WHAT IS SIMPLE NETWORK MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL?

Simple Network Management Protocol is an Internet Standard protocol for collecting and organizing information about managed devices on IP networks and for modifying that information to change device behavior

What is SNMP and how does it work?

SNMP works by sending messages, called protocol data units (PDUs), to devices within your network that “speak” SNMP. … Using these requests, network administrators can track virtually any data values they specify. All of the information SNMP tracks can be provided to a product that asks for it.

What is the purpose of the simple network management protocol SNMP?

Although the original purpose of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) was to let network administrators remotely manage an Internet system, the design of SNMP lets network administrators manage applications and systems.

How is SNMP used on the Internet?

SNMP is an application layer protocol which uses UDP port number 161/162. SNMP is used to monitor the network, detect network faults and sometimes even used to configure remote devices. It is a software management software module installed on a managed device.

What is SNMP architecture?

SNMP architecture

SNMP has a simple architecture based on a client-server model. The servers, called managers, collect and process information about devices on the network. The clients, called agents, are any type of device or device component connected to the network.

What port is used for SNMP?

161 snmp-agent-port—The port the SNMP agent will listen on. The default SNMP port number is 161. snmp-agent-protocol—The protocol the SNMP agent will communicate with. The default protocol is UDP.

You can install the SNMP service via the Control Panel. Go to the Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off. In the list of Windows features, select Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the WMI SNMP Provider (provides access to the SNMP information via the Windows Management Instrumentation interfaces), and click OK.

You can also install the SNMP service using PowerShell:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -online -FeatureName SNMP

This command can help you to install the SNMP service on Windows 10 in 1803 builds or earlier. Starting from Windows 10 1809 Microsoft changed the way to deploy SNMP service on desktop OSs.

How to Enable SNMP Service in Windows 10 1803 and Newer?

In Windows 10 1803 and later (1809, 1903,1909, 2004), the SNMP service is considered deprecated and is not listed in the Windows features in the Control Panel list.https://876a8e50e0830743ea556cc81901e26f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Microsoft plans to completely remove the SNMP service in the next Windows builds because of the security risks associated with this protocol. Instead of SNMP, it is recommended to use the Common Information Model (CIM), which is supported by Windows Remote Management. On the current builds of Windows 10, the SNMP service is hidden.

The SNMP service is now missing from the Windows 10 image and can only be installed as Feature On Demand (FoD).

Tip. You can install the SNMP service on a disconnected environment (without Internet access) using the FoD ISO image. You can download the FOD media from your Volume License Servicing Center (VLSC).

If your computer has a direct Internet connection, you can install the SNMP service components online from Microsoft servers. To do this, open the elevated PowerShell console and run the command:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0"

You can also use DISM to install the SNMP service:

DISM /online /add-capability /capabilityname:SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

After that, you can verify if the SNMP service is installed:

Get-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "SNMP*"

Name : SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0
State : Installed
DisplayName : Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Description : This feature includes Simple Network Management Protocol agents that monitor the activity in network devices and reports it to the network console workstation
DownloadSize : 595304
InstallSize : 1128133

To disable the SNMP service, use the PowerShell command:

Remove-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "SNMP.Client~~~~0.0.1.0"

You can also install the SNMP service through the Optional Features graphical interface.

Go to the Settings > Apps > Apps & Features > Manage optional feature > Add Feature. Select the following features in the list: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and WMI SNMP Provider (to get all SNMP service configuration tabs).

After that, the SNMP service will appear in the services.msc console.

If when performing the Add-WindowsCapability command you received the “Add-WindowsCapability failed error. Error code = 0x800f0954”, most likely your computer receives Windows updates not from Microsoft Update servers but from the internal WSUS server. To make the SNMP service receive installation files from Microsoft servers, you need to temporarily bypass the WSUS.

To do this, run the command:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdateAU" /v UseWUServer /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

After that, restart the Windows Update service:https://876a8e50e0830743ea556cc81901e26f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

netshh winhttp reset proxy

net stop wuauserv

net start wuauserv

Now try to install the SNMP service with the Add-WindowsCapability command. If all goes well, return the initial wusuaserv service registry parameter pointing to the WSUS server. Run the command:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdateAU" /v UseWUServer /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

And restart the Windows Update Service.

Configure SNMP on Windows 10 Computer

After the installation, SNMP services should start automatically. Open the Services management console (services.msc). Two new services should appear in the service list:

• SNMP Service — this is the primary SNMP agent service, that tracks activity and sends information;
• SNMP Trap — receives trap messages from local or remote SNMP agents, and forwards messages to the SNMP management software that is being run on that computer.

Open the properties of the SNMP Service. If it is stopped, restart it by pressing the Start button and then change the startup type to Automatic.

Click the Agent tab. Fill in the Contact and Location fields (you can specify the user’s contact name and computer location). Then select the list of services from which you want to collect data and send it to the monitoring device. There are five service-based options:

• Physical;
• Applications;
• Internet;
• End-to-end;
• Datalink and subnetwork.

Click the Security tab. Here you can configure various security settings for different SNMP servers.https://876a8e50e0830743ea556cc81901e26f.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The list of Accepted community names contains the names of the communities whose SNMP hosts are authenticated to send SNMP requests to this computer. The community name has the same functions as login and password.

Click the Add button and specify the Community Name and one of the five access levels (None, Notify, READ ONLY, READ WRITE, READ CREATE). READ WRITE is the maximum access level at which the SNMP management server can make changes on the system. For monitoring systems, it is usually enough to select READ ONLY (the monitoring server can only poll the system, but not to make changes). In our example, we added a community name public with READ ONLY permissions.

Add a list of monitoring servers (hostnames or IP addresses) to the Accept SNMP packets from these hosts from which you want to accept SNMP packets. This could be your monitoring system, for example, Zabbix, Nagios, Icinga, OpenNMS, PRTG, and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM).

Tip. You can select the Accept SNMP packets from any host option. In this mode, the SNMP agent accepts packets from any host without IP restrictions. This option is not recommended for use on public computers. This is not safe.

Save the changes and restart the SNMP service.

Hint. To make your Windows host receiving and sending SNMP queries and traps, you need to open SNMP ports in Windows defender firewall with advanced security SNMP uses UDP as a transport protocol. Two ports are used: UDP 161 (SNMP) and UDP 162 (SNMPTRAP). You can open inbound and outbound SNMP ports in Windows Firewall using the following commands:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="SNMP UDP Port 161 In" dir=in action=allow protocol=UDP localport=161

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="SNMP UDP Port 161 Out" dir=out action=allow protocol=UDP localport=161

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="SNMPTRAP UDP Port 162 In" dir=in action=allow protocol=UDP localport=162

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=" SNMPTRAP UDP Port 162 Out" dir=out acti

ADVANTAGES OF THE SIMPLE NETWORK MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL

The advantages of SNMP

Odds are most, if not all, of the devices on your network are SNMP compatible. However, if you haven’t already configured them for SNMP, it’s most likely not yet enabled on them. SNMP requires that you manually turn it on for each device. This is to eliminate the security risk of accidentally running an insecure SNMP protocol.

There are plenty of reasons to enable SNMP, however, including:

• Standardized device monitoring, eliminating the need for complex monitoring configurations
• Vendorless monitoring (meaning devices from any manufacturer are recognized)
• Automatic parameter monitoring
• Real-time status updates
• Centralized management location – all the data can be sent to and processed at one area on your network

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