ADTRAN Express 4100, User Manual

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61200176L2-1 Express 4100/4110 User Manual C-1
Appendix C
SNMP
Understanding SNMP
As Local Area Network (LAN) environments became standardized over
the past ten years, multi-vendor equipment grew with competition. It
became necessary to manage the various vendor equipment from a single
control console. Thus, the Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) emerged as the de facto standard for managing commercial
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networks.
The term SNMP broadly refers to the message protocols used to exchange
information between the network and the managed devices, as well as to
the structure of network management databases. SNMP has three basic
components:
• Network Manager: This is a control program that collects, controls,
and presents data pertinent to the operation of the network devices.
It resides on a network management station.
• Agent: This is a control program that responds to queries and com-
mands from the network manager and returns requested information
or invokes configuration changes initiated by the manager. It resides
in each network device connected.
• MIB: This is an index to the organized data within a network device.
It defines the operating parameters that can be controlled or moni-
tored.
When requesting the network manager to retrieve or modify a particular
piece of information about a network device, the network manager trans-
mits the request to that network device. The agent in that device inter-
prets the incoming request, performs the requested task, and sends its