SNMP

SNMP is an Internet protocol developed by the IETF. It is designed to facilitate the exchange of management information between network elements. By transporting information over the SNMP protocol (such as packets per second and network error rates), network administrators can easily manage network performance and accounting, find and solve network problems, and plan for network growth. SNMP runs on top of UDP in most cases. However, other transport mappings exist, such as IPX.
Figure 3-5. Internet Management Model

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As specified in IETF RFCs and other documents, a managed device is composed of the following: 1. > SNMP agent A software module that resides in network elements; it collects and stores management information specified in the supported MIB modules. The SNMP agent responds to SNMP requests from an NMS station for information and actions. The SNMP agent can send fault notifications proactively to the SNMP manager. 2.> Managed object A representation of something that can be managed. For example, a list of currently active TCP circuits in a particular computer is a managed object. 3.> Management Information Base (MIB) A collection of managed objects residing in a virtual information store. A collection of related managed objects is defined in a specific MIB module. A MIB can be considered a local data store at the network element. 4.> Syntax notation A language used to describe managed objects in a machine-independent format. Consistent use of a syntax notation allows different types of computers to share information. SNMPbased management systems use ISO OSI ASN.1 (i.e. ASN.1, International Telecommunication Union Recommendation X.208) standard to define both the packets exchanged by the management protocol and the objects that are to be managed. ISO - International Organization for Standardization's. OSI - Open System Interconnection. ASN - Abstract Syntax Notation .

5.> Structure of Management Information (SMI) -it defines the components of a MIB module and the formal language for describing the managed objects. The SMI specifies that all managed objects should have a name, syntax, and encoding. The NMS, which contains an SNMP manager, executes management applications that monitor and control network elements. At least one NMS is required in each managed environment.

SMI Definitions

The SMI defines the framework in which a MIB module can be defined or constructed. In other words, it defines the components of a MIB module and the formal language for describing the managed objects. The SMI specifies that all managed objects should have a name, syntax, and encoding. The name is characterized by the OID. The syntax defines the managed object's data type (for example, integer or string). A subset of ASN.1 definitions are used for the SMI syntax. The encoding describes how the information associated with the managed object is formatted as a series of data items for transmission on the network. The two versions of SMI are SMIv1 (RFC 1155) and SMIv2 (RFC 2578). SMIv2 offers richer, more precise syntax for defining MIB modules. SMI data types are divided into three categories: simple types, application-wide types, and simply constructed types.
MIB Modules

An SNMP MIB module is a specification of management information on a device. The SMI represents the MIB database structure in a tree form with conceptual tables, where each managed resource is represented by an object. The SNMP agent on a device has access to this local repository. A management application may read and modify this repository via SNMP operations. Relative to this tree structure, the term MIB is used in two senses. In one sense it is actually a MIB branch, usually containing information for a single aspect of technology, such as a transmission medium or a routing protocol. A MIB used in this sense is more accurately called a MIB module and is usually defined in a single document. In the other sense, a MIB is a collection of such branches. Such a collection might comprise, for example, all the MIB modules implemented by a given SNMP agent, or the entire collection of managed objects. A MIB module is an abstract tree with an unnamed root. Individual data items, the MIB variables, make up the leaves of the tree. A MIB module is an abstract tree with an unnamed root. Individual data items, the MIB variables, make up the leaves of the tree. An OID is an ordered sequence of nonnegative integers written left to right, containing at least two elements. For easier human interaction, string-valued names also identify the OIDs. They are like telephone numbers, organized hierarchically with specific digits assigned by different organizations.

The OID top structure of the SNMP MIB tree defines three main branches:

Consultative Committee for International Telegraph and Telephone (CCITT) International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Joint ISO/CCITT.

basic MIB tree structure