How to use snmp get from IOS CLI?

[Boyan Sotirov]

I recently found that I can generate snmp get requests from the Cisco IOS CLI. It's not available on all IOS versions I guess, but on the Cat6509 platform with IOS version 12.2(33)SXI11, I have it. The problem is though, that each time I try to generate SNMP request, I've got the following message:

%SNMP manager not enabled

I tried it with a request for one of the local IP addresses, but yet again, I've got the same response:
SW6509#snmp get v2c 192.168.1.1 oid oid 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0
%SNMP manager not enabled

Using some show SNMP commands yields the same results:

SW6509#show snmp pending                                 
%SNMP manager not enabled

So I'm starting to think that I generally miss something in my configuration to be able to use the snmp get and alike commands... And I can't seem to find how to enable the SNMP manager which the command is complaining about.

Have you guys come across this?

[Vinod Arya · Accepted solution]

You have to enable snmp manager process to be able to poll your device from IOS itself.

To enable snmp manager enter global config command snmp-server manager.

The SNMP manager process sends SNMP requests to agents and receives SNMP responses and notifications from agents. When the SNMP manager process is enabled, the router can query other SNMP agents and process incoming SNMP traps.
Most network security policies assume that routers will be accepting SNMP requests, sending SNMP responses, and sending SNMP notifications. With the SNMP manager functionality enabled, the router may also be sending SNMP requests, receiving SNMP responses, and receiving SNMP notifications. The security policy implementation may need to be updated prior to enabling this functionality.
SNMP requests are typically sent to UDP port 161. SNMP responses are typically sent from UDP port 161. SNMP notifications are typically sent to UDP port 162.
Examples

The following example shows how to enable the SNMP manager process:
 Router(config)# snmp-server manager

-Thanks

Vinod

**Encourage Contributors. RATE Them.**

[Boyan Sotirov]

Thank you Vinod.

It works now, that was the tiny bit I was missing.