DSL LAN Extender 200 User’s Guide
© 2002 Black Box Corporation
Page 20
Defining Communities Information
You need to define the communities to which the DSL LAN Extender device belongs. You can assign the
device to up to four communities. The community information determines which hosts on the network are
allowed to do the following:
•
Read the device’s configuration information
•
Modify (write) the configuration
•
Receive traps from the device (traps are essentially alarms the device sends out to alert certain users
when certain events occur, such as when the device is powered or reset).
NOTE:
Be careful when you define community information. You must enter the community names
exactly as they are defined in your SNMP management software or your management software
will not be able to recognize the device. Community names are case-sensitive.
After you assign the device to the communities you want, assign the permissions you want for members
of each community. You assign permission by selecting Yes (Y) or No (N) for each permission.
Y = allow members of the community to do this
N = don’t allow members of the community to do this
There are two access options:
Read = allow (Y)/disallow (N) members of the community to read the device’s configuration. (The Read
option is automatically turned on for all the communities to which you assign the device. You cannot
change this setting. However, if the Limit Access to SNMP Hosts option is turned on, only hosts you
designate in the SNMP Management Hosts table will be allowed to read the device’s configuration -- see
the “
Specifying Who Can Access the Device
” section below for information.)
Write = allow (Y)/disallow (N) members of the community to modify the device’s configuration.
You designate the members of the community you want to be able to access the device in the SNMP
Management Hosts table.
Specifying Who Can Access the Device
You can specify the hosts on the network who will be allowed to access the device. You use the SNMP
Management Hosts table to do this. This feature adds an additional level of security to the device.
NOTE:
If the Limit Access to SNMP Hosts option is turned on, only the hosts you specify will be
allowed to access the DSL LAN Extender device. (If the Limit Access to SNMP Hosts option is
turned off, all members of the communities you assigned to the DSL LAN Extender device will
be allowed to access the device, contingent on the permissions you assigned to each community.
The hosts you specify must belong to the communities in the Communities table. Also, the permissions
you defined in the Communities table apply to the hosts you specify. For example, suppose you assign the
DSL LAN Extender device to a community named “public” and a community named “netman”. You
assign write permission to members of the public community but not to the netman community. Also,
suppose you set up the following two hosts in the SNMP Management Hosts table: Jupiter and Saturn.
Jupiter belongs to the public community and Saturn belongs to the netman community. Jupiter, as a
member of the public community, which has write permission, will be able to modify the device’s
configuration. Saturn, as a member of the netman community, which doesn’t have write permission, will
only be able to read the device’s configuration, but not modify (write) it.
You can designate up to four hosts in the SNMP Management Hosts table. You must define the following
correct information about each host you want to access the DSL LAN Extender device:
