Monitor Both SNMP and Non-SNMP Devices with an Integrated Remote Alarm Monitoring System

Relying on an off-the-shelf SNMP manager for mission-critical telemetry is a major mistake.

If you're switching from traditional telemetry or integrating non-SNMP remote alarm monitoring with an SNMP-based monitoring system, an off-the-shelf SNMP manager will not provide the visibility you expect.

It's best to find equipment that can give you visibility of all your remote site equipment, not separate systems for SNMP and non-SNMP equipment. Then you can use your SNMP manager where it does well: drilling down for specific equipment problems and network inventory. Don't use an SNMP manager for fault management and network alarm notification. It's missing at least 7 critical functions for this task. Unless you have everything reporting to one system, you won't have complete visibility. This is the role that a remote alarm monitoring system was designed for.

Before you commit to an SNMP remote alarm monitoring solution, make sure it supports essential telemetry functions

There are seven key functions you need when integrating SNMP and non- SNMP remote alarm monitoring systems. Your SNMP monitoring implementation will be successfully only if it supports all seven functions.

7 critical functions of SNMP remote alarm monitoring you can't live without

1. Complete, precise alarm descriptions
   An adequate SNMP manager will record the location, time, severity, or a precise description of alarm events.
2. Identification of cleared alarms
   Off the shelf SNMP managers do not identify whether a trap corresponds to an alarm condition or a clear condition.
3. Standing alarm history
   Your SNMP manager must maintain a list of standing alarms and not just log newly reported or acknowledged traps. Imagine what might happen to your network if a system operator acknowledges an alarm, and then, for whatever reason, fails to correct the alarm condition. Who would know the alarm is still standing? No one!
4. System operator identification and login
   Your SNMP alarm monitoring system must record the identity of the system operator who acknowledges an alarm. In the example of the negligent system operator, it would be impossible to determine who had made the mistake or to assign responsibility for the resulting problems.
5. Maintain System Security and Strict Accountability
   An advanced SNMP alarm monitoring system will track each user by a unique identification and automatically record user actions in the history log.
6. Viewing local and regional alarm groups
   An advanced SNMP remote monitoring solution will allow you to organize alarms by logical category, posting the same alarm to multiple logical categories, or sorting which alarms the user wants to see.
7. Best quality telemetry monitoring
   With tools such as notifications escalation, legacy protocol mediation, nuisance alarm silencing, automatic control relay operation, and automatic notifications by pager and e-mail, you'll have complete visibility of your entire network, not just the SNMP enabled devices.

Learn more about integrating remote alarm monitoring of your SNMP and non-SNMP systems...

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