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SNMP, MIBs, and V!CAS System Tables
V!CAS
SNMP, MIBs, and V!CAS System Tables
Remote access is one of the V!CAS’ most important features and means
that as an administrator, you have just as much control of the V!CAS from
a telnet session as you do from an attached console. This section describes
the underlying concepts such as SNMP, MIBs, and V!CAS System Tables
which make remote access possible.
SNMP
stands for the Simple Network Management Protocol and de-
fines the rules for the transfer of management information over IP net-
works. SNMP is implemented as a client-server system; the station “being
managed” runs the server-process, and the management station the cli-
ent-process.
For example, the administrator at host “zeus” could manage the rout-
er “bingo” using an SNMP management application such as Sun’s Net-
manager.
After booting, the V!CAS starts a login shell. We sometimes refer to it
as the SNMP shell because special commands can be entered from the
shell which are given directly to the V!CAS’ SNMP server-process. This
means that the V!CAS’ SNMP shell can be accessed from an SNMP client
application, as well as simple text-oriented connections such as telnet,
isdnlogin, or minipad.
But wait; before an SNMP management station can administer such
stations, it first has to know a few things about it such as what type of sta-
tion it is (router, printer, bridge, …), what operating parameters can be
changed, etc. This is where the MIB or Management Information Base
comes in.
SNMP
Client
SNMP
Server
LAN: 199.1.1.0
zeus
Show me
your route
table.
Okay,
route 1 is ...
route 2 is ...
bingo
