Not long ago, I saw an article on the Internet introduced the model of the CORBA / SNMP gateway. In order to better adopt an object-oriented technology package under the large-scale network, a CORBA / SNMP gateway has been established between the managed object and the manager. Its action is to map and convert SNMP operations and data (including listening trap information) with CORBA objects, so that previous managers can switch directly to the protocol to be converted to the CORBA object. This forms a three-layer structure of a manager / gateway / agent.
At present, when we develop SNMP applications, we will encounter a lot of different languages of different platforms. Many times, do two different applications have a lot of repetition work, and these work is only caused by the different development packages. If you use a CORBA / SNMP gateway, you don't have to worry about it at least in the same language. And because of the versatility of CORBA, each platform language can use the gateway, and the calling method is also generally consistent, which reduces a certain amount of work. At the same time, developers can develop applications without familiar with the SNMP protocol.
Such a design has a certain rationality. This is applied to web browsing, thereby generating a four-layer structure. This way, developing a web server is relatively easy and universal. Similarly, after using the CORBA / SNMP gateway, it will become relatively easy to develop various types of multilayer architectural applications. For example, in addition to the web mode, you can access the gateway (similar to the multi-layer structure of the enterprise application) with other desktop programs.
Since SNMP will use the UDP protocol because of the instability of the tube network itself. We don't have to ask the network very reliable in practical applications. However, there must be a stable connection between the CORBA customer and the gateway, otherwise the gateway will be more unreliable. The best way is to let the gateway and the customer run on the same machine. If there is only one customer, this method is of course good, but sometimes there will be multiple customers to use the same gateway. At this time, we must also guarantee the stability between them. And take into account the real-time performance of the information, but also guarantee the operating efficiency of the gateway. Moreover, it is also necessary to ensure that the trap information can be forwarded to all (or specific) managers.
The actual management of a network may not only be used to use the SNMP protocol. If the protocol that does not support other gateways, you need to bypass the gateway, which is not exemplar. So, I think the role of the gateway is not only a mapping of a CORBA object to the SNMP protocol, but also provides more related functions.
Considering the possible changes in the managed MIB, the CORBA / SNMP gateway should also support the generation of dynamic CORBA objects. That is, do not need to restart the gateway when an increase, reducing or changing the MIB object. One of possible implementation methods is to run all managed objects as a service.
The author proposed is just a model, but truly achieved is not simple, at least more complicated than developing a SNMP development package. At present, many manufacturers are doing this aspect, and I believe this is also a direction in the development of network management.
