Request InfoMIB (SNMP) FAQ
The Simple Network Management Protocol, or SNMP, is the standard operations and maintenance protocol for the Internet. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) developed it.
SNMP is used to administer and manage networked devices. It can be used to manage large networks that span firewalls or embedded devices.
SNMP exposes management data in the form of variables on the managed systems, which describe the system configuration. These variables can then be queried (and sometimes set) by managing applications.
There are several versions available, two of the most common being SNMP v1 and SNMP v2.
The SNMP v1 network management architecture contains:
- Network Management Station (NMS) - Workstation that hosts the network management application.
- SNMPv1 network management application - Polls management agents for information and provides control information to agents.
- SNMPv1 management agent(s) - Provides information contained in the MIB to management applications and may accept control information
SNMP v2 specifications include the following new capabilities:
- Manager to manager communication to support the coexistence of multiple/distributed managers and mid-level managers.
- Enhanced security (known as "Secure SNMP") by specifying three layers of security.
- Improved efficiency and performance through the addition of bulk transfers of data.
Each management station or agent in an SNMP-managed network maintains a local database of information relevant to network management, known as the management information base (MIB).
The MIB is essentially a type of database used to manage the devices in a communications network. It comprises a collection of objects in a (virtual) database used to manage entities (such as routers and switches) in a network.
An MIB (SNMP) contains definitions and information regarding the properties of managed resources and the services that the agents support. The manageable features of resources, as defined in an MIB (SNMP), are called managed objects or management variables.
A management station gets and sets objects in the MIB, and an agent notifies the management station of major but unwanted events called traps. All message exchanges between the management station and its agents take place using SNMP. The MIB at the management station contains network management information extracted from the MIBs of all the managed entities in the network.
Example of a powerful SNMP alarm Collector
Your SNMP manager needs the MIB in order to process messages from your devices. The MIB is also your best guide to the real capabilities of an SNMP device. In addition, you need to be able to read the MIB so that when you are planning your SNMP monitoring you can have a realistic idea of what capabilities you do have.
As a MIB (SNMP) file is just ASCII text, you can view it in any word processor or text editor, including Notepad. Some manufacturers provide precompiled MIBs in binary format, but those aren't readable. You want the raw ASCII version of the MIB (SNMP) file.
If you want to view MIB (SNMP) files on a Windows PC, you should ask your vendor for a DOS-formatted version. Alternatively, you can get a conversion utility to convert between text formats.
Information on ASC II text processing
Download the SCADA White Paper
|
Request More Info
(simple online form) |
|
Next Page >> most related to this one |
Give Us a Call!
To find out more about this and other DPS applications, give us a call at our toll-free number and talk to one of our network specialists. They'll help you put together a perfect fit solution for your network!
RSS
