SNMPv3 enables the following features over SNMPv1 or v2c:
User authentication with a username and password
Communication encryption between the Network Management Station (NMS) and the SNMP agent at the application level
Access control definition for specific MIB items available on the SNMP agent
Notification of specified network events directed toward specified users
Definition of roles using access control, each with unique access permissions and authentication and encryption requirements
The basic components in SNMPv3 access control are users, groups, and views. In addition, SNMPv3 uses an SNMP engine ID to identify SNMP identity. An SNMP engine ID is assigned to each MAC address of each device in the network. Each SNMP engine ID should be unique in the network.
