This section provides a basic overview of SNMP architecture and how the WebSphere InterChange Server SNMP agent fits into that architecture. The following topics are covered:
Management Information Base (MIB)
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an application-layer protocol used to manage devices and processes. SNMP architecture consists of the following three components:
The SNMP manager executes the applications that monitor and control managed devices. SNMP managers do not communicate directly with the managed device, but rather, they communicate through the SNMP agent. An SNMP manager is not provided as part of the InterChange Server installation.
The SNMP agent is the entity that communicates directly with the device being managed. Its function is to receive requests from the SNMP manager, then communicate with the managed devices to process those requests. The SNMP agent is provided as an optional component of the WebSphere InterChange Server installation. The SNMP agent can be started manually or as a Windows service.
The system devices that can be managed using the SNMP agent are InterChange Server, collaborations, and connectors. For detailed information about what types of tasks the SNMP manager can perform on each of these managed devices, see What SNMP manages.
The SNMP agent uses a Management Information Base (MIB) to retrieve information about a managed device. A MIB is a collection of information that is organized hierarchically, and is like an index to the managed device. An object identifier, or object ID, uniquely identifies a managed object in the MIB hierarchy. For example, in the WebSphere InterChange Server MIB, there is an object ID for the status of a connector. It is this object ID that is managed using SNMP.
Two MIB definitions are provided with the WebSphere InterChange Server product: wbi_snmpagent_v2.mib and wbi_snmpagent_v1.mib. These files are located in the <WebSphere_Business_Integration_Install_Dir>\snmp directory, where <WebSphere_Business_Integration_Install_Dir> is the directory where you installed the WebSphere InterChange Server product.
After installing and configuring the SNMP agent, import into your SNMP manager either wbi_snmpagent_v2.mib (if your SNMP manager supports SNMP version-2) or wbi_snmpagent_v1.mib (if your SNMP manager supports SNMP version-1).
For instructions on installing and configuring the SNMP agent, see the System Installation Guide for UNIX or for Windows.
For instructions on importing the MIB file to the SNMP manager, refer to the documentation provided with your SNMP management software.
Access control within SNMP version-2 is supported through SNMP community names. Community names function like passwords, allowing various users to manage system components by accessing the SNMP agent using a community name. For instructions on configuring community names, see Steps for configuring community names.