| | | | | supported hosts to 4,294,967,296 (232), whereas IPv6 |
| Typically network management software was | | | | supports a 128-bit address space, and expands the |
| engineered in the 1990s, and computer programmers | | | | number of supported hosts to 3.4×1038 addresses. |
| used older languages and transmission technologies, | | | | Why are a huge number of addresses important? |
| like the ubiquitous internet protocol version 4, or IPv4. | | | | Because our world is becoming increasingly more |
| Some of this software was used by large | | | | complex, and each new gadget it seems is something |
| corporations to detect faults by intercepting information | | | | that should connect to the internet. As the number of |
| in SNMP traps sent from a variety of network hosts. | | | | networked devices grows, the networks grow |
| These fault management solutions were mostly | | | | (especially the internet), and each one of these |
| acquired by large IT management software vendors in | | | | devices, no matter how large or small, will need a |
| the late 1990s through 2005, in an attempt to | | | | unique address. And if that device needs to send |
| complement their legacy product offerings. | | | | information over the network, chances are it will also |
| | | | | be programmed to send traps, in order to alert a |
| The best IT monitoring tools are those that can | | | | manager of informational or critical events. If new |
| perform a variety of functions as well as fault | | | | devices are IPv6 enabled and sending SNMPv3 |
| management, but they must be ready for next | | | | secure traps, the fault manager had better be able to |
| generation networks and services. That is the key | | | | scale to being able to handle huge amounts of traffic |
| component that several of the legacy framework | | | | as well as large volumes of encrypted SNMP Traps |
| providers cannot supply – mobility and ease of use, | | | | over the IPv6 protocol. |
| especially with respect to adding critical new | | | | Unfortunately, the old legacy products cannot easily be |
| functionality to support new services. | | | | retrofitted to support receipt of events and traps over |
| And today there are new challenges with respect to | | | | these new protocols like SNMPv3 and IPv6. Because |
| managing networks, including security (addressed by | | | | of these new challenges and the need to support |
| SNMPv3) and the address space explosion caused by | | | | those cutting-edge protocols, new software solutions |
| the sheer number of new machines and services that | | | | are now needed. These new fault solutions will |
| are being brought online (addressed by internet | | | | become a critical component in the entire management |
| protocol version 6, or IPv6). The IPv6 protocol has | | | | infrastructure to help keep next generation services |
| been designed to have a much larger address space | | | | available and functioning. |
| than IPv4, allows flexibility in routing internet traffic and | | | | |
| allocating addresses, as well as eliminates the need to | | | | So, to sum up, basic fault management and receipt of |
| use network address translation or NAT to avoid | | | | SNMP Traps over IPv6 or using SNMPv3 is typically |
| address exhaustion; lastly, it simplifies some aspects of | | | | not offered by any of the top tier management |
| address assignment and renumbering when changing | | | | vendors, leaving room for young upstarts to elbow into |
| between Internet service providers (ISPs). IPv4 uses a | | | | the market and take some serious market share. |
| 32-bit address space, which limits the number of | | | | |