Alcatel Omni Switch/Router, User Manual

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Page 13-1
13 SNMP (Simple Network
Management Protocol)
Introduction
Simple Network Management Protocol (
SNMP
) is an application layer protocol that allows
network devices to exchange management information.
SNMP
works by sending messages,
called protocol data units (
PDUs
), to network devices. Network administrators use
SNMP
to
monitor network performance and to solve network problems.
An
SNMP
-managed network is comprised of three fundamental parts: agents, managed
devices, and network management systems (
NMSs
). An agent, which resides within a
managed device (i.e., a switch), is responsible for translating its local knowledge of manage-
ment information into a form compatible with
SNMP
. When certain defined asynchronous
events occur within a switch, the managed device sends traps, using the
SNMP protocol
, to a
designated
NMS
. The
NMS
then views and monitors the switch’s information through manage-
ment software applications such as
HP
Open View or X-Vision.
SNMP
parameters and traps are configurable through the
snmpc
command. For more informa-
tion on this command, refer to Configuring SNMP Parameters and Traps on page 13-2. You
can view
SNMP
statistics through the
snmps
command. For more information on this
command, refer to Viewing SNMP Statistics on page 13-8. Both of these commands are also
listed on the
Networking
menu.