4.3 Simple Network Management Protocol
4.3.1 SNMP Overview-[
The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an application layer protocol that facilitates the exchange of management
information between network devices. It is part of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite.
SNMP enables network administrators to manage network performance, find and solve network problems, and plan for network
growth.
An SNMP-managed network consists of three key components: Network management stations (NMSs), SNMP agents,
Management information base (MIB) and network-management protocol:
Network management stations (NMSs):Sometimes called consoles, these devices execute management applications
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that monitor and control network elements. Physically, NMSs are usually engineering workstation-caliber computers with
fast CPUs, megapixel color displays, substantial memory, and abundant disk space. At least one NMS must be present in
each managed environment.
Agents:Agents are software modules that reside in network elements. They collect and store management information
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such as the number of error packets received by a network element.
Management information base (MIB):A MIB is a collection of managed objects residing in a virtual information store.
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Collections of related managed objects are defined in specific MIB modules.
Network-management protocol:A management protocol is used to convey management information between agents
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and NMSs. SNMP is the Internet community's de facto standard management protocol.
SNMP Operations
SNMP itself is a simple request/response protocol. NMSs can send multiple requests without receiving a response.
Get -- Allows the NMS to retrieve an object instance from the agent.
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Set -- Allows the NMS to set values for object instances within an agent.
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Trap -- Used by the agent to asynchronously inform the NMS of some event. The SNMPv2 trap message is designed to
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replace the SNMPv1 trap message.
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