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information controlled by the agent. SNMP defines both the format of the
MIB specifications and the protocol used to access this information over
the network.
The switch includes an onboard agent that supports SNMP versions 1, 2c,
and 3 clients. This agent continuously monitors the status of the switch
hardware, as well as the traffic passing through its ports. A network
management station can access this information using software such as
SMC EliteView. Access to the onboard agent from clients using SNMP v1
and v2c is controlled by community strings. To communicate with the
switch, the management station must first submit a valid community string
for authentication.
Access to the switch using from clients using SNMPv3 provides additional
security features that cover message integrity, authentication, and
encryption; as well as controlling user access to specific areas of the MIB
tree.
The SNMPv3 security structure consists of security models, with each
model having it’s own security levels. There are three security models
defined, SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3. Users are assigned to
“groups” that are defined by a security model and specified security levels.
Each group also has a defined security access to set of MIB objects for
reading and writing, which are known as “views.” The switch has a default
view (all MIB objects) and default groups defined for security models v1
and v2c. The following table shows the security models and levels available
and the system default settings.