SMC Networks SMC6224M manual Community Strings

INITIAL CONFIGURATION

When SNMP management stations send requests to the switch (either to return information or to set a parameter), the switch provides the requested data or sets the specified parameter. The switch can also be configured to send information to SNMP managers (without being requested by the managers) through trap messages, which inform the manager that certain events have occurred.

Community Strings

Community strings are used to control management access to SNMP stations, as well as to authorize SNMP stations to receive trap messages from the switch. You therefore need to assign community strings to specified users or user groups, and set the access level.

The default strings are:

•public - with read-only access. Authorized management stations are only able to retrieve MIB objects.

•private - with read-write access. Authorized management stations are able to both retrieve and modify MIB objects.

Note: If you do not intend to utilize SNMP, we recommend that you delete both of the default community strings. If there are no community strings, then SNMP management access to the switch is disabled.

To prevent unauthorized access to the switch via SNMP, it is recommended that you change the default community strings.

To configure a community string, complete the following steps:

1.From the Privileged Exec level global configuration mode prompt, type “snmp-server community string mode,” where “string” is the community access string and “mode” is rw (read/write) or ro (read only). Press <Enter>. (Note that the default mode is read only.)

2-12