2 Types of Network Management Protocols
The most common types of network management protocols include Internet
Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP).
1. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
SNMP
, also known as simple network management protocol, is a way of talking to
network elements that you want to monitor. More specifically and technically, it’s
a standard protocol defined by the Internet Architecture Board used for managing
network devices connected over an IP.
SNMP allows devices on a network to communicate, regardless of hardware and
software. This provides network devices (routers, printers, servers, etc.) with a
common language for sharing information with a network management system.
The purpose of every
network monitoring tool
is to continually monitor and
manage the health of network devices across an organization. Managing the health
of network devices is necessary to ensure all applications and services employees
and customers are using are working properly, which requires all physical
hardware, network devices, and virtual network devices to work properly.
Dating back over 30 years, SNMP is the most ubiquitous way to monitor network
devices today, bridging the connection into network devices that essentially allows
a network professional to ask the question “How can I monitor you, device?”
SNMP (whether
SNMP V2c or SNMP V3
) touches every single form of network
monitoring you can imagine, but it’s actually quite simple in terms of functionality.
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2. Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
ICMP a network monitoring protocol that’s designed specifically for error
reporting. Network devices rely on ICMP to transmit error messages. For example,
a router might use ICMP in a situation where a host or client cannot be reached, or
queried information is unavailable. Contrary to SNMP, ICMP is not used in
scenarios where an exchange of data takes place between systems. However, it’s
often used by network admins and analysts to troubleshoot internet connections
within diagnostic utilities such as traceroute or ping.
ICMP is a connectionless protocol which is not associated with transport layer
protocols like TCP or UDP. There is no need for a device to open a connection
with the target device before transmitting a message, unlike TCP, for instance.
Rather, ICMP messages are sent as datagrams, consisting of an IP header which
encapsulates ICMP data. This ensures that the specific failed packet is identified to
the request source that receives the error message.
Common error messages ICMP reports include:
•
Destination unreachable
•
Redirect
•
Time exceeded
•
Parameter problem
•
Source quench (deprecated)
•
Destination unreachable
•
Packet too big
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