Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a very popular protocol for network management, and when run under Windows, SNMP is a very efficient tool to manage Windows networks and devices. SNMP is an application-level protocol designed to monitor network infrastructure, and provides administrators with network discoverability and visibility for any SNMP-aware device.
Microsoft Windows Servers provide SNMP agent software that works with third-party SNMP management software – such as WhatsUp Gold – to monitor the status of managed devices and applications. (Before you can collect data on a Windows computer using SNMP, you must first install and enable the Microsoft SNMP Agent on the device itself, but that’s as simple as using the Add/Remove Windows Components feature in the Windows Control Panel.)
SNMP is currently considered the best choice by professionals for IP (Internet Protocol) network management, and as a result, SNMP is widely supported and featured in many hardware devices and network management software packages. SNMP is designed to be able to be deployed on a large number of network devices, to have minimal impact and transport requirements on the managed nodes and to continue working when most other network applications fail.
SNMP is used for collecting information from network devices, such as servers, workstations, printers, hubs, switches, and routers on an Internet Protocol (IP) network. SNMP is also used for configuring all of those devices in a very efficient manner from one host and one user.
An important component of SNMP is the Management Information Base (MIB) data. MIB data is contained in a text file in all SNMP-enabled devices, and is converted by SNMP into a format usable by the management software. A structure to the data is important to be able to monitor all manageable features from different vendors.
Large networks of Windows with hundreds or thousands of PCs and nodes are difficult to manage without a large staff to monitor every computer. SNMP, which is widely used in local area networks (LANs), lets you monitor network nodes from a single management host. You can monitor many network devices, as well as services such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or Windows Internet Name Service (WINS).
WhatsUp Gold’s SNMP monitoring software capabilities for Windows were designed to be flexible, full featured and intuitive. From the novice Windows network administrator user to the advanced custom-monitoring expert, WhatsUp Gold provides exactly what you need.