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| TheTCP/IP model (RFC 1122) |
|---|
| Application Layer |
| Transport Layer |
| Internet Layer |
| Link Layer |
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a part of theInternet Protocol Suite. SNMP is used innetwork management systems tomonitor status of devices and also spot problems. It consists of a set ofstandards for network management, including anApplication Layerprotocol, a databaseschema, and a set ofdata objects.[1]
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. It is a standard for managing devices such as routers,switches,servers etc.
In common SNMP usage, there are a number of systems to be managed, and one or more systems managing them. A software component called anagent (see below) runs on each managed system and reports information via SNMP to the managing systems.
SNMP agents expose management data on the managed systems as variables (such as "free memory", "system name", "number of running processes", "default route"). But the protocol also allows active management tasks, such as modifying and applying a new configuration.The managing system can retrieve the information through theGET,GETNEXT andGETBULK protocol operations or the agent will send data without being asked usingTRAP orINFORM protocol operations. Management systems can also send configuration updates or controlling requests through theSET protocol operation to actively manage a system. Configuration and control operations are used only when changes are needed to the network. The monitoring operations are usually performed regularly.
