Architecture - Targets

Architecture - Targets and Credentials

It is not a trivial task to setup SNMP agent credentials. It is different for SNMPv1, SNMPv2 or SNMPv3. It requires many lines of code and / or many properties definition even for basic v2 / public credentials.

Old SNMP4J example org.snmp4j.agent.test.TestAgent requires ~300 lines of code to setup agent credentials.

The new org.snmp4j.agent.AgentConfigManager relies on bulky and complex properties file.

FriendlySNMP drops default SNMP4J credentials setup and replaces it with a simple family of target classes

These classes are instantiated and registered with the agent by FriendlySNMP API. This process is triggered by agent configuration.

For example, the following configuration property is required for a basic v2 / public credentials:

snmp.v2.community=public

This configuration property triggers the class org.friendlysnmp.target.TargetV2 instantiation and registering with the agent. This target has many defaults which are usually sufficient. The fine tuning of the target could be achieved with configuration parameters

snmp.oidroot.notify-view
snmp.oidroot.read-view
snmp.oidroot.write-view
snmp.storage.community
snmp.storage.notify
snmp.storage.vacm.group
snmp.storage.vacm.access
snmp.storage.vacm.viewtree

Advanced tuning might require extending this class and overriding some functionality.

SNMPv3 credentials setup example is very simple:

snmp.v3.user=friend
snmp.v3.protocol.auth=SHA
snmp.v3.protocol.priv=DES
#snmp.v3.password.key=friendly    <-- optional obfuscation key
snmp.v3.password.auth=TumNjJ34uUA8XapXe3SYOQ==
snmp.v3.password.priv=/M3o0zp3Q+0g/BgRRoetGQ==

Passcodes are obfuscated with FriendlyPro tool. The actual passcode values in example above are SHAAuthPassword and DESPrivPassword.

In rare circumstances the target object could be created with a custom code in a class extended from a org.friendlysnmp.target.TargetBase class.

The agent requires at least one registered target object. Multiple targets are allowed.