SNMP Support

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is an industry standard for monitoring and controlling systems, devices and components within a network environment. It has been defined by the IEFT (Internet Engineering Task Force). The IETF engages itself as a working group for problems regarding TCP/IP and the Internet.

Tip: You can use the JMX-based monitoring solution, External Monitoring Interface (EMI) instead of SNMP. For more information, see External Monitoring Interface (EMI).

During the monitoring and controlling of these net elements, SNMP management and SNMP agents are generally distinguished. The SNMP agent runs on the computer, whose systems, devices and components  are monitored and controlled. Network Management Station (NMS) is a computer which can - with an application - present current information on the monitored net elements as well as change the parameters of these net elements.

NMS and SNMP agents communicate via the network protocol TCP/IP. This allows for two types of communication. One type queries the Network Management Station conditions of the monitored net elements by the SNMP agents or sets new parameters. For the second type of communication, the SNMP agent sends changes of the conditions in its monitored net elements to the Network Management Station. The report of such a condition change is called a trap or SNMP trap.

In order to clearly recognize participating systems also worldwide, a standard address space MIB (Management Information Base) has been implemented. In this MIB, an MIB ID can be found for each monitored net element. The MIB ID consists of a series of numbers which are separated by dots. The worldwide MIB depicts a large tree with branches of the individual components and systems.

SNMP works on the basis of UDP (User Datagram Protocol). This simple protocol not uses an error monitor or confirmation of transferred information. SNMP uses Port 161 for queries to the SNMP agents and Port 162 as trap receiver.

This section includes the following pages: