Network Management Protocols: Analytical Study and Future Research Directions

A computer network consists of many complex, interacting pieces of hardware and software. Network management is the process of administering, managing, and operating a computer network using a network management system. Modern network management systems use software and hardware to constantly collect and analyze data and push out configuration changes for improving performance, reliability, and security. In this paper, we summarize widely used network management protocols and provide an analytical study based on their architecture and concept. The paper highlights the advantages and disadvantages of different network management protocols. Moreover, we provide some directions for the future research of network management protocols in network automation, network assurance, and network analytics considering Internet of Things (IoT). This paper particularly focuses on two of the management protocols: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP). We describe the architecture of the protocols and their management components. We also study how SNMP can be implemented for monitoring IoT devices.