D-Link DES-3226 User Manual page 8

A network protocol known as the Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) is generally used to communicate between network management
stations and the devices they manage. SNMP was originally developed for
controlling the devices that made up the infrastructure of the Internet, and has
become the primary standard for network management. SNMP commonly runs
"on top of" the TCP/IP Internet Protocol, though other transmission methods
are possible.
Because a network management station can be used to manage a wide range of
devices, network management software is generally divided into two different
parts: a base platform consisting of software common to the management of all
devices; and a set of modules, each of which can communicate with a narrow
range of devices by way of their SNMP-based agents. If a new device type is
added to the network, then a new module (compatible with the particular
platform being used) needs to be added to facilitate its management.
This manual describes the module used on the D-View5.1 platform for
controlling DES-3226 intelligent Gigabit Ethernet switches.
4 Introduction