9. SNMP
ROX™ v2.2 User Guide
98
RuggedBackbone™ RX5000
9. SNMP
The SNMP (the Simple Network Management Protocol) protocol is used by network management
systems and the devices they manage. SNMP is used to manage items on the device to be managed,
as well as by the device itself, to report alarm conditions and other events.
The first version of SNMP, V1, provides the ability to send a notification of an event via "traps". Traps
are unacknowledged UDP messages and may be lost in transit. SNMP V2 adds the ability to notify
via "informs". Informs simply add acknowledgment to the trap process, resending the trap if it is not
acknowledged in a timely fashion.
SNMP V1 and V2 transmit information in clear text (which may or may not be an issue depending on
the facilities the data is transmitted over) and are lacking in the ability to authenticate a user. SNMP V3
adds strong authentication and encryption.
ROX™ supports Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3). This protocol provides
secure access to devices by a combination of authentication and encrypting packets over the network.
The security features provided are:
• message integrity - ensuring that a packet has not been tampered with in-transit.
• authentication – determining the message is from a valid source.
• encryption – scrambling the contents of a packet to prevent it from being seen by an unauthorized
source.
SNMPv3 provides security models and security levels. A security model is an authentication strategy
that is set up for a user and the group in which the user resides. A security level is a permitted level
of security within a security model. A combination of a security model and security level will determine
which security mechanism is employed when handling an SNMP packet.
Note the following about SNMPv3 protocol:
• each user belongs to a group.
• a group defines the access policy for a set of users.
• an access policy defines what SNMP objects can be accessed for: reading, writing and creating
notifications.
• a group determines the list of notifications its users can receive.
• a group also defines the security model and security level for its users.
9.1. SNMP Traps
The following SNMP traps are defined in the RX5000 MIB files:
Standard
MIB
Trap and Description
authenticationFailure
An authenticationFailure trap signifies that the SNMP entity has
received a protocol message that is not properly authenticated. While all
implementations of SNMP entities MAY be capable of generating this trap,
the snmpEnableAuthenTraps object indicates whether this trap will be
generated.
coldStart
A coldStart trap signifies that the SNMP entity, supporting a notification
originator application, is reinitializing itself and that its configuration may
have been altered.
RFC 3418
SNMPv2-MIB
warmStart
A warmStart trap signifies that the SNMP entity, supporting a notification
originator application, is reinitializing itself such that its configuration is
unaltered.
