Configuring the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

SNMP configuration

The SNMP agent is implemented as a UNIX system daemon, snmpd. Four configuration files are associated with this daemon:

/etc/snmpd.conf: Contains information on the local system, such as a contact name and the system's physical location.
/etc/snmpd.comm: Contains information on the communities to which the SNMP agent belongs.
/etc/snmpd.trap: Contains a list of systems to which the agent sends a trap signal in case of unusual events, such as a ``cold start.''
/etc/snmpd.peers: Contains a list of SMUX peers.

When configured, the agent starts when the system enters the multiuser state (traditionally run-level 2). Upon startup, the agent reads configuration information from its configuration files, then begins listening for SNMP requests on the SNMP port (161). If configured to send traps, the agent also notifies the appropriate management stations that it is running by sending a ``cold start'' trap to the systems listed in the configuration file, /etc/snmpd.trap.

SNMP is automatically enabled with default configuration files when the system goes into multiuser mode, if the TCP/IP protocol stack is configured on the system. Even with these default configuration files, each site will need to customize its environment. Do this in one of two ways:

By using the SNMP Agent Manager.
By using an editor (such as vi or emacs) to manually change the files /etc/snmpd.conf, /etc/snmpd.comm, /etc/snmpd.peers, and /etc/snmpd.trap.

NOTE: We strongly recommend running the SNMP Agent Manager over manually editing the configuration files.