About SNMP

SNMP is an application-layer protocol that facilitates the exchange of management information between network devices and is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. Threat Defense provides support for network monitoring using SNMP Versions 1, 2c, and 3, and support the use of all three versions simultaneously. The SNMP agent running on the threat defense interface lets you monitor the network devices through network management systems (NMSes), such as HP OpenView. Threat Defense supports SNMP read-only access through issuance of a GET request. SNMP write access is not allowed, so you cannot make changes with SNMP. In addition, the SNMP SET request is not supported.

You can configure the threat defense to send traps, which are unsolicited messages from the managed device to the management station for certain events (event notifications) to an NMS, or you can use the NMS to browse the Management Information Bases (MIBs) on the security devices. MIBs are a collection of definitions, and the threat defense maintain a database of values for each definition. Browsing a MIB means issuing a series of GET-NEXT or GET-BULK requests of the MIB tree from the NMS to determine values.

An SNMP agent notifies the designated management stations if events occur that are predefined to require a notification, for example, when a link in the network goes up or down. The notification it sends includes an SNMP OID, which identifies itself to the management stations. The agent also replies when a management station asks for information.