---
name: "snmp"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/snmp"
---

# snmp(1)

simple SNMP client

## NAME

**snmp** – simple SNMP client

## SYNOPSIS

**snmp** **get** \| **getnext** \| **bulkget** \[*options*\] *agent* *oid* *...*

**snmp** **walk** \| **bulkwalk** \[*options*\] *agent* \[*oid*\]

**snmp** **set** \[*options*\] *agent* *varoid* *type* *value* \[*varoid* *type* *value*\] ...

**snmp** **trap** \[*options*\] *agent* *uptime* *trapoid* \[*varoid* *type* *value*\] ...

**snmp** **df** \[*options*\] *agent*

**snmp** **mibtree** \[**-O** *fns*\] \[*oid* *...*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **snmp** utility is a simple SNMP client.

The subcommands are as follows:

-

  **snmp** **get** \[*options*\] *agent* *oid* *...* Retrieve the varbind for *oid* from the *agent*. If more than one *oid* is specified, retrieve the varbind for each one.

-

  **snmp** **getnext** \[*options*\] *agent* *oid* *...* Retrieve the varbind that follows *oid* from the *agent*. If more than one *oid* is specified, retrieve the varbind following each one of them.

- **snmp** **walk** \[*options*\] *agent* \[*oid*\]

  Retrieve all the varbinds that are branches of *oid* from the *agent*. This uses the **getnext** subcommand internally and requests a single varbind at a time. If no *oid* is specified, it defaults to mib-2 (.1.3.6.1.2.1).

-

  **snmp** **bulkget** \[*options*\] *agent* *oid* *...* Retrieve the next 10 varbinds following each *oid* from the *agent*. This command is not available for **-v** **1**.

-

  **snmp** **bulkwalk** \[*options*\] *agent* \[*oid*\] Retrieve all the varbinds from the *agent* that are branches of *oid*. This uses the **bulkget** subcommand internally to retrieve multiple varbinds at a time. This command is not available for **-v** **1**.

-

  **snmp** **set** \[*options*\] *agent* *varoid* *type* *value* *...* Set one or more *varoid* *to* *a* *new* *value*. The format of the *varoid* *type* *value* triple is described in Data types, below.

-

  **snmp** **trap** \[*options*\] *agent* *uptime* *trapoid* \[*varoid* *type* *value* *...*\] Send a trap message to the *agent*. The *uptime* is specified in timeticks (centiseconds) or defaults to the system uptime if an empty string is given. The *trapoid* is the identification OID used by the trap handler to determine its action. This command is not available for **-v** **1**.

-

  **snmp** **df** \[*options*\] *agent* An SNMP based version of the [df(1)](/df/1.md) command. If no size suffix is shown, the sizes are in kilobytes.

- **snmp** **mibtree** \[**-O** *fnS*\] \[*oid* *...*\]

  Dump the tree of compiled-in MIB objects. If *oid* is specified it will print the objects in the requested output format if available, or print a warning if the object can't be found.

The *options* are as follows:

- **-A** *authpass*

  The authentication password for the user. This will be transformed to *localauth*. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-a** *digest*

  Set the digest (authentication) protocol. Options are **MD5**, **SHA**, **SHA-224**, **SHA-256**, **SHA-384** or **SHA-512**. This option defaults to **SHA**. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-C** *appopt*

  For the **bulkget**, **bulkwalk**, **df**, and **walk** subcommands, set the application specific *appopt* options by supplying a string of one or more of the following modifier letters:

  - **c**

    For **walk** and **bulkwalk**, disable checking the order of MIBs. On some devices that return MIBs out of order, this may cause an infinite loop.

  - **E** *endoid*

    For **walk**, walk the tree up to but excluding *endoid*. The blank before *endoid* is mandatory.

  - **h**

    For **df** print the output in “human-readable” format.

  - **I**

    For **walk**, do not fall back to returning the original MIB via a **get** request.

  - **i**

    For **walk** and **bulkwalk**, always do a **get** request on the specified *oid* first.

  - **n***nonrep*

    For **bulkget** and **bulkwalk**, Set the non-repeaters field in the request to the non-negative integer *nonrep*. This causes the first *nonrep* *oid* arguments to only return a single MIB instead of *maxrep*. This value defaults to 0. No blank is allowed before *nonrep*.

  - **p**

    For **walk** or **bulkwalk**, also show a summary of the total variables received.

  - **r***maxrep*

    For **bulkget**, **bulkwalk** and **df**, set the max-repetitions field in the request to the positive integer *maxrep*. This determines the amount of MIBs to return for each specified OID. This value defaults to 10. No blank is allowed before *maxrep*.

  - **s** *skipoid*

    For **walk** or **bulkwalk** don't include *skipoid* or its children in the walk output. The blank before *skipoid* is mandatory.

