A Case Study of the Accuracy of SNMP Measurements

For some time it has been known that the standard method for collecting link-traffic measurements in IP networks—the Simple Network Management Protocol or SNMP—is flawed. It has often been noted that SNMP is subject to missing data, and that its measurements contain errors. However, very little work...

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Main Author: Matthew Roughan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2010-01-01
Series:Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/812979
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author Matthew Roughan
author_facet Matthew Roughan
author_sort Matthew Roughan
collection DOAJ
description For some time it has been known that the standard method for collecting link-traffic measurements in IP networks—the Simple Network Management Protocol or SNMP—is flawed. It has often been noted that SNMP is subject to missing data, and that its measurements contain errors. However, very little work has been aimed at assessing the magnitude of these errors. This paper develops a simple, easily applicable technique for measuring SNMP errors, and uses it in a case study to assess errors in a common SNMP collection tool. The results indicate that most link-load measurement errors are relatively small, but the distribution has a heavy-tail, and that a few measurement errors can be as large as the measurements themselves. The approach also allows us to go some way towards explaining the cause of the errors.
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spelling doaj-art-3f0c51b3224d41e0a6710e9cfd6d2a352025-08-20T02:08:07ZengWileyJournal of Electrical and Computer Engineering2090-01472090-01552010-01-01201010.1155/2010/812979812979A Case Study of the Accuracy of SNMP MeasurementsMatthew Roughan0School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, AustraliaFor some time it has been known that the standard method for collecting link-traffic measurements in IP networks—the Simple Network Management Protocol or SNMP—is flawed. It has often been noted that SNMP is subject to missing data, and that its measurements contain errors. However, very little work has been aimed at assessing the magnitude of these errors. This paper develops a simple, easily applicable technique for measuring SNMP errors, and uses it in a case study to assess errors in a common SNMP collection tool. The results indicate that most link-load measurement errors are relatively small, but the distribution has a heavy-tail, and that a few measurement errors can be as large as the measurements themselves. The approach also allows us to go some way towards explaining the cause of the errors.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/812979
spellingShingle Matthew Roughan
A Case Study of the Accuracy of SNMP Measurements
Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
title A Case Study of the Accuracy of SNMP Measurements
title_full A Case Study of the Accuracy of SNMP Measurements
title_fullStr A Case Study of the Accuracy of SNMP Measurements
title_full_unstemmed A Case Study of the Accuracy of SNMP Measurements
title_short A Case Study of the Accuracy of SNMP Measurements
title_sort case study of the accuracy of snmp measurements
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/812979
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