SNMP vs. DMI: A Comparison of Management Infrastructure Technologies

As the demand for efficient and scalable management of computer networks continues to grow, the choice of management infrastructure technology becomes increasingly important. While SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) has long been the standard for managing internetworking devices, the Intel-led Desktop Management Task Force's DMI (Desktop Management Interface) has emerged as the preferred technology for managing PC network nodes, such as client workstations, printers, and server machines.

Key Takeaways:

• SNMP is primarily suited for managing internetworking devices, whereas DMI is designed for managing PC network nodes.
• DMI provides a standard interface for obtaining management information, whereas SNMP requires a one-to-many relationship with nodes on the network, making it difficult to scale for large enterprise environments.
• DMI's protocol independence allows for easy extension to remote operation, whereas SNMP's request-reply nature makes it less suitable for fluid bidirectional communications.
• Intel's LANDesk Manager will become DMI-compliant later this year, using an Intel-designed protocol for its remote operation capabilities.
• Establishing a DMI agent and protocol in the public domain will create an infrastructure for management that vendors can use and compete on the development of services and applications.

Statistics:

• Enterprises have tens of thousands of managed components per node, such as memory, disk drives, adaptors, and so on.
• A large enterprise may have thousands of nodes, with tens of thousands of managed components.

Sources:

• "Desktop Management Interface: A Standard for Managing PC Network Nodes" - Intel-led Desktop Management Task Force
• Intel's LANDesk Manager documentation
• "Simple Network Management Protocol" (SNMP) - IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
• Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Novell, and other vendors' supporting documentation for DMI