---
type: Tool Reference
title: "snmpget & snmpset Guide: Read and Write SNMP Values"
description: "Read a single OID with snmpget and write one with snmpset — syntax, the .0 scalar suffix, type specifiers, and the security risks of SNMP writes."
resource: "https://snmp-monitoring.info/tools/snmpget/"
tags: [tools]
timestamp: 2026-07-11T00:00:00Z
---

# snmpget & snmpset Guide: Read and Write SNMP Values

Read a single OID with snmpget and write one with snmpset — syntax, the .0 scalar suffix, type specifiers, and the security risks of SNMP writes.

## Related concepts

- Up: [SNMP Tools & Software: CLI, Browsers & Monitoring](/tools/index.md)

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I use snmpget?

Run snmpget -v2c -c <community> <host> <OID>.0 to read a single object — for example snmpget -v2c -c public 10.0.0.20 sysUpTime.0. You can list several OIDs in one command to read them together. For v3, use -u <user> -l authPriv -a SHA -A <authpass> -x AES -X <privpass> instead of -c.

### Why do I append .0 to the OID?

Because scalar objects — those with a single value, like sysUpTime or sysContact — are addressed with the instance suffix .0. The base OID names the object type; .0 names its one instance. Table cells use their row index instead (e.g. .31). Omit the suffix on a scalar and you'll get noSuchInstance.

### What is snmpset?

snmpset writes a value to a device: snmpset -v2c -c <rwcommunity> <host> <OID> <type> <value>, where type is a specifier like i (integer), s (string), or u (unsigned). It requires read-write access, so it can change device configuration — which makes it far riskier than read-only queries.

### Is SNMP write access safe?

Not by default. A read-write community on v2c is a cleartext password that can alter your device, and a leak is a serious incident. Keep agents read-only wherever possible, and if you must allow writes, use SNMPv3 with a narrowly scoped view rather than a v2c rwcommunity. Most monitoring never needs writes at all.

## Source

Concept generated from https://snmp-monitoring.info/tools/snmpget/ — the SNMP Monitoring vendor-neutral knowledge base. Content is limited to what that page states (no external claims added here).