In addition to this option, snmpget REQUIRES options and agent arguments, as described in the snmpcmd(1) manual page.
snmpget -c public zeus system.sysDescr.0
will retrieve the variable system.sysDescr.0 from the host zeus using the community string public :
system.sysDescr.0 = "SunOS zeus.net.cmu.edu 4.1.3_U1 1 sun4m"
If the network entity has an error processing the request packet, an error packet will be returned and a message will be shown, helping to pinpoint in what way the request was malformed. If there were other variables in the request, the request will be resent without the bad variable.
Here is another example. The -c and -v options are defined in the snmpcmd(1) manual page. (Note that system.sysUpTime is an incomplete OID, as it needs the .0 index appended to it):
snmpget -v1 -Cf -c public localhost system.sysUpTime system.sysContact.0
This example will return the following:
Error in packet
Reason: (noSuchName) There is no such variable name in this MIB.
This name doesn't exist: system.sysUpTime
Similarly, the command:
snmpget -v1 -c public localhost system.sysUpTime system.sysContact.0
Will return:
Error in packet
Reason: (noSuchName) There is no such variable name in this MIB.
This name doesn't exist: system.sysUpTime
system.sysContact.0 = STRING: root@localhost
With the -Cf flag specified the application will not try to fix the PDU for you.