The Usefulness of SNMP

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The Usefulness of SNMP

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. It corresponds to the Application layer in the Internet Protocol Suite.

SNMP enables network administrators to remotely troubleshoot and monitor hubs and routers (see Figure 15.1). Much of SNMP is defined within RFCs 1157 and 1212, though there are many more RFCs on SNMP. SNMP can be found, along with other RFCs, on various web sites, including http://ds.internic.net. You can also do a search on SNMP or RFC and find more specific information related to a specific part of SNMP—for example, on just ethernet and SNMP.

Using SNMP, you can find out information about these remote devices without having to physically be at the device itself. This can be a very useful tool if understood and used properly. You can find a wide variety of information about these devices, depending on the device itself, of course. Some examples include the following:

IP address of a router
Number of open files
Amount of hard drive space available
Version number of a Windows NT host

Before you set up SNMP, you need the IP address or host names of the systems that will either be the initiators or those that will respond to the requests. Microsoft’s SNMP Service uses the regular Windows NT host name resolution, such as HOSTS, DNS, WINS, and LMHOSTS. Therefore, if you are using one of these resolution methods, add the correct host name to IP address resolution for the computers that you are setting up with SNMP.

The types of systems on which you can find data include the following:

Mainframes
Gateways and routers
Hubs and bridges
Windows NT servers
LAN Manager servers
SNMP agents

SNMP uses a distributed architecture design to facilitate its properties. This means that various parts of SNMP are spread throughout the network to complete the task of collecting and processing data to provide remote management.

Because SNMP is a distributed system, you can spread out the management of it in different locations so as not to overtax any one PC, and for multiple management functionality (see Figure 15.2).

An SNMP Service by Microsoft enables a machine running Windows NT to be able to transfer its current condition to a computer running an SNMP management system. However, this is only the agent side, not the management tools. This chapter’s Labs use an SNMPutil.exe that is a basic command prompt utility. Various third-party management utilities are available, including the following:

IBM NetView
Sun Net Manager
Hewlett-Packard OpenView

This chapter focuses primarily on the SNMP protocol rather than the management utilities; the management utilities are a product of their own and not included in Microsoft training material or exam.

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