SNMP is a simple protocol that can be used on just about any
networking device in use today. In some environments it’s used
heavily, in others it’s scarce. Some view it as a security
threat; others see it as a way to efficiently manage some of
their key systems. The SNMP protocol was designed to provide a
"simple" method of centralizing the management of TCP/IP-based
networks – plain and simple. If you want to manage devices from
a central location, the SNMP protocol is what facilitates the
transfer of data from the client portion of the equation (the
device you are monitoring) to the server portion where the data
is centralized in logs for centralized viewing and analysis.
SNMP design is pretty simple. There are two main players in
SNMP. The manager and the agent. The manager is generally the
‘main’ station such as HP Openview. The agent would be the SNMP
software running on a client system you are trying to monitor.
The manager is usually a software program running on a
workstation or larger computer that c