SNMP Community Strings

An SNMP community string is a text string that acts as a password. It is used to authenticate messages that are sent between the management station (the SNMP manager) and the device (the SNMP agent). The community string is included in every packet that is transmitted between the SNMP manager and the SNMP agent. After receiving an SNMP request, the SNMP agent compares the community string in the request to the community strings that are configured for the agent.