Supporting Software (Essential SNMP)

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5.5. Supporting Software

Supporting software is a grab-bag that includes all sorts of things that are used in conjunction with the software packages listed earlier. Some of these packages can be used to write standalone SNMP applications. The rest of this section outlines several supporting software packages. Most of these are freely available and can be used with little or no previous experience.

Perl

http://www.perl.com, http://www.perl.org

Platforms

Unix, Windows NT, Mac OS

Pros

The Practical Extraction and Report Language (Perl) is a versatile, all-purpose scripting language that is the tool of choice for system administrators and network engineers, among others. Both MRTG and Cricket make use of Perl to perform their behind-the-scenes work.

Cons

Some people say that there are no cons to Perl. The most common complaint about the language is that it's interpreted and not compiled, like the C programming language.

SNMP Support for Perl

http://www.switch.ch/misc/leinen/snmp/perl/, http://www.cpan.org

Platforms

Unix, Windows NT, Mac OS

Pros

Supplies easy-to-use subroutines that give access to the core SNMP functions. Widely tested, as it's the fundamental SNMP engine for the MRTG package.

Cons

Doesn't seem to have a lot of market exposure.

WILMA

ftp://ftp.ldv.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de/dist/WILMA/INDEX.html

Platforms

Most Unix platforms

Pros

Contains the core SNMP functions as well as a MIB compiler and browser.

Cons

Functions could be a bit more streamlined and user-friendly.

Net-SNMP C Library

http://net-snmp.sourceforge.net

Platforms

Unix, Windows 9x/NT

Pros

This library can be used to develop your own SNMP applications. The library is very easy to use, once you figure it out. The nice thing about the package is that it comes with the source code to commands such as snmpget, snmpset, and snmpwalk, which can be used to see how these sorts of operations are accomplished.

Cons

The documentation on how to use the library is poor to the point of nonexistence.

Net-SNMP Perl Module

http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/GSM/

Platforms

Unix, Windows 9x/NT

Pros

This library provides identical functionality to the Net-SNMP C library, except in Perl.

Cons

During installation, this module needs to have access to the Net-SNMP C library in order to work properly.

A3Com

http://www.kernel.org/software/A3Com/

Platforms

Unix, Windows NT

Pros

A simple set of modules that can be used to manage 3Com SuperStack II 3900/9300 and CoreBuilder 3500 LAN switches. This can be a good start for management on a budget.

Cons

The functionality is limited.

SNMP++

http://rosegarden.external.hp.com/snmp++/

Platforms

Unix (Linux, HP-UX, and Solaris), Windows

Pros

If you need to use C++ for SNMP application development, this is the package to get. You can create powerful applications with minimal programming. This library has been released into the open source community and is freely available.

Cons

Requires knowledge of C++.

http://www.micromuse.com

Platforms

Unix, Windows NT

Pros

An event-correlation and deduplication engine, used to cut down on the management events that traditional NMS platforms tend to generate by showing the end user only what she needs to know to fix network problems. It is designed to receive events from NMSs such as OpenView or NerveCenter, but it can receive events from almost any kind of management source. Micromuse sells probes that can interface with everything from popular NMS platforms to telephone switch equipment.

Cons

Requires a bit of initial setup (but after that it's easy to use and maintain).

Network Computing Technologies Trap Receiver

http://www.ncomtech.com

Platforms

Pros

Easy to use and can be configured to perform actions on received traps.

Cons

Doesn't run on any flavor of Unix.

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