  - **t**

    For **walk**, Show how long it took to walk the entire tree.

- **-c** *community*

  Set the *community* string. This option is only used by **-v** **1** and **-v** **2c** and has no default.

- **-e** *secengineid*

  The USM security engine id. Under normal circumstances this value is discovered via snmpv3 discovery and does not need to be specified. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-E** *ctxengineid*

  The snmpv3 context engine id. Most of the time this value can be safely ignored. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-K** *localpriv*

  The localized privacy password for the user in hexadecimal format( optionally prefixed with a **0x**). This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-k** *localauth*

  The localized authentication password for the user in hexadecimal format( optionally prefixed with a **0x**). This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-l** *seclevel*

  The security level. Values can be **noAuthNoPriv** (default), **authNoPriv**( requires either **-A** or **-k**) or **authPriv**( requires either **-X** or **-K** in addition to the **authNoPriv** requirements). This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-n** *ctxname*

  Sets the context name. Defaults to an empty string. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-O** *output*

  Set the *output* options by supplying a string of one or more of the following modifier letters:

  - **a**

    Print the varbind string unchanged rather than replacing non-printable bytes with dots.

  - **f**

    When displaying an OID, include the full list of MIB objects. By default only the last textual MIB object is shown.

  - **n**

    Display the OID numerically.

  - **Q**

    Remove the type information.

  - **q**

    Remove the type information and the equal sign.

  - **S**

    Display the MIB name and the type information. This is the default behaviour.

  - **v**

    Only display the varbind value, removing the OID.

  - **x**

    Display the varbind string values as hexadecimal strings.

    The **mibtree** subcommand may only use the \[**-fnS**\] output options; no output options are available for **trap**.

- **-r** *retries*

  Set the number of *retries* in case of packet loss. Defaults to 5.

- **-t** *timeout*

  Set the *timeout* to wait for a reply, in seconds. Defaults to 1.

- **-u** *user*

  Sets the username. If **-v** **3** is used, this option is required. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-v** *version*

  Set the snmp protocol *version* to either **1**, **2c** or **3**. Currently defaults to **3**.

- **-X** *privpass*

  The privacy password for the user. This will be transformed to *localpriv*. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-x** *cipher*

  Sets the cipher (privacy) protocol. Options are **DES** and **AES**. This option defaults to **AES**. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

- **-Z** *boots*,*time*

  Set the engine boots and engine time. Under normal circumstances this value is discovered via snmpv3 discovery and does not need to be specified. This option is only used by **-v** **3**.

The syntax for the *agent* argument is \[*protocol*:\]*address*, with the following format:

| | |
| --- | --- |
| *protocol* | *address* |
| **udp** \| **tcp** | *hostname*\[:*port*\] \| |
| **udp6** \| **tcp6** | *hostname*\[:*port*\] \| |
| **unix** | *pathname* |

The default *protocol* is **udp** and the default *port* is 161, except for the **trap** subcommand, which uses 162. **udpv6** and **udpipv6** are aliases for **udp6**; **tcpv6** and **tcpipv6** for **tcp6**. To specify an IPv6-address without a *port*, the *IPv6-address* must be enclosed in square brackets. If the square brackets are omitted, the value after the last colon is always interpreted as a *port*.

### Data types

Additional data sent to the server is formatted by specifying one or more triples of *varoid*, *type*, and *value*. Supported types are:

- **a**

  An IPv4 Address.

- **b**

  A bitstring. A list of individual bit offsets separated by comma, space or tab. Must be supplied as a single argument.

- **c**

  A counter32.

- **d**

  A decimal string. A list of individual bytes in decimal form separated by space or tab.

- **i**

  An integer.

- **n**

  A null object.

- **o**

  An OID.

- **s**

  A regular string.

- **t**

  Timeticks in centiseconds.

- **u**

  Unsigned integer.

- **x**

  A hex string. Similar to a decimal string, but in hexadecimal format.

## ENVIRONMENT

- LC\_CTYPE

  The character encoding [locale(1)](/locale/1.md) used for output. It decides whether objects having a display format of UTF-8 are printed as UTF-8, and whether each byte invalid according to the object's display format is printed as a UTF-8 replacement character (‘�’).

  If unset or set to "C", "POSIX", or an unsupported value, for objects having a display format of UTF-8, each *printable* non-ASCII character is replaced with a single dot (‘.’). Each byte invalid according to the object's display format is printed as a question mark (‘?’).

  Each non-printable character is always replaced with a single dot (‘.’).

## SEE ALSO

[snmpd(8)](/snmpd/8.md)

## HISTORY

The **snmp** program first appeared in OpenBSD 6.6.

## AUTHORS

The **snmp** program was written by Martijn van Duren ⟨*martijn@openbsd.org*⟩.