A Flexible Approach for Defining Distributed Dependable Tests in SNMP-Based Network Management Systems

This paper presents a MIB (Management Information Base) based on the Internet standard Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) that allows the specification of tests of network elements and resources, including hardware, software, and protocol entities. Each test is specified by a script that is taylored for the tested entity. The frequency in which the test is executed is also specified. Tests are executed in a distributed fashion. This MIB has been used to implement a distributed diagnosis tool which assumes that a fault-free agent running a previously defined test is able to correctly determine the state of the tested entity. The tests are dependable in the sense that they continue to be executed even if only one agent in the network is fault-free and all others are faulty. Case studies of practical network monitoring are presented.

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