Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks and consists of operations for data retrieval, modification and notification. SNMP generally operates over UDP.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks.
SNMP is defined by a series of IETF Requests for Comment (RFCs). There are three versions of the protocol: SNMPv1, SNMPv2, and SNMPv3. RFC 3584 is the "Best Current Practice" for handling coexistence of the three protocol versions, and provides a view of interoperability issues between the versions as well as a list of references to the various RFCs that define the different versions.
Before posting a question about SNMP, ensure that it is on-topic for this site. Examples of of activities that might generate on-topic questions are:
- writing a program using Net-SNMP's C API
- writing a shell script to use or parse output from SNMP tools
- writing a MIB
Other questions, especially those related to running an SNMP server or agent, may be more suited for ServerFault, which is dedicated to questions about server and network infrastructure.
Usually organizations will obtain a Private Enterprise Number (PEN) used to reference their devices that use SNMP similarly to a domain name Pen Application. This is then added to a registry of all PENs each organization making sub IDs called OIDs with Management Information Base (MIB) configuration files to take care of the sub ID definitions. These MIB files should be provided by each organization for any of their devices that use SNMP.
