Essential SNMP, 2nd Edition

Preface

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. Many kinds of devices support SNMP, including routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, and uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs). The ways you can use SNMP range from the mundane to the exotic: it's fairly simple to use SNMP to monitor the health of your routers, servers, and other pieces of network hardware, but you can also use it to control your network devices, page someone, or take other automatic actions if problems arise. The information you can monitor ranges from relatively simple and standardized items, like the amount of traffic flowing into or out of an interface, to more esoteric hardware-and vendor-specific items, like the air temperature inside a router.

Given that there are already a number of books about SNMP in print, why write another one? Although there are many books on SNMP, there's a lack of books aimed at the practicing network or system administrator. Many books cover how to implement SNMP or discuss the protocol at a fairly abstract level, but none really answers the network administrator's most basic questions: how can I best put SNMP to work on my network? How can I make managing my network easier?

We provide a brief overview of the SNMP protocol in Chapters 2 and 3 and then spend a few chapters discussing issues such as hardware requirements and the sorts of tools that are available for use with SNMP. However, ...