Installation

📦 Installation & Switch Prerequisites

This guide will walk you through the network prerequisites, switch-side security configurations, and Home Assistant installation steps required to successfully deploy SNMP Switch Manager.

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🔐 Switch Configuration (Prerequisites)

To allow Home Assistant to communicate with your switch, you must enable and configure SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) in your switch’s administration panel.

1. Choose your SNMP Version

SNMP Switch Manager supports both standard community-based connections and modern secure authentication:

• SNMP v2c (Community-Based):
  • Uses a simple text credential called a Community String.
  • Highly compatible and simple to set up.
  • Note: community strings are transmitted in cleartext over the local network.
• SNMP v3 (User-Based Security - Recommended):
  • Uses a secure Username/Password configuration with hashing and encryption.
  • Supported Security Levels:
    • noAuthNoPriv: Username authentication, no password, no encryption.
    • authNoPriv: Username authentication with hashing (HMAC-SHA or HMAC-MD5), no encryption.
    • authPriv: Username authentication with hashing AND encryption (CBC-DES).

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2. Configure Access Rights (Read vs. Write)

Configure the access permissions of your SNMP community or v3 user according to the features you want to use:

• Read-Only Access (ro / read):
  • Allows Home Assistant to monitor port states, link speeds, VLAN PVIDs, MAC counts, PoE consumption, CPU/Memory utilization, and temperatures.
• Read-Write Access (rw / write):
  • Required for active controls. Allows Home Assistant switch entities to administratively enable/disable ports, toggle per-port PoE power output, and modify port alias descriptions (ifAlias) permanently on the switch.

Tip

Network Security Best Practice
If you are using SNMP v2c (cleartext community strings) or wish to secure your network further, restrict your switch’s SNMP access ACL to permit connections only from the static IP address of your Home Assistant host.

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📥 Home Assistant Installation

Option A: HACS (Recommended)

Installing via the Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) is the easiest method and provides automatic update notifications:

1. In the Home Assistant UI, navigate to HACS → Integrations.
2. Click the three dots in the top-right corner and select Custom Repositories.
3. Under Repository, enter:
   https://github.com/OtisPresley/snmp-switch-manager
4. Under Category, select Integration, then click Add.
5. Find SNMP Switch Manager in the HACS catalog and click Download in the bottom right.
6. Restart Home Assistant to load the custom component files.

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Option B: Manual Install

If you do not use HACS, you can install the files directly into your configuration folder:

1. Download the latest release .zip file from the GitHub Releases page.
2. Extract the archive and copy the folder named custom_components/snmp_switch_manager into your Home Assistant /config/custom_components/ directory.
3. Ensure your directory structure matches:

   config/
   └── custom_components/
       └── snmp_switch_manager/
           ├── __init__.py
           ├── const.py
           ├── manifest.json
           └── ... (other files)
   

4. Restart Home Assistant.

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⚙️ Initial Connection Flow

Once the integration is installed and Home Assistant is restarted, configure the initial connection to your switch:

1. In Home Assistant, go to Settings → Devices & Services.
2. Click + Add Integration in the bottom right corner.
3. Search for SNMP Switch Manager and select it.
4. Complete the initial connection form:
   • Host/IP: Enter the reachable IP address or hostname of your switch.
   • Port: Enter the SNMP UDP port (default is 161).
   • SNMP Version: Choose between v2c or v3.
5. Provide the credentials corresponding to your chosen version:
   • SNMP v2c: Input your community string (e.g. public for read-only or a custom string for write).
   • SNMP v3: Provide your Username, Security Level, Auth Protocol/Password, and Priv Protocol/Password.

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🚀 Next Step

Now that your switch is connected and the initial setup is complete, you should fine-tune your device settings—such as choosing between Attributes or Sensors mode, setting up bandwidth tracking, and configuring custom renaming rules:

👉 Go to Integration Configuration