In SNMP, a community string is a credential used by devices that support SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c (SNMPv3 uses username and password authentication over encrypted traffic).
- A “public” or read-only community string is commonly used to check the status of a device remotely. (Default:
public
) - A “private” or read-write community string, apart from accessing device statistics and status, can be used to configure the device remotely. (Default:
private
) - A trap community string is used to send SNMP traps to a device.