An SNMP Application Level Gateway for Payload Address Translation

Status of this Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. This document describes an SNMP application layer gateway (ALG), which may be useful in certain environments. The document does also list the issues and problems that can arise when used as a generic SNMP ALG. Specifically, when using SNMPv3's authentication and privacy mechanisms this approach may be very problematic and jeopardize the SNMP security. The reader is urged to carefully consider these issues before deciding to deploy this type of SNMP ALG. Abstract This document describes the ALG (Application Level Gateway) for the SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) by which IP (Internet Protocol) addresses in the payload of SNMP packets are statically mapped from one group to another. The SNMP ALG is a specific case of an Application Level Gateway as described in [15]. An SNMP ALG allows network management stations to manage multiple networks that use conflicting IP addresses. This can be important in environments where there is a need to use SNMP with NAT (Network Address Translator) in order to manage several potentially overlapping addressing realms. Raz, et al. Informational [Page 1] RFC 2962 SNMP Payload Address Translation October 2000 This document includes a detailed description of the requirements and limitations for an implementation of an SNMP Application Level Gateway. It also discusses other approaches to exchange SNMP packets across conflicting addressing realms.