Essential Snmp

Help For System And Network Administrators

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet-standard protocol for managing hosts on an IP network. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, UPSs, and more.

Essential SNMP is a practical introduction to SNMP for network and system administrators. It starts with the basics of SNMP and how it works, along with the technical background to use it effectively. The book covers OIDs, MIBs, community strings, traps, and other technical elements. But the main focus is on practical network administration: how to configure SNMP agents and network management stations, how to use SNMP to retrieve and modify variables on network devices, how to configure management software to react to traps sent by managed devices.

Essential SNMP explores both commercial and open source packages, including HP's OpenView, Castle Rock's SNMPc, the Net-SNMP tools, Simon Leinen's Perl SNMP support, and MRTG. Administrators will come away with ideas for writing scripts to help them manage their networks, create managed objects, and extend the operation of SNMP agents. In addition to SNMPv1 and v2, the book covers SNMPv3, which has just started to appear in commercial products as of this printing.

About the Authors
Douglas R. Mauro lives outside of Rochester, New York, with his wife Amy, daughter Kari, and cat Megabyte (a.k.a. Meg). He received a bachelor's degree at the University of Albany, New York, and worked as a system administrator for several years before becoming a project engineer with Sun Microsystems, Inc. In addition to his consulting duties with Sun, he authors their internal OneStop Sun Management Center page and has published several InfoDocs with them. Computers are not just a way of life for Douglas, but a profound passion. He feels extremely fortunate to be working in a field he truly loves.

Kevin J. Schmidt lives in Decatur, Georgia. He shares a home with his significant other, Callie, their loving cats, Chester and Twiggy, two Peruvian guinea pigs, two Litoria species White's tree frogs, and several poison dart frogs.