AP SNMP Options

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a protocol used for monitoring and managing network devices, such as access points (APs). It allows you to remotely gather information about the status, performance, and health of network devices, as well as configure and control them.

SNMP options are disabled by default, you can toggle the switch to ON to enable the SNMP protocol in the APs and allow configuration of the SNMP options. You can set customized options on the go or click AP SNMP Agent Profile to select an existing SNMP profile or create a new profile. Any of these types of profiles requires defining an SNMPv2 Agent, an SNMPv3 Agent, or both.

AP SNMP Options for Zones, AP Groups, and Individual APs

  AP Configuration / Configuration Level Zone AP Groups Individual AP
AP SNMP Options Enable AP SNMP √ √ √
Config Type √ √ √

Configuring Custom AP SNMP Options

Configuring Custom AP SNMP Options

SNMPv2 Agent: Create a community string. The community string is used in SNMPv2 as a password for the SNMP Agent to access information in the AP; it can have read/write or read-only privileges.

Optionally, click the Notification checkbox to enable the AP to send notifications. Type the target IP to define the Agent receiving these notifications. Additionally, define a port number for the SNMP notifications or use the default port number 162. Click Add to add the notification receiver to the list.

Two types of notifications can be sent, Trap and Inform. Both traps and informs are mechanisms used by network devices to send notifications or alerts to an SNMP manager:

  • Trap: A trap is an unsolicited message sent by the AP to the SNMP manager to indicate a significant event or condition. Traps are asynchronous and are sent immediately when the event occurs, without waiting for acknowledgment from the SNMP manager. Trap is the default notification type.
  • Inform: Unlike traps, informs are acknowledged messages. After sending an inform, the device waits for an acknowledgment (ack) from the SNMP manager. If the SNMP manager receives the inform successfully, it sends an acknowledgment (ack) back to the device, confirming receipt of the notification

SNMPv3 Agent: SNMPv3 is an enhanced version of earlier SNMP versions (SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c) and offers improved security and authentication features. Define the following information for the SNMPv3 agent:

  • User: A user in SNMPv3 is associated with specific security parameters, including authentication and privacy settings, which are used to control access to SNMP-managed devices.
  • Authentication: It ensures the integrity and authenticity of SNMP messages exchanged between SNMP agents and SNMP managers, involving the use of cryptographic algorithms to generate a message digest or checksum based on the contents of the SNMP message and a shared secret.
    • MD5 - Provides basic authentication using a 128-bit hash to verify the integrity and authenticity of SNMP messages. Message Digest Algorithm 5 authentication method.
    • SHA1 - Provides stronger authentication than MD5 using a 160-bit hash for message integrity verification. Secure Hash Algorithm 1 authentication method.
    • SHA256 - Enhances security by providing stronger hashing and improved resistance to attacks. By default, this option is used for SNMPv3 agent authentication.
    • SHA 384 - Provides higher security strength and stronger message integrity protection. SHA-2 based authentication using a 384-bit hash.
    • SHA 512 - Provides the highest level of authentication security and integrity protection among the available options. SHA-2 based authentication using a 512-bit hash.
  • Auth Passphrase: Used in the authentication algorithms to ensure the integrity and authenticity of SNMP messages.
  • Privacy: Privacy involves the use of encryption algorithms to obscures the contents of the SNMP messages, making them unintelligible to eavesdroppers.
    • None - Data is transmitted in plain text without privacy protection. No encryption is applied to SNMP messages. By default, Privacy is set to NONE.
    • DES - Encrypts SNMP traffic using a 56-bit encryption key to provide basic privacy protection. Data Encryption Standard (DES) encryption method.
    • AES 128 - Provides secure encryption with improved protection compared to DES. Advanced Encryption Standard with 128-bit key length.
    • AES 192 - Provides stronger encryption and enhanced data privacy protection. Advanced Encryption Standard with 192-bit key length.
    • AES 256 - Provides the highest level of encryption security among the available privacy options. Advanced Encryption Standard with 256-bit key length.
  • Privilege: Select between Read-Only and Read-Write. Optionally, add a notification mechanism.

Parent topic: Access Point and Zone Configuration Options