Netw420 Rmon Probes in Network Management

RMON Probes in Network Management

NETW420 – Advanced Network Management

January 2013 Session

2/10/2013

RMON (Remote Network Monitoring) provides standardized information that a centrally located network administrator can use to monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot local area networks and interconnecting WANs. RMON specifically defines the information that any network monitoring system will be able to provide. It's specified as part of the Management Information Base (MIB) in RFC 1757 as an extension of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

RMON can be supported by hardware monitoring devices (known as hardware "probes") or through software application-based probes, or some cases a combination of both are implemented. Most managed LAN switches include some form of software application as part of the switch operating system that can trap relative information as traffic flows through the switch. The switch will record the information in its MIB and will then send that information back to the network manager. The MIB software agent in the remote network device gathers the information, then transmits the data to the network administrator for processing. The network manager application typically provides some form of GUI (graphical user interface) to display the device information. A number of vendors provide hardware and software products with various kinds and levels of RMON support.

RMON uses various network devices such as servers, routers, and LAN switches that serve as clients (agents). RMON maintains pseudo-control of the network by using these devices and their corresponding applications simultaneously. When a network packet is transmitted, RMON allows for viewing of the packet status and can provide additional information in the event that a packet is blocked or lost.

RMON collects nine kinds of information that includes packets sent, bytes sent, packets dropped, statistics by host, by conversations between two sets of addresses, and...