Managing Modems by Periodic Polling

Network management and network monitoring technologies frequently rely on periodic SNMP polling of target devices to obtain statistical information for later reduction and analysis. Periodic polling has been applied to virtually every type of network device capable of supporting an SNMP agent, including probes, routers, switches, and servers. This paper examines the extension of periodic polling techniques to remote access devices -modems, ISDN interfaces and remote access servers. Some unique problems are presented by the characteristics of these devices and by the way vendors have chosen to support them in SNMP MIBs. In particular, we discuss how Concord Communications, Inc., has extended its flagship network monitoring product, Network Health[tm], to support remote access devices.