Communications Programming Concepts

Simple Network Management Protocol

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is used by network hosts to exchange information in the management of networks. SNMP is defined in several Requests for Comments (RFCs) available from the Network Information Center at SRI International, Menlo Park, California.

The following RFCs define SNMP:

RFC 1155	Defines the structure of management information.
RFC 1157	Defines the SNMP to create requests for Management Information Base (MIB) information and formatting responses.
RFC 1213	Defines the MIB for network management.
RFC 1227	Defines the SNMP multiplexing (SMUX) protocol for extending base SNMP agents.
RFC 1228	Defines the Distributed Protocol Interface (DPI) for extending base SNMP agents.
RFC 1229	Defines an extension to the interfaces table as defined in RFC 1213.
RFC 1231	Defines an extension to the interfaces table for token-ring devices.
RFC 1398	Defines an extension to the interfaces table as Ethernet devices.
RFC 1512	Defines an extension to the interfaces table for Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) devices.

SNMP network management is based on the familiar client-server model that is widely used in Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)-based network applications. Each managed host runs a process called an agent. The agent is a server process that maintains the MIB database for the host. Hosts that are involved in network management decision-making may run a process called a manager. A manager is a client application that generates requests for MIB information and processes responses. In addition, a manager may send requests to agent servers to modify MIB information.