7 snmp management, 1 snmp overview – Interlogix NS3500-28T-4S User Manual User Manual

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4.2.7 SNMP Management

4.2.7.1 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,

and Management information base (MIB) and network-management protocol:

Network management stations (NMSs)

Sometimes called consoles, these devices execute management

applications 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 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. 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 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.

Set --

Allows the NMS to set values for object instances within an agent.

Trap --

Used by the agent to asynchronously inform the NMS of some event. The SNMPv2 trap message is

designed to replace the SNMPv1 trap message.

SNMP community

An SNMP community is the group that devices and management stations running SNMP belong to. It helps define

where information is sent. The community name is used to identify the group. A SNMP device or agent may belong to

more than one SNMP community. It will not respond to requests from management stations that do not belong to one

of its communities. SNMP default communities are:

Write

= private

Read

= public

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