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Best SNMP Monitoring Software

SNMP is ubiquitous in the network management world, and all network management solutions offer some form or other of SNMP monitors. But what are the features administrators should look for in an ideal SNMP monitoring software? Here are a few!

  • Multi-vendor support – SNMP comes with a complex description language, which sometimes causes variations in protocols and MIB implementations. The SNMP monitoring software should be able to handle such disparities the agent software installed on various devices.
  • Smooth integration with non-SNMP devices – You might want to integrate non-SNMP monitoring into your network (via SSH, Telnet, WMI and others); or having legacy gear that is not SNMP enabled. The network management software should be able to deal with a diverse topology.
  • Support for different SNMP versions – SNMP v1 and v2 have fragile security, with clear password transfers. The issues have been addressed in SNMP v3, which offers authentication and encrypted transfer. The SNMP monitoring software should support v1 to v3 in order to poll and monitor any device in the network.
  • Load levels – In large networks, the sheer number of devices, along with the individual Object Identifier that tags each device-related metric could cause an enormous volume of request and monitoring data – and thereby causes a heavy traffic and workload on the network. Again, constant polling would present a more up-to-date view of network devices, but the more often the polls, the more the workload. The SNMP monitoring software should be able have settings that strike a balance between load and efficiency, and should come with various monitors that can identify load problems proactively.
  • Comprehensive alarm system – The SNMP monitoring system should be able to set up efficient traps, to catch anomalies in device performance and health. And a complete notification and alarm system should be in place – the notification should include details such as location, time, nature of problem etc. The SNMP monitoring software should be able to lend itself to custom monitoring properties and triggers.

WhatsUp Gold is one such network management suite that offers SNMP monitoring (combined with SSH or WMI_ for full visibility into network/servers/applications performance and health. WhatsUp Gold’s SNMP monitoring software supports all versions of SNMP, as well as devices from a wide range of vendors across Windows, Linux and Unix platforms. The software comes with Active Monitors (to query and wait for response), Performance Monitors(analyze performance metrics including CPU, Disk, memory, bandwidth utilizations, ping latency etc), Passive monitors (monitor for critical messages), Critical Monitors (use device dependencies to set monitors) and SNMP Set Actions (Uses SNMP SET commands to change SNMP objects on remote devices).