SNMP monitoring security

[fs483]

Hello,

I would like to monitor remote client network servers from my location through SNMP. I have found a couple of software (OPManager, IT Assistant) able of doing so but I was wondering about how secure it is. Unfortunately the location from which I will be doing the monitoring doesn't have a fixed IP address. Also some of the firewalls at my client locations don't allow ACLs for trusted IPs (some are using Linksys Routers for example). Is it safe to open the snmp ports 161-162 to the public. I would be inclined to say no. How would I go about setting this so that it's secured?

Thanks,
akwong

 

[bnorton916]

If you are comfortable configuring the agents and confident that they ONLY answer SNMPv3 requests you could open up the ports.

SNMPv3 authPriv is pretty secure, use SHA/AES if your agents have that ability.

The IP address of the manager changing shouldn't matter unless you need to receive informs from the agent.

Bill