Abstract: A generic mechanism enabling the programmatic identification of MIBs needed for control of an SNMP agent for a network device is disclosed. The present invention provides for the automatic retrieval of the identified MIBs and their loading onto a network management station (NMS) without user intervention. Additionally, previously known MIBs are programmatically examined to determine whether they require updating. Any required updates may be performed automatically with the updated MIBs being loaded onto the NMS.

Abstract: A generic mechanism enabling the programmatic identification of MIBs needed for control of an SNMP agent for a network device is disclosed. The present invention provides for the automatic retrieval of the identified MIBs and their loading onto a network management station (NMS) without user intervention. Additionally, previously known MIBs are programmatically examined to determine whether they require updating. Any required updates may be performed automatically with the updated MIBs being loaded onto the NMS.

Abstract: An adaptive polling facility that dynamically determines which types of management objects are available for monitoring the functioning of a network element is discussed. Based on the availability determination, subsequent polling requests are adapted. The dynamic adaptation allows partial information to be collected and used in certain circumstances and saves polling communications directed to non-supported objects. The adaptive polling facility may adjust to poll one object over another based upon current values retrieved from the device or may poll based on the presence or absence of an object. The adaptation of the polling requests may include changing the rate of the polling requests based on the speed of the device response and number of queued requests, interleaving the requests for several devices and/or switching the requests from one device to another if the first device is too busy.

Abstract: A generic mechanism enabling the programmatic identification of MIBs needed for control of an SNMP agent for a network device is disclosed. The present invention provides for the automatic retrieval of the identified MIBs and their loading onto a network management station (NMS) without user intervention. Additionally, previously known MIBs are programmatically examined to determine whether they require updating. Any required updates may be performed automatically with the updated MIBs being loaded onto the NMS.