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This is used to set common configuration values for most of the applications, to avoid having to specify them every time. Examples are the SNMPv3 settings mentioned above, defaults for which MIBs to load and where from (see the second entry in this section), and the default SNMP version, port and (if appropriate) the community string to use.

Some of these (such as the MIB file location), might be best put in a shared snmp.conf file (typically /usr/local/share/snmp/snmp.conf or /etc/snmp/snmp.conf) to apply to all users of the system. Others (particularly the SNMPv3 security settings), are more likely to refer to a particular user, and should go in a personal snmp.conf file (typically $HOME/.snmp/snmp.conf).

See 'snmpget -H' and/or the snmp.conf(5) man page for more details.

You can also use the "snmpconf" command to help you generate your snmp.conf configuration file (just run it and answer its questions).