A Look Ahead
Web-based network management entails the use of the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) to manage networked entities. It works by embedding a web server in an SNMP-compatible device, along with a CGI engine to convert SNMP-like requests (from a web-based NMS) to actual SNMP operations, and vice versa. Web servers can be embedded into such devices at very low monetary and operating cost.
Figure 4-4 is a simplified diagram of the interaction between a web-based NMS and a managed device. The CGI application bridges the gap between the management application and the SNMP engine. In some cases, the management application can be a collection of Java applets that are downloaded to the web browser and executed on the web-based manager. Current versions of OpenView ship with a web-based GUI. SNMPc also has web-based capabilities. They have a Java client for the network management console and the recently released SNMPc Online, which is a web-based reporting frontend.

Figure 4-4. Web-based network management
Web-based network management could eliminate, or at least reduce, the need for traditional NMS software. NMS software can be expensive to purchase, set up, and maintain. Most of today's major NMS vendors support only a few popular versions of Unix and have only recently begun to support Windows, thus limiting your operating-system choices. ...
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