RFC 1448 (rfc1448) - Page 3 of 35
Protocol Operations for version 2 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv2)
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1448 Protocol Operations for SNMPv2 April 1993
2. Overview
2.1. Roles of Protocol Entities
A SNMPv2 entity may operate in a manager role or an agent
role.
A SNMPv2 entity acts in an agent role when it performs SNMPv2
management operations in response to received SNMPv2 protocol
messages (other than an inform notification) or when it sends
trap notifications.
A SNMPv2 entity acts in a manager role when it initiates
SNMPv2 management operations by the generation of SNMPv2
protocol messages or when it performs SNMPv2 management
operations in response to received trap or inform
notifications.
A SNMPv2 entity may support either or both roles, as dictated
by its implementation and configuration. Further, a SNMPv2
entity can also act in the role of a proxy agent, in which it
appears to be acting in an agent role, but satisfies
management requests by acting in a manager role with a remote
entity. The use of proxy agents and the transparency
principle that defines their behavior is described in [3].
2.2. Management Information
The term, variable, refers to an instance of a non-aggregate
object type defined according to the conventions set forth in
the SMI [2] or the textual conventions based on the SMI [4].
The term, variable binding, normally refers to the pairing of
the name of a variable and its associated value. However, if
certain kinds of exceptional conditions occur during
processing of a retrieval request, a variable binding will
pair a name and an indication of that exception.
A variable-binding list is a simple list of variable bindings.
The name of a variable is an OBJECT IDENTIFIER which is the
concatenation of the OBJECT IDENTIFIER of the corresponding
object-type together with an OBJECT IDENTIFIER fragment
identifying the instance. The OBJECT IDENTIFIER of the
corresponding object-type is called the OBJECT IDENTIFIER
Case, McCloghrie, Rose & Waldbusser