An Improved Error Handling Method in SNMPv2 Protocol Operations

SNMPv1 is very successful due to its simplicity, fiexibility, and extensibility. However, simplicity can also be a drawback. In SNMPv1, a manager can oilly retrieve one piece of information at a time, and an agent merely reports one error to its manager, though there may be several errors having occurred during the protocol operation. These two interactions enlarge the number of protocol exchanges between a manager and an agent. SNMPv2 permits the retrieval of large data blocks, but the errors can only be handled one by one. These errors continually occur in a multivendor network. This paper proposes an error handling method in SNMPv2 protocol operations. In this method, all errors within a received PDU (Protocol Data Unit) can be detected by the agent simultaneously.