Essential SNMP [Paperback]

Douglas R Mauro Douglas (Author), Kevin Schmidt (Author), Kevin J. Schmidt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2001

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Without Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), network administrators might have to actually get out of their chairs and go see what's up with all of the network-connected equipment under their authority. Perish the thought. Essential SNMP explains how the management protocol works and how it's implemented by several operating systems and pieces of equipment. More importantly, this book shows its reader--who should be a network administrator who's familiar with the problems of running a distributed network--how SNMP can earn its place as a network administration tool. In other words, this book examines SNMP as a strategic resource as well as a technical phenomenon.

Because it's oriented toward SNMP as a tool, much of the coverage in this book has to do with software that uses SNMP to provide network monitoring and control services. After a strengths-and-weaknesses overview of a number of SNMP packages, the authors use mainly HP OpenView, Castle Rock SNMPc, and Net-SNMP (the last in combination with Perl scripting) to demonstrate how SNMP works and how to take advantage of it. It's the scripting that really distinguishes this book from other SNMP books, by the way. It's integral to the authors' presentation, and the latter half of this book is packed with shell and Perl listings. --David Wall

Topics covered: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and its applicability as a network management tool. Details like object identifiers (OIDs), management information bases (MIBs), traps, and community strings are defined and explained. The configuration of SNMP agents is detailed for several software packages and operating systems, and the integration of SNMP and scripts (in shell languages and in Perl) is covered nicely.

Review

"If you know the basics of TCP/IP networking and need, or want, to learn about SNMP from the ground up, this title has pretty much all the information you need along with a lot of helpful advice. Recommended." - Rick Stones, Cvu, February 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st ed edition (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596000200
• ISBN-13: 978-0596000202
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for SNMP beginners and complicated networks, August 16, 2001

By 

Mark Lyman "Dark Anders" (SLC UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essential SNMP (Paperback)

I have been doing network/router/system administration for about 3 years, and I have never really had the time/opportunity/need to do SNMP. Our network grew to be very large very quickly (sites in africa, england, germany, canada, america) and it became neccesary to use SNMP to ease the administration somewhat. I first bought "A practical guide to SNMPv3 and Network Management" and could barely get past page 8 before I was totally lost. So I came back looking for "21 days" or "SNMP for dummies" book of which there are none. I found this book which recommends a good grasp of TCP/IP and that is about it. I have found this book to be the best book out there for someone with 0 to little experience with SNMP. It brought me all the way from ground 0 knowledge of SNMP to managing a network of about 100 routers with SNMP, including detecting DoS attacks, processor overload, interface changes, config changes etc.

I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a practical SNMP managed network, beginner or advanced.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good User Reference, February 6, 2002

By 

Shawn Boyce (Manalapan, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential SNMP (Paperback)

This book is intended for people wanting to understand how to use SNMP such as adminstrators or managers. I bought this book because of its coverage of various NMS systems (such as HP OpenView NNM) and SNMP Agents.

The book provides coverage of SNMP and its operation in two chapters. It covers NMS configuration, Agent configuration, extensible Agents, MRTG. Also useful is its coverage of open source software for SNMP: Net-SNMP, SNMP Perl module, and MRTG.

The book could use more coverage of other open source and freely available SNMP software.

All in all, a good book. As usual, you can trust O'Reilly.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 1/4 good, May 3, 2007

By 

lirakis (Scorching hot Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential SNMP (Paperback)

This book is good up till you get 1/4 of the way through it. The first quarter of the book is good and it goes over general SNMP stuff then history different versions etc. The last 3/4 of this book cover configuring proprietary monitoring systems like open view and solar winds.

I dont care about open view.. or solar winds.. i wanted to learn about snmp... not some vendors software package. Im suprised that this got published with such a general title.. when really the book is an snmp intro, followed by how to setup a proprietary monitoring tool.