Mediate SNMP Data to Other Protocols

The T/Mon NOC receives SNMP traps, forwards alarm data in TL1 or ASCII format to another master, and exports alarm data as a delimited text file for analysis in a database or spreadsheet application.

You can do more with SNMP data than just send it to an SNMP manager. Protocol mediation lets you translate data from your SNMP remotes into other formats for other uses. The T/Mon NOC can receive SNMP alarm messages (traps) and forward them in TL1 or as ASCII text. This function supports two key applications.

Protocol Mediation to Upper Level Masters

Protocol mediation is vitally important if you use network monitoring equipment from different vendors. For example, let's say you have an existing non-SNMP master that monitors most of your network, but you also need to monitor SNMP devices and remotes. Protocol mediation allows you to consolidate the SNMP data with the rest of your monitoring. Consolidating all your monitoring onto one platform is easier and more reliable than running two different monitoring systems, and it saves you the cost of buying a separate SNMP manager.

The T/Mon NOC is a monitoring platform as well as a mediation device, so you can use it for simultaneous viewing and forwarding of alarms. This is particularly useful if you need to have a monitoring console for managing a regional network and you also want to forward regional alarm data to a primary master.

Alarm Forwarding for After-Hours Monitoring

You can't have human beings in your NOC watching your monitoring screens 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But network threats can happen at any time. How do you track network problems when the NOC staff is away? ASCII alarm forwarding provides an ideal way of monitoring network activity when the NOC is unmanned. The T/Mon NOC can output alarm data to any ASCII-based monitoring or recording device.

Alarm Data Analysis

Alarm data contains a wealth of information about what's going on in your network. Analysis of your alarm data can tell you where, when, and under what conditions network problems usually occur, identify network usage trends, and help you anticipate and prevent future network problems.

In the application shown here, the T/Mon NOC receives SNMP alarm messages, mediates them to ASCII text, and exports the information as a delimited text file. The alarm information in the text file can then be imported into a database or spreadsheet, and from there you can graph or tabulate it for analysis.

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