The report covers the evaluation of the network management protocols SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and CMIP (Common Management Information Protocol). The history of the network management protocol is explained in the beginning to set the base for an understanding of the need for efficient network management protocols, which carry management information in their payload. The description and thorough comparison of the two protocols reveal several highlights: SNMP and CMIP are designed with different backgrounds and purposes. SNMP is appreciated due to its simplicity and ease of implementation and criticized for its lack of security issues and overall performance. CMIP was designed to overcome the shortcomings of SNMP and to outweigh it in every field. This aim has been achieved but what renders the protocol useless is the fact that it requires too much network resources. SNMP remains the network management protocol of choice. After the presentation of the two protocols the attention is drawn to the impact of middleware on the management processes. Middleware can be considered as a layer of software that supports multiple communication protocols, multiple programming languages, and runs on various computer platforms. It helps to integrate otherwise incompatible system components by providing standardized mechanisms that distributed components can use to communicate over a network. With middleware the best of both worlds (SNMP versus CMIP) can be achieved. The most important middleware technologies are the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). Although middleware eats up network resources significantly, it adds value to the corporative network due to its high performance and standardized interfaces that enable managers to employ network devices with the focus on the gained benefit rather than on their potential integration in the current network environment. One can see that network management, supported by middleware, moves towards the coverage of all layers in the OSI reference model.
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