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Chapter 5 Network Management (SNMP and
RMON)
5.1
SNMP, MIB and RMON Groups
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and RMON (Remote Monitoring) provide a means to
monitor and manage your network. Each SNMP device maintains Management Information Bases
(MIBs) containing information about the operation and configuration of the device.
Note: This product uses Net-SNMP (available from www.net-snmp.org) which is subject to the
copyrights and license found at: http://www.net-snmp.org/COPYING.txt
The MIBs can be accessed with SNMP tools ranging from simple command-line tools like snmpwalk
and snmpget (part of the open source Net-SNMP package available at http://www.net-snmp.org) to
commercial network management products from various vendors. Key information from the MIBs is
also available via the switch's terminal and web interfaces.
The MIBs are divided into groups of related objects. Objects may be scalar (having only a single value)
or tabular (having a list of values varying over time, by port number, etc.).
For a list of the supported MIB and RMON groups, see Appendix D SNMP Support on page 150.
5.2
SNMP Security
SNMP provides several options for securing access to MIBs. SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 provide only weak
authentication. SNMPv3 uses encryption to add stronger authentication as well as privacy. In all versions, you may configure read-only and read/write users.
SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 authenticate users with a “community string” which is sent in clear text (unencrypted) and no password is required. Some measure of security can be achieved by setting long,
obscure community strings.
SNMPv3 provides three levels of security and encryption:
•
None–No password is required to read or write values in the MIB.
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