Which protocol is commonly used to gather performance data from network devices and assist with monitoring?

Which protocol is commonly used to gather performance data from network devices and assist with monitoring?

• A. SNMP
• B. SSH
• C. FTP
• D. DNS

Answer: (A)

The main idea is using a protocol designed for management and monitoring to collect performance data from devices. Simple Network Management Protocol is built for this purpose: a central manager polls devices for metrics stored in their MIBs, such as interface utilization, CPU and memory usage, disk space, and uptime. Devices run an SNMP agent to respond with the requested values, and SNMP can also send traps to alert when a metric crosses a threshold. This makes SNMP a natural fit for monitoring tools like Nagios, Zabbix, or PRTG, because it provides standardized, scalable access to a wide range of performance data. Other options are intended for different tasks—SSH is for secure remote command execution, FTP for file transfers, and DNS for name resolution—not for collecting standardized monitoring metrics.

The main idea is using a protocol designed for management and monitoring to collect performance data from devices. Simple Network Management Protocol is built for this purpose: a central manager polls devices for metrics stored in their MIBs, such as interface utilization, CPU and memory usage, disk space, and uptime. Devices run an SNMP agent to respond with the requested values, and SNMP can also send traps to alert when a metric crosses a threshold. This makes SNMP a natural fit for monitoring tools like Nagios, Zabbix, or PRTG, because it provides standardized, scalable access to a wide range of performance data. Other options are intended for different tasks—SSH is for secure remote command execution, FTP for file transfers, and DNS for name resolution—not for collecting standardized monitoring metrics.