HP-UX SNAplus2 R7 Administration Guide

Appendix BAPPN Network Management Using the Simple Network Management Protocol
AppendixB APPN Network Management Using
the Simple Network Management Protocol
This appendix briefly introduces the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the SNMP components
(manager, agent, subagent), the APPN Management Information Base (MIB), and the APPN SNMP subagent
component of SNAplus2.
B.1 Introduction to SNMP
The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an industry-standard management protocol, originally
designed for managing TCP/IP networks. SNMP is described by a series of Request for Comments (RFCs) that
specifies and structures the information that is exchanged between managing and managed systems. Although
SNMP is used predominately in TCP/IP networks, its popularity has caused its use to be extended to managing
additional software and hardware products.
An SNMP agent is a process that runs on a system being managed and maintains the MIB database for the system.
An SNMP manager is an application that generates requests for MIB information and processes the responses. The
manager and agent communicate using the Simple Network Management Protocol.
SNMP agents (like the SNMPD daemon) typically have predefined MIB objects that they can access. An SNMP
subagent is used to extend the number and type of MIB objects that an SNMP agent can support.
An SNMP manager can issue requests to an agent either to retrieve information from the agent’s MIB (an SNMP
Get request), or to change information in the agent’s MIB (an SNMP Set request). An SNMP agent can also send
unsolicited messages to the SNMP manager (SNMP traps).
The interaction between SNMP components in a system is shown in Figure B–1,
Overview of SNMP.
Figure B–1 Overview of SNMP
request
MIBs
SNMP Agent
trap
SNA Node (Managed System)Managing System
APPN
MIB
SNMP Manager
response
SNMP Subagent
The SNMP agent talks to both subagents and managers. The SNMP manager (which resides on one node in the
network) sends requests to the agent (which resides on another). The agent sends responses and traps to the manager.
For SNAplus2, the APPN MIB is implemented by the SNAplus2 SNMP subagent.
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