Network toolsets are more popular than ever before, and come in a variety of licensing and technical formats. It is important to note that there are few network tools that specialize in one particular network access method and basically comprise an expert system for that genre of tool. One such toolset is the OidView MIB Browser and SNMP Tools product from ByteSphere Technologies.
OidView is not just a SNMP tool geared for the IT administrator, rather, it has been designed for individuals in all walks of IT life including network engineers, software developers, quality assurance engineers, and support staff. Just about any computer savvy individual can use this network tool because it takes all the guessing out of SNMP and MIB Management.
One of the most challenging things about network management is the need for the management tool to load in supporting management information base files (called MIBs, for short). This needs to happen in order to “teach” the network management system (NMS), how to manage a particular device on the network. Often, this process I fraught with peril as it is sometimes impossible to determine which order to load in these MIBs, let alone find the correct ones off of the vendor’s website or accompanying CD. ByteSphere’s solution to this management nightmare was to develop and patent the MIB discovery and MIB acquisition process. What this means to the user is that there is no need in finding the correct set of ASN.1 MIBs, no need to compile or load them in the correct order, because the OidView system does this for the user automatically.
When you point OidView at a device, it will initiate communication with it, determine which types of MIBs are needed, then download them from the ByteSphere MIB repository if they are available. The acquired MIBs are then registered into the local OidView database and then the process of MIB discovery takes place. OidView determines which MIBs are understood by the device and selectively loads those into the database as well. Once this process is complete (it is very quick, by the way), OidView can browse and manage the device’s MIBs.
Toolsets like this revolutionize a way of performing mundane tasks and in the end simplify doing business. OidView puts the “simple” back into SNMP and rewards the user with a simplified and speedy setup to management and administration of network devices and agents.
By: Jeremy Eliot