SNMP Test

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is used for network management on TCP/IP networks. SNMP uses a central computer that functions as a network management station (NMS). This central computer runs network management software to manage network elements (NEs). On the network shown in Figure, the NMS manages Routers A, B, and C.

NQA SNMP tests use UDP packets to measure the communication speed and SNMP connectivity between a host and an SNMP agent. If a faulty NE is detected when the network management software is deployed on the NMS, an NQA SNMP test instance can be configured on another NE to detect an NE failure or a communication failure between the NMS and the NE. Figure 2-4 demonstrates the SNMP test process.

1. Router A sends an SNMP request packet to the SNMP agent Router C to request the system time. Because Router A does not know which SNMP versions Router C runs, it sends an SNMPv1 request packet, SNMPv2c request packet, and SNMPv3 request packet to Router C.
2. Once the SNMP request packets are received, Router C queries the system time, constructs SNMP response packets, and sends the SNMP response packets to Router A. If SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3 are all enabled on Router C, Router C constructs all three SNMP response packet versions.
3. After receiving the first SNMP response packet, Router A calculates the duration between the time Router A sent the SNMP request packet and the time Router A received the SNMP response packet. The time taken reflects the SNMP connectivity and SNMP performance on the network.

Figure  SNMP test networking