SNMP polling happens on a schedule. Traps flip this around. Devices push alerts immediately when something happens.
When to use traps:
- Link up/down events
- Authentication failures
- Environmental alerts (temperature, power)
- Hardware failures
Trap configuration:
Configure trap destinations on each device
Set community strings or SNMPv3 credentials
Enable specific trap types
Configure your manager to receive traps
Reliability concern: Traps use UDP and can be lost. For critical events, use SNMP INFORMs which require acknowledgment.