Documentation forSolarWinds Platform Self-Hosted

SolarWinds Platform feature: Password is a Key

This topic applies to all SolarWinds Platform products.

The "password is a key" feature, also known as "localized key" means that the hash is computed using a combination of the user defined password and from the SNMP agent's engine ID. This feature can be used instead of plain text authentication on SNMP devices.

Each SNMPv3 agent has an engine ID that uniquely identifies the agent on the device. If a device gets compromised, no other managed or managing devices are affected by it.

If your devices support localized keys and the SNMP settings on your device are set up for authentication with the localized key (hash), you must also make appropriate changes in the node settings.

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console as an administrator.
  2. Click Settings > All Settings in the menu bar.
  3. Click Manage Nodes, select the node, and then click Edit Properties.
  4. In the Edit Node view, select the SNMPv3 polling method.
  5. Make sure the Password is a key box is selected for SNMPv3 Authentication or Privacy/Encryption, as appropriate.