Managing SNMP on the Virtual I/O Server

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a set of protocols for monitoring systems and devices in complex networks. SNMP network management is based on the familiar client-server model that is widely used in Internet protocol (IP) network applications. Each managed host runs a process called an agent. The agent is a server process that maintains information about managed devices in the Management Information Base (MIB) database for the host. Hosts that are involved in network management decision-making can run a process called a manager. A manager is a client application that generates requests for MIB information and processes responses. In addition, a manager might send requests to agent servers to modify MIB information.

In general, network administrators use SNMP to more easily manage their networks for the following reasons:

• It hides the underlying system network
• The administrator can manage and monitor all network components from one console

SNMP is available on Virtual I/O Server version 1.4 and later.

The following table lists the SNMP management tasks available on the Virtual I/O Server, as well as the commands you need to run to accomplish each task.