Summary
Provide a method via the GUI to set the default SNMP public and private strings that appear in the "Add Node" dialog.
Background
This request is borne out of the need to manually migrate over 100 network device nodes from an old version of NPM to the latest and greatest. While a SQL import\export process is possible, it is not an option in the GUI.
Therefore, all devices were manually added via the "add node" dialog. Once changed, the public string dialog box provided a quasi-drop list containing the alternate community. The private community field did not remember the previous entry. Previous versions of the product allowed manual editing of the file containing the value (see How to change the Add Node default SNMP Community String value ). There is a standing question in the community as of January of 2019 that is still unanswered, so there should be some level of support for this change. The time taken to enter and test these strings can be significant if there are many nodes to add. Case number 00268108 was created with support for this issue as well.
Additionally, if an organization does not use the default community values, or changes them based on environment, this increases the potential for misconfiguration.
Approach
Since the newer versions of the product are compiled and less accessible for customization, the SNMP community string settings should be accessible via the GUI. An ideal location to store these strings would be in the Settings | All Settings | Credentials area. There is an existing SNMP v3 management interface (https://servername/Orion/Admin/Credentials/SNMPCredentialManager.aspx). If this interface could include earlier versions of SNMP, it could provide the alternate variables to the "Add Node" dialog.
Alternatively, the credentials could be stored under the "Product Specific Settings" area in "All Settings."
This approach follows the model used with NCM and Windows servers, where there may be multiple iterations of credentials used to access different devices. The stored data is presented as choice when adding nodes requiring those protocols and credentials.
In reference to that, it may also be helpful to include an option to change the SNMP default port as well. Some organizations change these settings to harden their infrastructure.
