SNMP notifications

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a standard protocol for managing networks and exchanging messages. The system can send SNMP messages that notify personnel about an event. You can use an SNMP manager to view the SNMP messages that the system sends. The system supports both SNMP version 2 and version 3.

About this task

Event notifications are reported to the SNMP destinations of your choice. You can specify SNMP destinations by creating SNMP server objects on the system. You must provide a valid IP address or fully qualified domain name. A DNS server must be created on the system to use a fully qualified domain name. A maximum of six SNMP destinations can be specified.

You can use the Management Information Base (MIB) file for SNMP to configure a network management program to receive SNMP messages that are sent by the system. This file can be used with SNMP messages from all versions of the software. You can use your browser to download the MIB file by clicking Download MIB in the management GUI by navigating to Settings > Notifications > SNMP.

For version 2 SNMP servers, the community string is required and the default value is public. SNMP version 3 introduces improved encryption and authentication mechanisms. The system supports two different security models when using version 3. The first security model is the User-based Security Model (USM), which provides authentication and privacy at the message level. The second security model is the Transport Security Model (TSM), which uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) to send messages over a secure connection. For more information about using TLS, see SNMP over TLS. Table 1 displays the security levels that are supported when using SNMP version 3 with USM.

These different security levels depend on the credentials that you configure to authenticate successfully to the SNMP server.
Table 1. Security levels and required credentials for SNMP version 3 servers using the user-based security model
Security Level Description Required security credentials
None No additional authentication or encryption is used to send SNMP notifications.
  • Engine ID
  • Security Name
Authentication Notifications are authenticated, but message content is not encrypted.
  • Engine ID
  • Security Name
  • Authentication Protocol
  • Authentication Passphrase
Authentication and Privacy Notifications are authenticated and message content is encrypted.
  • Engine ID
  • Security Name
  • Authentication Protocol
  • Authentication Passphrase
  • Privacy Protocol
  • Privacy Passphrase
For SNMP Version 3, use a unique engine ID for every system. The system does not automatically generate the engine ID. You can use an existing engine ID from an SNMP server. If you are setting up SNMP for the first time, you must generate a new engine ID.
Note:
  • SNMP will not accept any configuration get requests from SNMP server.
Using the management GUI
  1. To configure or manage SNMP servers in the management GUI, select Settings > Notifications > SNMP.
  2. To configure a new server, select Add SNMP Server or right-click an existing instance and select Modify.
  3. To send a test trap from the system to an SNMP server, right-click an existing instance and select Test. The system cannot provide any feedback about whether the test is a success, but you can check on the specified server that the trap has arrived successfully.
Using the Command Line interface
To configure the SNMP server, use the following commands:
  • See mksnmpserver to add an SNMP Version 2 or Version 3 server.
  • See chsnmpserver to change the settings of an existing SNMP server.
  • See rmsnmpserver to remove an existing SNMP server from the system.
  • See lssnmpserver to display either a concise list or a detailed view of the SNMP servers that are detected by the system.
  • See testsnmpserver to send a test trap to an existing server.