Systems Management Protocols

Basic SNMP Components

An SNMP managed network consists of three key components: managed nodes, agents, and management stations.

Managed Nodes A managed node is a network node that contains an SNMP agent and resides on a managed network. Managed nodes collect and store management information and make this information available to the management station(s) using SNMP.

Agents An agent is a systems-management software module that resides on a managed node. An agent has local knowledge of management information and translates that information into a form compatible with SNMP.

Management Stations The management station executes applications that monitor and control managed devices. Management stations provide the bulk of the processing and memory resources required for network management. One or more management stations must exist on any managed network.