What is the internet managment fram work and protocols

TCP/IP network management is based on the Simple Network Management Protocol, abbreviated SNMP. As we saw in the overview topic , however, this term is ambiguous. While it is commonly used to refer to the actual communication protocol used to exchange network management information, the term also refers to the entire set of technologies that enable TCP/IP network management. The technical name for this larger architecture is the Internet Standard Management Framework. Again, even though it may seem strange, this term is actually abbreviated in the standards as “SNMP”. For simplicity, I abbreviate it as the “SNMP Framework”, to differentiate it from the SNMP protocol.

he Internet Standard Management Framework encompasses all of the technologies that comprise the TCP/IP network management solution. The SNMP Framework consists of a number of architectural components that define how management information is structured, how it is stored, and how it is exchanged using the SNMP protocol. The Framework also describes how the different components fit together, how SNMP is to be implemented in network devices, and how the devices interact.

SNMP Framework Components

Structure of Management Information (SMI): To ensure interoperability of various devices, we want to have a consistent way of describing the characteristics of devices to be managed using SNMP. In computer science, a data description language (DDL) is the tool for this job. The Structure of Management Information (SMI) is a standard that defines the structure, syntax and characteristics of management information in SNMP.

Each variable in a MIB is called a MIB object, and is defined using the SMI data description language. A device may have many objects, corresponding to the different hardware and software elements it contains. Initially, a single document defined the MIB for SNMP, but this model was inflexible. To allow new MIB objects to be more easily defined, groups of related MIB objects are now defined in separate RFC standards called MIB modules. Over 100 such MIB modules have been defined so far.

Figure 271: Components of the TCP/IP Internet Standard Management Framework