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ManagementInformationBase(MIB)
AManagementInformationBase(MIB)istheformaldescriptionofasetofobjects
thatcanbemanagedusingSNMP.MIB-IreferstotheinitialMIBdefinition,and
MIB-IIreferstothecurrentdefinition.EachMIBobjectstoresavaluesuchas
sysUpTime,bandwidthutilization,orsysContactthatcanbepolledtoprovide
currentperformancedataforanyselecteddevice.Forexample,whenpollingyour
networkforperformancedata,OrionNetworkPerformanceMonitorsendsan
SNMPGETrequesttoeachnetworkdevicetopollthespecifiedMIBobjects.
ReceivedresponsesarethenrecordedintheOriondatabaseforuseinOrion
products,includingwithinOrionWebConsoleresources.
MostnetworkdevicescansupportseveraldifferenttypesofMIBs.Whilemost
devicessupportthestandardMIB-IIMIBs,theymayalsosupportanyofanumber
ofadditionalMIBsthatyoumaywanttomonitor.UsingafullycustomizableOrion
UniversalDevicePoller,youcangatherinformationfromvirtuallyanyMIBonany
networkdevicetowhichyouhaveaccess.
WindowsManagementInstrumentation(WMI)
WindowsManagementInstrumentation(WMI)isaproprietarytechnologyusedto
pollperformanceandmanagementinformationfromWindows-basednetwork
devices,applications,andcomponents.WhenusedasanalternativetoSNMP,
WMIcanprovidemuchofthesamemonitoringandmanagementdatacurrently
availablewithSNMP-basedpollingwiththeadditionofWindows-specific
communicationsandsecurityfeatures.FormoreinformationaboutWMI,seethe
Microsoftarticle,About
WMI
.
Notes:
l
DuetospecificcharacteristicsofWMIpollingrequests,pollingasingle
WMI-enabledobjectusesapproximatelyfivetimestheresourcesrequiredto
pollthesameorsimilarobjectwithSNMPonthesamepollingfrequency.
l
SolarWindsNPMdoesnotcurrentlyuseWMItomonitorinterfaces.
Agents
Youcanalsopollinformationaboutyournetworkdevicesusingagents.
AnagentissoftwarethatprovidesacommunicationchannelbetweentheOrion
serverandaWindowscomputer.Agentsareusedtoprovidepacket-leveltraffic
informationaboutkeydevicesandapplicationsthatyouspecify.
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ManagementInformationBase(MIB)