device will simply be discarded. A community name performs a similar role as
a password to regulate access from the NMS to the agent.
SNMPv2c uses community names for authentication. Compatible with SNMPv1, it extends the
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functions of SNMPv1. SNMPv2c provides more operation modes such as GetBulk and InformRequest;
it supports more data types such as Counter64 and provides various error codes, being able to
distinguish errors in more detail.
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