ZyXEL Communications 100-NH User Manual

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 Chapter 8 System
NWA1000 Series User’s Guide
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as number of packets received, node port status etc. A Management Information Base (MIB) is a 
collection of managed objects.SNMP itself is a simple request/response protocol based on the 
manager/agent model. The manager issues a request and the agent returns responses using the 
following protocol operations:
• Get - Allows the manager to retrieve an object variable from the agent. 
• GetNext - Allows the manager to retrieve the next object variable from a table or list within an 
agent. In SNMPv1, when a manager wants to retrieve all elements of a table from an agent, it 
initiates a Get operation, followed by a series of GetNext operations. 
• Set - Allows the manager to set values for object variables within an agent. 
• Trap - Used by the agent to inform the manager of some events.
8.9.2  Supported MIBs
The NWA supports MIB II that is defined in RFC-1213 and RFC-1215 as well as the proprietary 
ZyXEL private MIB. The purpose of the MIBs is to let administrators collect statistical data and 
monitor status and performance.
8.9.3  Private-Public Certificates
When using public-key cryptology for authentication, each host has two keys. One key is public and 
can be made openly available. The other key is private and must be kept secure. 
These keys work like a handwritten signature (in fact, certificates are often referred to as “digital 
signatures”). Only you can write your signature exactly as it should look. When people know what 
your signature looks like, they can verify whether something was signed by you, or by someone 
else. In the same way, your private key “writes” your digital signature and your public key allows 
people to verify whether data was signed by you, or by someone else. This process works as 
follows.
1
Tim wants to send a message to Jenny. He needs her to be sure that it comes from him, and that 
the message content has not been altered by anyone else along the way. Tim generates a public 
key pair (one public key and one private key). 
2
Tim keeps the private key and makes the public key openly available. This means that anyone who 
receives a message seeming to come from Tim can read it and verify whether it is really from him 
or not. 
3
Tim uses his private key to sign the message and sends it to Jenny.
4
Jenny receives the message and uses Tim’s public key to verify it. Jenny knows that the message is 
from Tim, and that although other people may have been able to read the message, no-one can 
have altered it (because they cannot re-sign the message with Tim’s private key).
5
Additionally, Jenny uses her own private key to sign a message and Tim uses Jenny’s public key to 
verify the message.
8.9.4  Certification Authorities
A Certification Authority (CA) issues certificates and guarantees the identity of each certificate 
owner. There are commercial certification authorities like CyberTrust or VeriSign and government