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Chapter 26
Configuring SNMP
As shown in
notification of certain events, to the SNMP manager, which receives and processes the traps. Traps alert
the SNMP manager to a condition on the network such as improper user authentication, restarts, link
status (up or down), MAC address tracking, and so forth. The SNMP agent also responds to MIB-related
queries sent by the SNMP manager in get-request, get-next-request, and set-request format.
Figure 26-1
SNMP Manager
For information on supported MIBs and how to access them, see
SNMP Notifications
SNMP allows the switch to send notifications to SNMP managers when particular events occur. SNMP
notifications can be sent as traps or inform requests. In command syntax, unless there is an option in the
command to select either traps or informs, the keyword traps refers to either traps or informs, or both.
Use the snmp-server host command to specify whether to send SNMP notifications as traps or informs.
SNMPv1 does not support informs.
Note
Traps are unreliable because the receiver does not send an acknowledgment when it receives a trap, and
the sender cannot determine if the trap was received. When an SNMP manager receives an inform
request, it acknowledges the message with an SNMP response protocol data unit (PDU). If the sender
does not receive a response, the inform request can be sent again. Because they can be re-sent, informs
are more likely than traps to reach their intended destination.
The characteristics that make informs more reliable than traps also consume more resources in the switch
and in the network. Unlike a trap, which is discarded as soon as it is sent, an inform request is held in
memory until a response is received or the request times out. Traps are sent only once, but an inform
might be re-sent or retried several times. The retries increase traffic and contribute to a higher overhead
on the network. Therefore, traps and informs require a trade-off between reliability and resources. If it
is important that the SNMP manager receive every notification, use inform requests. If traffic on the
network or memory in the switch is a concern and notification is not required, use traps.
OL-8603-04
Figure
26-1, the SNMP agent gathers data from the MIB. The agent can send traps, or
SNMP Network
Get-request, Get-next-request,
NMS
Get-bulk, Set-request
Get-response, traps
Network device
MIB
SNMP Agent
Appendix A, "Supported MIBs."
Catalyst 2960 Switch Software Configuration Guide
Understanding SNMP
26-5
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