Owner's Manual

Configuring Dell OpenManage IT Assistant to Monitor Your Systems 123
• Tom enters a case-sensitive value for the Get Community name.
The
Get Community name is a read-only password that SNMP agents
installed on managed systems use for authentication.
Tom’s considerations:
Tom considers the following as he selects a
Get Community name:
Each SNMP managed system has a
Get Community name. Tom
ensures that he lists each of the community names on all of the
systems he wants to manage. If Tom’s managed systems have more
than one community name, he can enter multiple community names
separated by commas in the
Get Community name field.
Although the
Get Community name affects read-only information
retrieved by IT Assistant from managed systems, such as the results of
discovery, status polling, and alert logs, Tom wants to limit access to
this data. Therefore, he changes the default
Get Community name
(
public ) to a name known only to him and his system administrators.
NOTE: Community names entered in the SNMP Get and Set community
name fields for the managed system’s operating system must match the
Get Community and Set Community names assigned in IT Assistant.
• Tom enters a case-sensitive value for the Set Community name.
Tom’s considerations:
The
Set Community name is a read-write password that allows access to a
managed system. SNMP agents running on the managed system use this
password for authentication when actions are attempted on the system,
including shutting down, configuring action alerts, and updating software.
NOTE: Although Dell server instrumentation has an authentication layer
above the SNMP Set community name (which requires a host name and
password), many SNMP agents do not. Agents without this added
security layer allow any user who knows the SNMP Set community
name to gain control of the managed system.
Tom chooses a Set Community name that matches the SNMP Set
community value on the system he is managing. He also makes sure
the name he chooses follows the secure password standards in place
across his enterprise.