System information

358 Observer Suite: SNMP Management
The structure of the SNMP polling process suggests that an SNMP request can be
considered a single object. By combining several SNMP objects in a single request, the
same requests can be used for all SNMP agents using the same MIB.
The MIB Editor provides this functionality for SNMP Management Console by allowing
you to design requests for each agent. When you configure a new SNMP agent, you
designate its request file in the SNMP Agent Properties dialog.
Why Build Custom Requests?
The request files that are included as part of the SNMP Management Console package will
serve most user’s needs most of the time; however, there may be situations where it can be
advantageous to build custom requests. RFC1213 includes methods for manufacturers to
define SNMP objects not specifically defined (in effect, proprietary MIB objects). In some
cases, a manufacturer may not have precisely adhered to the RFC1213 specification and
mislabelled an object.
Custom requests allow the SNMP Management Console to work with SNMP agents that
interact with objects not directly defined in RFC1213, and in dealing with badly-formed
SNMP agents.
Another advantage of custom requests is the ability to share them. For example, a network
administrator in a large corporation may need to create a periodic report about network
traffic. Four other network administrators from the same corporation, located in different
states, must create similar reports about their network segments. By creating a single,
uniform custom request, it is possible to easily compare the performance of the network
segments on the important criteria.
Yet another advantage of custom requests is to avoid data overload. While SNMP and its
proprietary features can provide a mountain of information, only some of it will be
relevant in a given situation. By either modifying standard requests to eliminate
extraneous data, or by creating custom requests from scratch, you will be able to create
displays of information that are useful to your specific situation. For example, RFC1213
defines twenty different ICMP objects, but much of the time, most network administrators
will find themselves interested in only one or two. By creating a custom chart, the network
administrator can focus more on what’s relevant by eliminating the display of the
extraneous.
Custom requests also provide a way for one network administrator to:
• Design a standard for obtaining exactly the information needed;
• Prepare information in a way more easily understood by less technically-oriented
people, and;
• Share the standard with other administrators.
Through discussion and testing, a comprehensive set of custom requests can be developed
to obtain consistent sets of data customized for an organization's particular needs.