The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet-standard protocol for managing hosts on an IP network. Essential SNMP is a practical introduction to SNMP for system administrators. It starts with the basics: what SNMP is and how it works, along with some technical background to help administrators use it effectively--such things as how SNMP works and what OIDs, MIBs, community strings, and traps are. But the main focus of the book is on practical network administration: how to configure SNMP agents and network management stations, how to use SNMP to retrieve and modify variables on network devices, how to configure management software to react to traps sent by managed devices. Essential SNMP discusses a range of commercial and open source packages, including HP's OpenView, Castle Rock's SNMPc, the Net-SNMP tools, Simon Leinen's Perl SNMP support, and MRTG. The book covers all SNMP versions through SNMPv3.