Simple Network Management Protocol

Used for monitoring network devices and encompassing a set of standard protocols. SNMP data contains information describing the network device configuration, and variables describing the state of the device. SNMP can be used to both read and write to the network device, such as reading the configuration and then modifying the configuration. SNMP is most commonly used for monitoring.

Information from network devices may be retrieved via

• GET
• GETNEXT
• GETBULK

Data may be streamed using

• TRAP
• INFORM

Data may be written using

• SET

Variables accessed by SNMP are organized in hierarchies. These hierarchies, and other metadata, are described by Management Information Bases (MIBs).