SNMP explained in great detail

The word SNMP are often talked about by people who have studied networking and other related computer network studies. But, they are not often explained in detail to lay people who may not easily understand what is being talked about. However, a concise explanation of what the word really refer to is given in this passage. The information is accurate enough to provide an understanding of the word and what it represent. One good thing about the information that has been presented in the passage is the fact that it can easily be understood by anyone who has a unique interested in computer networks. This also applies to any individual who is studying an academic program that is related to computer networks.

First of all what is SNMP? In simple terms, this is simple network management protocol. It is a means of network management that is based on a network protocol. The management protocol is mainly used to manage networks based on IP or TCP. A number of devices support SNMP. Major examples include routers, switches, modems, internet servers and printers. In general, this network management protocol can be thought of as a means of communication between several devices and a management application.

A number of devices are often controlled by management applications using SNMP. Actually, the SNMP enables devices to operate as a collective unit exchanging information with the management application. The manner in which this protocol operates is that it takes advantage of the manager-agent model. In this kind of model, there are agents as well as the network managers. The network agents can be as small as an office network or as large as a globally based telecommunication network. On the other hand, they can also be any simple device such as a network server, desktop or any device that is compatible. The simple communication that takes place between the manager and the external device or agent is based on an exchange of information. Information from the manager or tap receiver is sent to agents, which send back a response.

The messages that are sent by the SNMP protocol are referred to as TRAPS, GETS or SETS. There are also other two types which exist. These include GET-RESPONSE and GET-NEXT. This is the list of messages that the manager sends request to the devices for purposes of getting information from them. Only the SNMP Traps are commonly used for agents to send information to the managers without any request. The main essence of sending these messages is to send an alert to the manager as soon as the need arises. They are quite unique because they are the only ones which can be generated by an agent. These messages can also be used to send information on issues that have gone wrong. The agent can only be ‘aware’ of any issues that may have gone wrong if the information is sent to it in the form of traps.

Follow Gambit Communications on:-