General SNMP Settings

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) defines a standard for recording, storing, and sharing information about network devices. SNMP facilitates network management, troubleshooting, and maintenance. The AP supports SNMP versions 1, 2, and 3. Unless specifically noted, all configuration parameters on this page apply to SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c only.

Key components of any SNMP-managed network are managed devices, SNMP agents, and a management system. The agents store data about their devices in Management Information Bases (MIBs) and return this data to the SNMP manager when requested. Managed devices can be network nodes such as APs, routers, switches, bridges, hubs, servers, or printers.

The Access Point can function as an SNMP managed device for seamless integration into network management systems such as HP OpenView.

Field	Description
SNMP Enabled/Disabled	You can specify the SNMP administrative mode on your network. By default SNMP is disabled. To enable SNMP, click Enabled. To disable SNMP, click Disabled. After changing the mode, you must click Apply to save your configuration changes. Note: If you disable SNMP, all remaining fields on the SNMP page are is disabled. This is a global SNMP parameter which applies to SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3.
Read-only community name (for permitted SNMP get operations)	Enter a read-only community name. The community name, as defined in SNMPv2c, acts as a simple authentication mechanism to restrict the machines on the network that can request data to the SNMP agent. The name functions as a password, and the request is assumed to be authentic if the sender knows the password. The community name can be in any alphanumeric format. Double quote (") is not a valid character.
Port number the SNMP agent will listen to	By default an SNMP agent only listens to requests from port 161. However, you can configure this so the agent listens to requests on another port. Enter the port number on which you want the SNMP agents to listen to requests. Note: This is a global SNMP parameter which applies to SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3.
Allow SNMP set requests	You can choose whether or not to allow SNMP set requests on the AP. Enabling SNMP set requests means that machines on the network can execute configuration changes via the SNMP agent on the AP to the Cisco System MIB. To enable SNMP set requests, click Enabled or to disable SNMP set requests, click Disabled.
Read-write community name (for permitted SNMP set operations)	If you have enabled SNMP set requests you can set a read-write community name. Setting a community name is similar to setting a password. Only requests from the machines that identify themselves with this community name will be accepted. The community name can be in any alphanumeric format. Double quote (") is not a valid character.
Restrict the source of SNMP requests to only the designated hosts or subnets	You can restrict the source of permitted SNMP requests. To restrict the source of permitted SNMP requests, click Enabled. To permit any source submitting an SNMP request, click Disabled.
Hostname, address or subnet of Network Management System	Specify the IPv4 DNS hostname or subnet of the machines that can execute get and set requests to the managed devices. As with community names, this provides a level of security on SNMP settings. The SNMP agent will only accept requests from the hostname or subnet specified here. To specify a subnet, enter one or more subnetwork address ranges in the form address/mask_length where address is an IP address and mask_length is the number of mask bits. Both formats address/mask and address/mask_length are supported. Individual hosts can be provided for this, i.e. I.P Address or Hostname. For example, if you enter a range of 192.168.1.0/24 this specifies a subnetwork with address 192.168.1.0 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. The address range is used to specify the subnet of the designated NMS. Only machines with IP addresses in this range are permitted to execute get and set requests on the managed device. Given the example above, the machines with addresses from 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.254 can execute SNMP commands on the device. (The address identified by suffix .0 in a subnetwork range is always reserved for the subnet address, and the address identified by .255 in the range is always reserved for the broadcast address). As another example, if you enter a range of 10.10.1.128/25 machines with IP addresses from 10.10.1.129 through 10.10.1.254 can execute SNMP requests on managed devices. In this example, 10.10.1.128 is the network address and 10.10.1.255 is the broadcast address. 126 addresses would be designated.
Community name for traps	Enter the global community string associated with SNMP traps. Traps sent from the device will provide this string as a community name. The community name can be in any alphanumeric format. Special characters are not permitted. Double quote (") is not a valid character.
Hostname or IP address	Enter the DNS hostname of the computer to which you want to send SNMP traps. An example of a DNS hostname is: snmptraps.foo.com. Since SNMP traps are sent randomly from the SNMP agent, it makes sense to specify where exactly the traps should be sent. You can add up to a maximum of three DNS hostnames. Ensure you select the Enabled check box beside the appropriate hostname.

Note: After you configure the SNMP settings, you must click Apply to apply the changes and to save the settings. Changing some settings might cause the AP to stop and restart system processes. If this happens, wireless clients will temporarily lose connectivity. We recommend that you change AP settings when WLAN traffic is low.