Essential SNMP, 2nd Edition

Appendix F. Network Management Software

Many SNMP software packages are available, ranging from programming libraries that let you build your own utilities (using Perl, C/C++, or Java) to expensive, complete network management platforms. This chapter presents a small sampling of some of the more commonly used packages. This should not only give you an idea of what types of packages are out there, but also introduce you to the different levels of packages (from freeware up to enterprise-class software). Management software falls into five categories:

• SNMP agents

• NMS suites

• Element managers (vendor-specific management)

• Trend analysis software

• Supporting software

Unfortunately, deciding what you need isn't as simple as picking one program from each category. If you have a small network and are interested in building your own tools, you probably don't need a complex NMS suite. Whether you need trend analysis software depends, obviously, on whether you're interested in analyzing trends in your network usage. The products available depend in part on the platforms in which you're interested. The minimum you can get by with is an SNMP agent on a device and some software that can retrieve a value from that device (using an SNMP get). Although this is minimal, it's enough to start working, and you can get the software for free.

This appendix presents a broad sampling of some of the leading products in each of these categories. Since there are more packages than we can cover in this book, be sure ...