Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) provides a "simple" set of operations that allows you to more easily monitor and manage network devices like routers, switches, servers, printers, and more. The information you can monitor with SNMP is wide-ranging--from standard items, like the amount of traffic flowing into an interface, to far more esoteric items, like the air temperature inside a router. In spite of its name, though, SNMP is not especially simple to learn.

O'Reilly has answered the call for help with a practical introduction that shows how to install, configure, and manage SNMP. Written for network and system administrators, the book introduces the basics of SNMP and then offers a technical background on how to use it effectively. Essential SNMP explores both commercial and open source packages, and elements like OIDs, MIBs, community strings, and traps are covered in depth. The book contains five new chapters and various updates throughout. Other new topics include:

• Expanded coverage of SNMPv1, SNMPv2, and SNMPv3

• Expanded coverage of SNMPc

• The concepts behind network management and change management

• RRDTool and Cricket

• The use of scripts for a variety of tasks

• How Java can be used to create SNMP applications

• Net-SNMP's Perl module

The bulk of the book is devoted to discussing, with real examples, how to use SNMP for system and network administration tasks. Administrators will come away with ideas for writing scripts to help them manage their networks, create managed objects, and extend the operation of SNMP agents.

Once demystified, SNMP is much more accessible. If you're looking for a way to more easily manage your network, look no further than Essential SNMP, 2nd Edition.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 20 Ratings

1/4 good - 2007-05-03
Reviewer Rating:
This book is good up till you get 1/4 of the way through it. The first quarter of the book is good and it goes over general SNMP stuff then history different versions etc. The last 3/4 of this book cover configuring proprietary monitoring systems like open view and solar winds.

I dont care about open view.. or solar winds.. i wanted to learn about snmp... not some vendors software package. Im suprised that this got published with such a general title.. when really the book is an snmp intro, followed by how to setup a proprietary monitoring tool.

SNMP for Users, not Programmers - 2008-04-13
Reviewer Rating:
Essential SNMP didn't quite hit the nail for me.
I needed introductory documentation on the design of MIB files and the implementation of agents, but this book provides more of a quick overview of the usage of SNMP from the perspective of a network manager.
There are lots of basic examples on data collection, but researching on the internet helped me much more than this book. Especially the Net-SNMP website covers much of the internal workings of the SNMP protocol and the advanced usage of OIDs, like tables, octet string indexes and multiple indexes. But I still had to search and experiment a lot before finding the relevant information.

Disappointing - 2007-05-25
Reviewer Rating:
Most of the books in this series are very technical and go into serious details. This one reads like a compendium of owner's manuals. A really good book on SNMP is needed and this one is not it.

Good Book - 2009-03-07
Reviewer Rating:
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about SNMP. It was helpful and straight foward

thorough coverage of SNMP - 2008-07-08
Reviewer Rating:
i knew nothing about the protocol. great resource in explaining from the ground up.

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