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The network management industry in general, and the SNMP protocol in particular, have matured since the first edition of this book was published in 1993. New architectures supporting Web-based network management paradigms are emerging, and vendors are enhancing their products to embrace these new technologies. In addition, significant revisions to SNMP version 2, plus enhancements to the Remote Monitoring MIB, known as RMON2, have occurred in the last few years. All of these changes made the updating of this, the sixth volume of the Network Troubleshooting Library, a necessary project.
As is always the case, many individuals contributed to the book you are reading.
A number of vendors, whose network management consoles are profiled in Chapter 1, provided invaluable information on their architectures and products. In alphabetical order, they are: Dennis Drogseth, William Leong, Min Tung, and Andy Vanagunas.
Several SNMP experts assisted with the development of new case studies for this edition. Special thanks go to Rob Finlay, John Hardin, and John Rezabek.
My support team at M&T Books, including Paul Farrell, Debra Williams Cauley, Janice Borzendowski, Annette Sroka Devlin, Kitty May, and Maya Riddick, provided editorial support. The network management experience of my technical editor, Dr. John Thompson, was particularly valuable. Donna Mullen did much of the research for the appendices and figures, and David Hertzke of Integrated Graphic Communication assisted with the production of many of the figures.
Most importantly, Holly, Nathan, and Nicholas added their support and encouragement at all of the right times. It’s nice to have so many good friends.
mark@diginet.com
May 1997
Preface to the First Edition
When I embarked on the writing of this, the sixth volume of the Network Troubleshooting Library, network management appeared to me to be a technical utopia that we strive for but never quite achieve. After studying the subject for about a year, I am convinced that this is true. (If you doubt this premise, spend a few days reading the messages on the Internet’s SNMP mailing list, and you will become a believer as well!)
This being the case, it’s nice to have a few friends, whom I also consider experts in network management, along for the journey to this utopia. The following individuals added their expertise by reviewing individual sections of the text. In alphabetical order, they are: Dan Callahan, Paul Franchois, Robert Graham, Dan Hansen, David Perkins, Carl Shinn, Jr., Rodney Thayer, and Steve Wong.
My editors, Brenda McLaughlin, John Thompson, and Cheryl Goldberg, did an excellent job of balancing the technical with the literary, thus creating technical literature. Merideth Ittner and Laura Moorehead provided the much-needed production support which kept the project on schedule. Carol Goodwin did much of the research for the appendices, Krystal Valdez provided word processing support, and David Hertzke turned my rough sketches into legible figures. Thanks to all of you for the excellent support.
Several members of the vendor community assisted with information on their network management architectures. These individuals were: Jack Dwyer, Susan Kaufman, Stan Kimer, Jim McQuaid, Jeff Thiemann, and Sally Swift.
All of the case studies shown in this book were captured using a Network General Sniffer protocol analyzer. Bob Berger of Network General Corporation is to be thanked for this contribution. I also appreciate the generous time given by the following network managers who provided their networks for this research: Eural Authement, John Case, John Cornell, Paul Franchois, Jude George, John Hardin, James Davidson, David Heck, Mark Ryding, and Rodney Thayer.
As always, I owe a great deal to my family. Holly, Nathan, and Nicholas provide a support system that accommodates the long hours and teaching trips. Boomer and Brutus take responsibility for household security in my absence. I am indeed grateful for this companionship on the journey!
mark@diginet.com
June 1993
Contents of CD
This CD contains a number of Request For Comments (RFC) public domain documents, published by various Working Groups of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), that relate to SNMP, the SMI, MIBs and lower layer protocols, such as IP and UDP. In addition, there are three key documents on the CD:
Files on this CD are either in ASCII text (.txt) or PostScript (.ps) formats.
Why This Book is for You
Managing Internetworks with SNMP, the sixth volume in The Network Troubleshooting Library, is a comprehensive guide and reference for network managers and administrators responsible for maintaining a complex internetwork. This book will give you a clear understanding of SNMP and SNMP version 2, the protocols developed by the Internet community to simplify the management of internetworks. It is packed with illustrations, case studies, and helpful examples that give you the techniques and know-how you’ll need to maintain a productive LAN or WAN using the SNMP.
Some of the topics covered in Managing Internetworks with SNMP are network-management concepts and standards from ISO, IEEE, and the Internet. There is also an analysis of network management architectures from Asanté Technologies, Cabletron Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Novell, Sun Microsystems, and Tivoli Systems. Additionally, the book provides you with a tutorial on the Structure of Management Information (SMI), including ASN.1 encoding examples. Management Information Bases (MIBs), including MIB-I and MIB-II, the Remote Monitoring MIBs, RMON, and RMON2, plus private enterprise MIBs defined by vendors, are also covered in detail.
Find out about SNMP version 2 and the enhancements it provides in areas of bulk data retrieval and multiprotocol-transport support. Other areas discussed are SNMP operation, including the Protocol Data Unit (PDU) formats and application examples, and lower-layer protocol support for SNMP, including UDP, IP, ICMP, ARP, and RARP. Real-world experience is provided in case studies taken from live internetworks demonstrating SNMP in use. Use the appendices, which are packed with vendor information and Internet network-management parameters, as a handy reference.
If you are responsible for a complex internetwork, put this book next to your network management console.
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