SNMP

aid: snmp
name: SNMP
description: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is the foundational IETF standard for monitoring and managing network
  devices. SNMP defines a request/response protocol over UDP (ports 161 and 162) for retrieving and altering management variables
  exposed by agents on routers, switches, servers, UPSs, and other equipment, plus an asynchronous trap/notification channel
  for event delivery. The protocol family spans three major generations — SNMPv1 (RFC 1157), SNMPv2c (RFC 1901-1908), and
  the modular SNMPv3 architecture (RFC 3411-3418, extended by RFC 7860 for HMAC-SHA-2 authentication) — and is paired with
  the Structure of Management Information (SMI) and a vast catalog of MIB modules, most notably the IF-MIB (RFC 2863) for
  network interfaces. SNMP remains the lingua franca of network monitoring, consumed primarily by NMS platforms such as Nagios,
  Zabbix, PRTG, SolarWinds, LibreNMS, and Observium, and implemented in open source primarily by the Net-SNMP suite.
type: Index
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
- SNMP
- Network Management
- Network Monitoring
- IETF
- Protocol
- MIB
- SMI
- OID
- Agents
- Traps
- UDP
- Operations
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/snmp/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-05-23'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: snmp:snmpv1
  name: SNMPv1 (RFC 1157)
  description: The original Simple Network Management Protocol defined in RFC 1157 (May 1990). Establishes the five core PDUs
    (GetRequest, GetNextRequest, GetResponse, SetRequest, Trap), community-string authentication, ASN.1 message encoding,
    and UDP transport on ports 161 and 162. Now classified as Historic by the IETF but still widely deployed on legacy equipment.
  humanURL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1157
  tags:
  - SNMPv1
  - Community Strings
  - PDU
  - Historic
  properties:
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1157
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc1157/
- aid: snmp:snmpv2c
  name: SNMPv2c (RFC 1901-1908)
  description: Community-based SNMPv2, the most widely deployed version of SNMP in production today. Adds the GetBulkRequest
    PDU for efficient table retrieval and the InformRequest PDU for acknowledged notifications, while retaining the community-string
    security model of SNMPv1. RFC 3416 later republished the v2 protocol operations as part of the SNMPv3 framework.
  humanURL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1901
  tags:
  - SNMPv2c
  - GetBulk
  - InformRequest
  - Community Strings
  properties:
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1901
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3416
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc1901/
- aid: snmp:snmpv3
  name: SNMPv3 Architecture (RFC 3411-3418)
  description: The modular SNMPv3 management framework. RFC 3411 defines the SNMP engine, Message Processing Subsystem, Security
    Subsystem, and Access Control Subsystem; RFC 3414 specifies the User-based Security Model (USM) with authentication and
    privacy; RFC 3415 specifies the View-based Access Control Model (VACM); RFC 3416 redefines protocol operations; RFC 3417
    covers transport mappings; RFC 3418 contains the MIB for SNMPv3 itself. RFC 7860 extends USM with HMAC-SHA-2 authentication
    protocols.
  humanURL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3411
  tags:
  - SNMPv3
  - USM
  - VACM
  - Security
  - Authentication
  - Privacy
  properties:
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3411
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3412
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3414
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3415
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3416
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3417
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3418
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7860
- aid: snmp:if-mib
  name: IF-MIB (RFC 2863) — The Interfaces Group MIB
  description: The canonical SNMP MIB module for network interface management, published June 2000. Defines ifTable, ifXTable,
    ifStackTable, and ifRcvAddressTable, plus the ifType enumeration registered by IANA. Universally implemented by routers,
    switches, NICs, and operating systems; the most-polled MIB in production network monitoring.
  humanURL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2863
  tags:
  - IF-MIB
  - MIB
  - Interfaces
  - ifTable
  - ifXTable
  properties:
  - type: Specification
    url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2863
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.iana.org/assignments/ianaiftype-mib/ianaiftype-mib
- aid: snmp:smi
  name: SMI and the OID Tree
  description: Structure of Management Information — the data definition language and naming scheme that every MIB module
    is written against. The IANA SMI Numbers registry administers the OID hierarchy rooted at 1.3.6.1, including standard
    MIBs under 1.3.6.1.2.1 and Private Enterprise Numbers under 1.3.6.1.4.1 (the namespace organizations use to publish their
    own MIBs).
  humanURL: https://www.iana.org/assignments/smi-numbers/smi-numbers.xhtml
  tags:
  - SMI
  - OID
  - IANA
  - Enterprise Numbers
  - PEN
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.iana.org/assignments/smi-numbers/smi-numbers.xhtml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.iana.org/assignments/enterprise-numbers/
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/snmp-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/opsawg/about/
- type: Specification
  url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3411
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.net-snmp.org/
- type: SourceCode
  url: https://github.com/net-snmp/net-snmp
- type: Registry
  url: https://www.iana.org/assignments/smi-numbers/smi-numbers.xhtml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com