HP StorageWorks 2/140 FW 08.01.00 McDATA E/OS SNMP Support Manual (620-000131- - Page 13

1 Introduction to SNMP The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a complete but simple mechanism for network management. Network management is a broad term, including workstation configuration, assignment of IP addresses, network design, architecture, network security, and topologies. All this can fall within the scope of a network manager. Any protocol for managing networks must allow virtually all network devices and systems to communicate statistics and status information to network management stations (network managers). This communication must be independent of the primary network transmission medium and impose little effect on the efficiency of the network. Network managers must be able to obtain status information from managed devices, and make changes in the way the managed devices handle network traffic. SNMP is one way of meeting these requirements. Network Management using SNMP SNMP is designed on the manager-agent paradigm, with the agent residing in the managed device. Information is exchanged between agents (devices on the network being managed) and managers (devices on the network through which management is done). Administrators can use SNMP to manage the switch configuration, faults, performance, accounting, and security from remote SNMP management stations. There are many possible transactions between agents and managers. These transactions vary widely with the different types of devices Introduction to SNMP 1-1