[224] in Resnet-Forum
Re: Asante 2072's
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tom Coppeto)
Thu Apr 7 15:14:56 1994
To: roy@mchip00.med.nyu.edu (Roy Smith)
Cc: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of Thu, 07 Apr 94 12:48:02 -0500.
<9404071647.AA14372@mchip00.med.nyu.edu>
Date: Thu, 07 Apr 94 14:49:29 BST
From: Tom Coppeto <tom@MIT.EDU>
SNMP is a protocol that allows you to retrieve or set objects. A bunch of
objects defined together form a management information base (mib). RMON
(rfc 1271) is such a mib that defines a set of objects used for ethernet
monitoring. The repeater mib (rfc 1368) defines a set of objects for
managing repeaters. The 2072 supports rfc 1368 but not rfc 1271.
When a vendor says "we support snmp" you need to specifically ask what mibs
they support. Many vendors offer "private mibs" (mibs not standardized).
This may be ok for objects that no one has thought of yet, but should not
be acceptable for standardized objects. Using standard obects means more
flexibility for you in deciding what network management packages to use.
As a side note with RMON, you need to be careful of security (whatever
exists in snmp these days) and consider if you really want to have this
feature enabled all the time (does the vendor provide a good "off"
switch?). There are various security incidents on the internet right now
that have to do with people breaking into unix machines, sniffing packets
on that machine's network, and recording passwords of telnet and ftp
sessions. RMON can be very useful but you have to be careful not to just
"leave it around".
- Tom
