About SNMP
The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an application layer protocol that facilitates the exchange of management information between network devices. It is part of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite. SNMP enables network administrators to manage network performance, find and solve network problems, and plan for network growth.
SNMP is based on the manager model and agent model. This model consists of a manager, an agent, a database of management information, managed objects, and the network protocol.
The manager provides the interface between the human network manager and the management system. The agent provides the interface between the manager and the physical devices being managed.
The manager and agent use a Management Information Base (MIB) and a relatively small set of commands to exchange information. The MIB is organized in a tree structure with individual variables, such as point status or description, being represented as leaves on the branches. A numeric tag or object identifier (OID) is used to distinguish each variable uniquely in the MIB and in SNMP messages.