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August 12th, 2013 14:00
Dell PV TL2000 SNMP Community Strings and User Passwords
Has anyone else tried applying a SNMP Community String or User Password to their Dell PV TL2000 via the web management interface only to find out that the firmware (even the most current version which is C.00 / 3.20e) does not understand/accept any special characters in these two fields?
Was working on configuring the SNMP settings today on our tape library which we have had for 8 months now. When I entered our typical READ ONLY community string name in the web interface, the system yelled at me. The error was "Invalid community name! Only alphanumeric characters allowed. Only 31 or less than 31 characters are allowed for the community name." So I checked, and low and behold our community name was only 18 characters. However, it has a special character in it; specifically a "?". When I remove the special character, the system takes the community name just fine.
Same happens with passwords, however, the system doesn't even tell you that it did not accept the new password. In fact, it doesn't tell you anything at all after clicking SUBMIT. But if you use a password with special characters in it, it will now work; NO special characters and it works just fine.
I know this is only a tape library but come on Dell; any network security minded person will tell you that a combination of both upper and lower case, numbers and special characters should comprise your SNMP community strings as well as your passwords. So why does the firmware NOT support it.
Finally, I opened a support case with Dell regarding the issue and was in essence told to blow off and that there was nothing that could be done. OK....so what is the formal process to bring to the attention of Dell a Bug (which to me this is) in their system and that it should be corrected?
Hoping to hear back from a Dell Rep regarding this issue. Thanks in advance for allowing me to vent. Other than this issue though, this tape library with dual LTO6 tape drives in it is head over heels better than the current tape library the company was using when I got here last year; loving the TL 2000.
Sincerely,
Carey D.
DELL-Kenny K
685 Posts
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August 13th, 2013 18:00
These were the design limitations set forth by the manufacturer and ok’ed by Dell. Both limitations and/or requirements, depending on how you want to look at the concerns, are documented within the User’s Guide:
For SNMP Community Names:
f. Community Name - An SNMP community name is a text string that acts as
a password to authenticate messages sent between the SNMP remote
management application and the library. Enter your preferred name, or leave
as “public”. The Community Name is limited to 33 alpha-numeric characters
(A-Z, a-z, 0-9).
For the password:
4. Enter the New Password . The password has a maximum of 10 characters (A-Z,
a-z, 0-9, @, , , ).
In regards to you not getting an error msg when a password is not accepted, I will send a message to our engineering team and let them know that a design enhancement is recommended by an end-user for their consideration.