Is SNMP v3 supported in Windows Server 2016?

Question

Hello serverfualt members,

I have researched this very question and have made the following discoveries:

Windows 2003 Supports: • SNMPv2x

Windows 2008 Supports: • SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c

Windows 2012 does not Support SNMP: • SNMP is deprecated. Instead, use the Common Information Model (CIM), which is supported by the WS-Management web services protocol and implemented as Windows Remote Management. • https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384426(v=vs.85).aspx

Now, further research shows that it really "isn't" deprecated, you can still install it as a feature.

Because of security issues with any version prior to SNMP v3, our servers get flagged and it's something that we need to fix. So, having said all that, does Windows Server 2016 support SNMPv3.

Oh, and I also installed Windows Server 2016 in my test environment and SNMP is still available. However, I have been unable to find out whether it is the "Version 3" that everyone seems to be looking for.

If anyone can shed some light specifically on whether Windows Server 2016 supports v3, I'd great appreciate it as its clearly has not been deprecated.

Solution

Windows Server 2016 does not support SNMPv3. Microsoft officially states that SNMP is deprecated in Windows Server 2012 and up, so I doubt you'll be seeing anything from Microsoft in the future either. They are all into WinRM and Powershell remoting now.

We've had a similar issue a while ago. The way to achieve Windows Server SNMPv3 security compliance is described here: https://espincorp.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/how-to-achieve-windows-server-snmp-v3-security-compliance/

Did the job for us and I hope helps you too.

Comments

[Admin]

I suspect the fact it was deprecated around the Windows 2012 timeline means that it probably was taken out of Windows 2016. I can't give you a definitive answer though. I certainly wouldn't be starting any projects based around Windows and its native SNMP support right now.

[Admin]

Deprecated in this sense does not mean SNMP is no longer available in Server 2012. It's still right there, installable as a feature."Deprecated" in this sense is simply a yellow flag to say "hey, we want to get rid of this some time in the indeterminate future." I highly doubt the decision has been made to no longer offer it as an installable feature of Windows Server.That being said, SNMP is much an integral part of Windows 2016 server and you can configure it. (I have done that in my test environment. All I want to know which version of SNMP does it support (v1/v2/v3),

[buzz3791]

The company SNMP Research also provides high quality, commercial SNMP Agent solutions for Windows and Linux snmp.com. I don't work for SNMP Research. I'm just an end user of their products.