SNMP Agent Components
This section presents key components used to set up SNMP management on the Makito X.
snmpd
snmpd
is an SNMP agent that binds to a port and listens for requests from SNMP management software. Upon receiving a request, it performs the requested operation, either retrieving information or configuring the system. When finished processing the request, the agent sends a response to the sender with the requested information or the status of the configuration operation.
When you start an SNMP agent on a Makito X Series device using the service snmp start
command, it loads the management database with the MIB files in the directory /usr/share/snmp/mibs
and configures the agent with the files in /usr/share/snmp
.
snmpd.conf
snmpd.conf
is the configuration file that defines how the SNMP agent works. You may need to edit this file to specify the location of the Network Management System (NMS). However, for most settings, it is preferable to use the nmcfg
configuration script.
On a Makito X Series device, the snmpd.conf
file includes:
- access control setup (i.e., community and user privileges),
- system information setup (e.g., system location, services and contact).
snmpd.conf
is located in the directory /usr/share/snmp
.
For a detailed description, see the snmpd.conf
file.
snmpd.local.conf
snmpd.local.conf
is the configuration file that defines the VACM (View-based Access Control Model) views modeling the privilege levels of the Makito X Series user groups: admins, operators, and users. These groups can be used for v1/v2c communities and v3 USM users.
This file cannot be modified. Access groups are used in place of the traditional ro
(readonly) and rw
(read-write) permissions when setting communities' and users' access with the nmcfg
configuration script.
SNMP Community Names
Following are the default SNMP community names and their privileges for accessing the Makito X Series MIBs.
SNMP Community Name | Access Rights |
---|---|
| Read and write permission from local network and local host |
| Read-only permission from local network |
nmcfg
nmcfg
is the configuration script that helps the configuration of the SNMP agent. It is particularly useful for the creation and management of SNMPv3 users of the User-based Security Model (USM) and the assignment of VACM (View-based Access Control Model) access rights to communities and users. The script interacts with the /var/netsnmp/snmpd.conf
persistent data file, which maintains the USM user database and other SNMP agent persistent information. The script also performs snmpget
commands to display the list of USM users, which is not available in a human readable form in any configuration file.
The script also reads and modifies the snmpd.conf
configuration file to manage system parameters (contact, location), community-based (v1/v2c) security, and user access control. Used without parameters, it displays a summary of the SNMP agent configuration: system parameters, access control, and SNMPv3 USM users.
Following is an example of the nmcfg
configuration script output:
# nmcfg
system parameter value
-------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
engineid 0x80001f88030050c2c611ad
contact "john doe <jdoe@example.net>"
location "QA lab"
model perm/group level user/community source
------------- ----------------- -------------- -------------------- ---------
usm guest auth guest -
usm administrator priv johndoe -
v2c administrator noauth admin localhost
v2c administrator noauth admin localnet
v2c guest noauth public localnet
v2c rw noauth tech any
auth protocol priv protocol user
---------------------- ---------------------- -------------------------------
MD5 DES admin
MD5 nopriv guest
SHA AES johndoe
# nmcfg help
usage: nmcfg
nmcfg help
nmcfg access help
nmcfg access usm permit <uname> {<group>|ro|rw} [{noauh|auth|priv}]
nmcfg access usm delete <uname>
nmcfg community help
nmcfg community permit <community> {<group>|ro|rw} [<host>]
nmcfg community delete <community> [{<group>|ro|rw} [<host>]]
nmcfg system help
nmcfg system define <param> "<value>"
nmcfg system delete <param>
nmcfg user help
nmcfg user define <uname> [{MD5|SHA} "<apwd>" [{DES|AES} ["<ppwd>"]]]
nmcfg user delete <uname>