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SNMP Technology

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard designed to manage networked systems. Vendors define proprietary SNMP schemes that attach to the global root hierarchy specified by RFC 1065 and maintained by the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA).

TTC's Implementation of SNMP in a private IP network enables remote configuration and monitoring of multiple Data Acquisition Units (DAUs) via a central management application. Critical events occurring anywhere in the data acquisition network trigger notifications to designated addresses for immediate user attention. SNMP provides configuration and control access to specific programmable parameters and to all statistical data.

TTC has defined objects to represent critical events, such as module overheating, and data such as temperature sensor readings. Objects are arranged hierarchically in its proprietary Management Information Base (MIB). Related MIB objects are grouped together to form MIB subtrees:

Root Subtree:
Table of TTC proprietary subtrees
User Subtree:
MIB expressions defined for customer-unique conditions.
Product Registration Subtree:
MIB expressions defined for distributed (networked) systems, standalone boxes, and DAU module stacks in the TTC family of products.
Module Compliance Subtree:
MIB expressions defined for capabilities of a product module in the TTC proprietary tree, matching the registration tree.
Agent Capability Subtree:
MIB expressions realized for capabilities of the SNMP agent on a product module in the TTC proprietary tree, matching the registration tree.

Each product module supports an embedded SNMP agent. Each product unit, typically one or more data acquisition modules supported by a processor module, is managed by a single SNMP manager application.

Processor Module Subagent:
Read only and read/write MIB objects defined for functions of a DAU processor module, including processor configuration, monitoring, and status; processor, module, and port statistics; signal, temperature, and voltage diagnostics, and trap notifications.
Module Subagent:
Read only and read/write MIB objects defined for functions of a data acquisition module, including manufacturing information, configuration, module diagnostics and statistics, bus status, interface diagnostics and statistics, monitoring, and trap notifications.
Experimental Subagent:
Read only and read/write MIB objects defined for temporary functions, such as those being employed to integrate IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP configuration and control into the SNMP management system. These process monitoring and trap notifications are subject to relocation into other subtrees or change based on customer feedback.

The master agent is executed as a daemon process. It receives SNMP requests, sends responses, and handles standard MIB objects independently. Separation between master and subagent isolates all DAU-specific data inside the subagent. Agent-manager functions include the following:

Configuration:
DAUs provide remote configuration of parameters related to SNMP event reporting thresholds, trap enabling/disabling, statistics, and dynamic analog parameters.
Reporting and Statistics:
SNMP agents report TTC standard MIBs multiplexer-specific information, and custom-developed customer-specified data.
Event Notification:
SNMP agents generate event notifications from pre-configured, enabled data traps. When a controller detects that a threshold has been reached, the trap activates a one-time edge-triggered notification. The SNMP manager takes appropriate actions, such as relaxing the thresholds or re-arming the trap.