Cisco ACE-4710-K9 Administration Guide - Page 314
SNMP Manager and Agent Communication
View all Cisco ACE-4710-K9 manuals
Add to My Manuals
Save this manual to your list of manuals |
Page 314 highlights
SNMP Overview Chapter 8 Configuring SNMP SNMP Manager and Agent Communication The SNMP manager and the agent can communicate in several ways. The Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is the message format that SNMP managers and agents use to send and receive information. • The SNMP manager can do the following: - Retrieve a value (a get operation) from an agent. The SNMP manager requests information from the agent, such as the number of users logged on to the agent device, or the status of a critical process on that device. The agent gets the value of the requested MIB object and sends the value back to the manager (a get-response operation). The variable binding (varbind) is a list of MIB objects that allows a request recipient to see what the originator wants to know. Variable bindings can be thought of as OID=value pairs that make it easy for the NMS to identify the information that it needs when the recipient fills the request and sends back a response. - Retrieve the value immediately after the variable that you name (a get-next operation). A get-next operation retrieves a group of values from a MIB by issuing a sequence of commands. By performing a get-next operation, you do not need to know the exact MIB object instance you are looking for; the SNMP manager takes the variable that you name and then uses a sequential search to find the desired variables. - Retrieve a number of values (a get-bulk operation). The get-bulk operation retrieves large blocks of data, such as multiple rows in a table, which would otherwise require the transmission of many small blocks of data.The SNMP manager performs a number of get-next operations that you specify. • An agent can send an unsolicited message to the SNMP manager at any time if a significant, predetermined event takes place on the agent. This message is called an event notification. SNMP event notifications (traps or inform requests) are included in many MIBs and help to alleviate the need for the NMS to frequently poll (gather information through a get operation) the managed devices. For details on MIB objects and SNMP notifications supported by the ACE, see the "Supported MIBs and Notifications" section. Cisco 4700 Series Application Control Engine Appliance Administration Guide 8-4 OL-11157-01