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The Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) is an application layer protocol that facilitates the
exchange of management information between network devices. SNMP
enables network administrators to manage network performance, find and
solve network problems, and plan for network growth. SNMP uses UDP as
its transport layer protocol.
An SNMP managed network consists of the
following three key components:
- Network management system (NMS)
– NMS executes applications that
monitor and control managed devices. The bulk of the processing and
memory resources required for network management are provided by NMS.
One or more NMSs must exist on any managed network.
- Managed devices – Managed devices are network nodes
that contain an SNMP agent and that reside on a managed network.
Managed devices collect and store management information and make
this information available to NMSs using SNMP. Managed devices,
sometimes called network elements, can be routers, access servers,
switches, and bridges, hubs, computer hosts, or printers.
- Agents – Agents are network-management
software modules that reside in managed devices. An agent has local
knowledge of management information and translates that information
into a form compatible with SNMP.
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