NETWORK MONITORING using SNMP

ABSTRACT

The simple network management protocol was designed to be easily implemented, basic network-management tool that could be used to meet short-term network management needs. Because of the slow progress in OSI systems management, SNMP has filled the gap and become the dominant network-management scheme is use today.

The SNMP set of standards provides a framework for the definition of management information and a protocol for the exchange of that information. The SNMP model assumes the existence of managers and agents. A manager is a software module in a management system responsible for managing part or all of the configuration on behalf of network-management applications and users. An agent is a software module in a managed device responsible for maintaining local management information to a manger via SNMP. A management information exchange can be initiated by the manager or by the agent (trap).

SNMP accommodates the management of devices that do not implement the SNMP software by means of proxies. A proxy is an SNMP agent that maintains information on behalf of one or more non-SNMP devices.

Within the SNMP framework, management information is represented using Abstract Syntax Notation (ASN.1). A management information base consists of a collection of objects organized into groups. Objects hold values that represent managed  resources: a group is a unit of conformance.

The SNMP management station is really helpful in monitoring the network. We have provided a graphical user interface, which displays the system information. It can also be used to view the tcp connections, udp connections made by the agent.