SNMP Research International, Inc.

Secure Your Network

DR‑Web Product Family

There are two members of the DR‑Web Family:

DR‑Web Manager

DR‑Web™ Manager brings SNMP management to the Web, making it possible to talk to any SNMP agent using a Web browser. By bringing SNMP-based management into widely available and popular Web browsers, DR‑Web Manager enables the Web browser to access SNMP-based management information within any available SNMP agent without modifications to either the browser or the SNMP agents. Simply point the browser at DR‑Web Manager, and it will retrieve the requested information from the SNMP agents. Also, Web pages that retrieve and display customized sets of management data can be created in an HTML editor. Managers can use the familiar Web interface to read from and write information to any accessible SNMP agent, thus maximizing the investment both in SNMP agents and Web technology.

Overview

Powerful management capability for networks, applications, and systems, can be achieved by combining popular Web-based presentation technology with today's large installed base of SNMP-based management information using DR‑Web Manager.

By bringing SNMP-based management into widely available and popular Web browsers, DR‑Web Manager, enables the Web browser to access SNMP-based management information within any available SNMP agent without modifications to either the browser or the SNMP agents. Simply point the browser at DR‑Web Manager, and it will retrieve the requested information from the SNMP agents. Managers can use the familiar Web interface to read from and write information to any accessible SNMP agent, thus maximizing the investment both in SNMP agents and Web technology.

DR‑Web Manager joins DR‑Web Agent as a member of the DR‑Web family. It integrates a Web server into the master agent of the EMANATE® Run-time Extensible Agent so that one or more Web browsers may access the management information within the one managed device running the DR‑Web Agent. DR‑Web Manager allows multiple Web browsers to access management information from many SNMP agents.

No changes to the basic SNMP-based management strategy are required. DR‑Web Manager merely adds a Web interface to the existing SNMP management information in your network without disrupting ongoing network operations. Thus, the network operations center with its SNMP-based management platforms carries on its vital role in the enterprise management strategy.

Web-based access to SNMP-based information provides a vital complement to SNMP-based management platforms. DR‑Web Manager equips you to "Do it Right" by using the Web-based presentation technology effectively while continuing to use SNMP to collect data from the huge installed base of SNMP agents available today.

Using DR‑Web Manager, management personnel may access information from a single SNMP agent or multiple agents in a single HTML page, or write Java applications, which gather and present the data as the manager desires.

Architecture

DR‑Web products normally include an SNMP Research Web server. However, if customers desire to use a third-party Web server, the layered architecture of the DR‑Web family makes it easy to integrate. For example, the DR‑Web Agent has been demonstrated to work with embedded Web servers and could work with the Apache Web server. Continued support of third-party Web servers will reflect market demands.

DR‑Web Manager allows multiple Web browsers to use its services simultaneously. This means that only one DR‑Web Manager would be required for each site demanding Web-based management.

DR-Web Manager Architecture Image

HTTP Interaction

Once users are configured, DR‑Web Manager can be used to display SNMP-based information from any available SNMP agent. No further customization is needed. The SNMP data is displayed in automatically generated HTML pages.

Custom HTML pages may be created if desired. These can incorporate SNMP-based information from several different SNMP agents into a single HTML page to provide a concise view of information spread throughout the network. Custom pages allow DR‑Web Manager users to use any HTML constructs.

The user can also request that traps be displayed on the browser. Traps, once received from an agent configured to send traps to DR‑Web Manager, can be automatically displayed. No additional action from the user of the browser is required.

When an HTTP user has appropriate access rights, both custom pages and automatically generated pages allow for both read and write operations.

Security

Interaction between the Web browser and the DR‑Web Manager is authenticated using an HTTP username and password. The authenticated HTTP user is then mapped internally to appropriate SNMP authentication information for interaction with the SNMP agents. Alternatively, the user may supply SNMP authentication information in the URL or upon being prompted by DR‑Web Manager.

DR‑Web Manager uses the SNMPv3 administrative model for managing access control to management information. One HTTP user may be granted limited read privileges while another may be given full read and write privileges for a particular set of SNMP agents.

SNMP Operations

DR‑Web Manager uses the SNMP Research BRASS™ management system for SNMP communication. The SNMP messages are generated based upon a URL, which specifies both the SNMP agent with which to communicate and the particular MIB information being requested.

DR‑Web Manager can be used not only for SNMP read operations (get/get-next/get-bulk) but also for write operations. This includes set operations on existing objects as well as facilities for creation of new rows in tables, which support the RowStatus textual convention.

IPv6 Support

DR‑Web Manager can communicate with SNMP agents that are reachable by IPv4 or IPv6. The IPv6 protocol page shows examples of IPv6 Notation for agent queries in the URL and also for custom HTML pages.

Java Support

Java presents managers with an excellent opportunity to write platform-independent management applications. With DR‑Web Manager, Java applets can use the DR‑Web URL to gather SNMP data. They can then process the data, present it using graphs and charts, and take corrective measures when faults occur. Since any accessible SNMP data is easily named using the DR‑Web URLs and all SNMP operations are supported, Java applications can now be written for managing networks, systems, applications, and legacy devices.

Packaging

DR‑Web Manager is packaged both in full source code and binary distributions.

Available Platforms

DR‑Web Manager is available on the following platforms:

If a particular system is not listed, please contact Sales. We are happy to work with customers to port our products to new systems.

Please note: When a product is licensed, the product will support one platform of your choosing. If you need a product to run on two or more platforms, then a separate license must be acquired for each platform.

Sales Inquiries

For more information, please call +1 865 579-3311, or send email to info@snmp.com. You can also fill out a Sales Query and one of our sales people will respond to your request quickly.

Licensing terms are available from info@snmp.com.