Figure 1 shows a diagram of these early .

             systems. If something went wrong with this type of system, it was fairly easy to .

             troubleshoot, the blame almost always fell on the mainframe system.

             Shortly after the introduction of Personal Computers (PC), came Local Area .

             Networks (LANS), forever changing the way in which we look at networked systems. .

             LANS originally consisted of just PC"s connected into groups of computers, but soon .

             after, there came a need to connect those individual LANS together forming what is .

             known as a Wide Area Network, or WAN, the result was a complex connection of .

             computers joined together using various types of interfaces and protocols. Figure 2 .

             shows a modern day WAN. Last year, a survey of Fortune 500 companies showed that .

             15% of their total computer budget, 1.6 Million dollars, was spent on network .

             management (Rose, 115). Because of this, much attention has focused on two families .

             of network management protocols: The Simple Network Management Protocol .

             (SNMP), which comes from a de facto standards based background of TCP/IP .

             communication, and the Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP), which .

             derives from a de jure standards-based background associated with the Open Systems .

             Interconnection (OSI) (Fisher, 183). .

             .

             In this report I will cover advantages and disadvantages of both Common .

             Management Information Protocol (CMIP) and Simple Network Management .

             Protocol (SNMP)., as well as discuss a new protocol for the future. I will also give .

             some good reasons supporting why I believe that SNMP is a protocol that all network .

             administrators should use. .

             SNMP is a protocol that enables a management station to configure, monitor, and .

             receive trap (alarm) messages from network devices. (Feit, 12). It is formally specified .

             in a series of related Request for Comment (RFC) documents, listed here.

             RFC 1089 - SNMP over Ethernet.

             RFC 1140 - IAB Official Protocol Standards.