SNMP

simple network Management Protocol (SNMP)
The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet-standard that provides a simple method for remotely managing virtually any network device that supports SNMP. A network device can be a network card in a server; a program or service running on a server; or a network device such as a hub, switch, or router. The SNMP standard defines a two-tiered approach to network device
management: a central management system and the management information base (MIB) located on the managed device. The management system can monitor one or many MIBs, allowing for centralized management of a network. From a management system, you can see valuable performance and network device operation statistics, enabling you to diagnose network health without leaving your office. The goal of a management system is to provide centralized network
management. Any computer running SNMP management software is referred to as a management system. For a management system to be able to perform centralized network management, it must be able to collect and analyze many things, including the following:

  1.  Network protocol identification and statistics
  2.  Dynamic identification of computers attached to the network (referred to as 
  3. discovery)
  4.  Hardware and software configuration data
  5.  Computer performance and usage statistics
  6.  Computer event and error messages
  7.  Program and application usage statistics