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Before you begin - SNMP basics

If you are not familiar with Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), read this section to learn a few basic concepts.

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). SNMP is a standard network management protocol that is used to remotely monitor and manage network-capable devices such as computers, switches, and gateways. SNMP provides a way for monitored objects (SNMP agents) and monitoring objects (SNMP managers) to exchange status messages.

SNMP Agents. SNMP agents collect and store status information and make it available to SNMP NMS/Managers. In terms of the AE Services implementation, the AE Server contains an SNMP agent which supports SNMP protocols v1, v2c, and v3. The AE Server also has the ability to issue SNMP based Traps/Notifications. Whenever a significant event such as a service failure occurs, the SNMP agent sends a notification to the SNMP NMS. Notifications can be sent using either the SNMP trap command or the SNMP inform command.

By default, AE Services uses the trap command to send notifications. In general usage, the term trap refers to an unsolicited notification from an SNMP agent to an SNMP manager.

SNMP managers. SNMP managers collect and store status information received from SNMP agents. In terms of the AE Services implementation, SNMP managers are either Avaya Secure Services Gateways (SSG), Avaya Secure Access Link (SAL), or Network Management System (NMS) devices (IBM Tivoli or HP OpenView, for example). SNMP managers get information by either issuing a request (solicited information) or by receiving a notification whenever an event occurs (unsolicited information). Traps (whether generated by the trap or inform command) are unsolicited notifications.

Management Information Base (MIB). The MIB defines (by way of data structures) the information an SNMP agent is capable of reporting. AE Services MIBs are available through the Product Licensing and Delivery System (PLDS).