Purpose of This Book

This book is not a detailed description of the major versions of SNMP (1, 2c, and 3). Many other books do a good job of this. Our focus is on the use of SNMP technology for managing networks. It also attempts to tackle the complexities faced by the developers of NMS software products. MIBs are a crucial element of this for modeling the operation of large networks.

The field of network management is extremely broad with a vast range of products from many companies. This book is intended primarily as a learning aid for hard-pressed engineers tasked with software development or development and maintenance of complex networks and management systems. The book is also a guide to adopting enhanced approaches to both NMS/MIB requirements definition and NMS/MIB development. It has no affiliation with any vendor or technical organization. Any mention of technologies ”IP, MPLS, ATM, Frame Relay, VLANs, Ethernet, and so on ”is intended purely as a teaching tool to illustrate network management principles and to place the latter in a modern and interesting context.

We use a big-picture approach and try to give a reasonable overall description of managed networks. In this context, network management should be seen as a type of abstraction; that is, it seeks to manage networks, not provide a comprehensive understanding of all the constituent technology (e.g., IP, ATM, and MPLS).