Transport Layer Security (TLS) Transport Model for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
RFC 5953

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                       W. Hardaker
Request for Comments: 5953                                  SPARTA, Inc.
Category: Standards Track                                    August 2010
ISSN: 2070-1721

             Transport Layer Security (TLS) Transport Model
           for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

Abstract

   This document describes a Transport Model for the Simple Network
   Management Protocol (SNMP), that uses either the Transport Layer
   Security protocol or the Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS)
   protocol.  The TLS and DTLS protocols provide authentication and
   privacy services for SNMP applications.  This document describes how
   the TLS Transport Model (TLSTM) implements the needed features of a
   SNMP Transport Subsystem to make this protection possible in an
   interoperable way.

   This Transport Model is designed to meet the security and operational
   needs of network administrators.  It supports the sending of SNMP
   messages over TLS/TCP and DTLS/UDP.  The TLS mode can make use of
   TCP's improved support for larger packet sizes and the DTLS mode
   provides potentially superior operation in environments where a
   connectionless (e.g., UDP) transport is preferred.  Both TLS and DTLS
   integrate well into existing public keying infrastructures.

   This document also defines a portion of the Management Information
   Base (MIB) for use with network management protocols.  In particular,
   it defines objects for managing the TLS Transport Model for SNMP.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5953.

Hardaker                     Standards Track                    [Page 1]
RFC 5953              TLS Transport Model for SNMP           August 2010

Copyright Notice

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Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................4
      1.1. Conventions ................................................7
   2. The Transport Layer Security Protocol ...........................8
   3. How the TLSTM Fits into the Transport Subsystem .................8
      3.1. Security Capabilities of this Model .......................10
           3.1.1. Threats ............................................10
           3.1.2. Message Protection .................................11
           3.1.3. (D)TLS Connections .................................12
      3.2. Security Parameter Passing ................................13
      3.3. Notifications and Proxy ...................................13
   4. Elements of the Model ..........................................14
      4.1. X.509 Certificates ........................................14
           4.1.1. Provisioning for the Certificate ...................14
      4.2. (D)TLS Usage ..............................................16
      4.3. SNMP Services .............................................17
           4.3.1. SNMP Services for an Outgoing Message ..............17