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SNMP and OpenNMS

By Zeev Halevi

Abstract

First hour will be a technical review of SNMP:
SNMP: Simple Network Management Protocol is the de facto standard for managing devices on IP networks: routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem and so on.

1. The protocol
* Managers and Agents
* mibs
* SNMP Operations
* Packet structure

2. Linux tools: net-snmp and snmpd.

3. Usage example: network discovery

Second hour will be about the OpenNMS project: functionality, architecture and technology.

From the OpenNMS site:

What Is OpenNMS?
OpenNMS is an enterprise-grade network management platform developed using the open source model. (GPL)

What does OpenNMS do?
OpenNMS has three main functions: service level monitoring, performance measurement, and event management. Service level monitoring means that OpenNMS will periodically test various services provided by your network to see that they are active and responding in a proper manner. If they are not, events are generated that can alert the IT staff of the problem, and reports can be generated to see how well the network is providing services over time.

Performance measurement is accomplished by gathering data from the network devices, such as routers and servers, and trending that information over time. In addition, thresholds can be configured to generate alerts when certain performance parameters are exceeded.

Event management includes the ability to store events in a database, configure them for display and to execute automatic actions when they occur. In addition, OpenNMS contains a robust notification system that can generate notices when particular events occur that can be sent to specific people via email, pager, or other system. It includes the ability to configure users and groups as well as escalations to insure that the notification is acted upon.

Links

SNMP:
Linux SNMP tools: http://www.net-snmp.org
Al about SNMP: Standards, tools, tutorials etc :http://www.simpleweb.org
more:http://www.snmplink.org/

OpenNMS
more:http://www.opennms.org
more:http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=4141

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