1. Distinguished Experts Panel: Advanced Services in Converged Networks: Are They Really Manageable?
Jeff Case
Founder and CTO
SNMP Research, Inc.

2. Trend #1: The SNMP-based Management Framework is Evolved and Evolving
Not the same old SNMP your mother used in 1988
Many positive advancements already standardized, implemented, and deployed
Some more are nearly done and ready for implementation and deployment:
SNMP-based configuration
Policy-based Management MIB
Provisioning MIB for DIFFSERV
Some standardization work is just getting started:
SMIng
Evolution of SNMP: SNMP EOS

3. Trend #2: The SNMP-based Management Framework is Secure
SNMPv3 with security and administration adds:
Security, i.e., Authentication and Privacy
Authentication
Privacy
Administration
Authorization and view-based access control
Logical contexts
Naming of entities, identities, and information
People and policies
Usernames and key management
Notification destinations and proxy relationships
Source-side notification suppression
Remotely configurable via SNMP operations

4. Trend #3: The SNMP-based Management Framework Is Not Just For Networks
The SNMP-based Management Framework can be used as the basis for seamless Internet management:
traditional network management
system management
application management
service management
proxy management of legacy devices
The only relatively complete, open, multi-vendor, multi-platform, interoperable, standards-based management framework for seamless management

5. Trend #4: The SNMP-based Management Framework is Sturdy
Originally “the short-term interim standard”
According to the pundits, has been on its last legs since 1988 to be eclipsed by a succession of replacements
SNMP-based management is still
growing
expanding scope
evolving
While “replacements” come and go

6. Conclusions:
The Internet-Standard Management Framework based on SNMP is
Evolved
Secure
Not just for networks
Sturdy
But there is much more work to be done
Additional standards work
Better applications
Implementation
Deployment

7. Conclusions:
SNMP-based management is far from perfect, but it continues to be the best game in town
The architecture and vision are fine
We need to execute to completion
Standardization work
Improvements
Read-write and read-create instrumentation for configuration / control / provisioning
Implementation
Completeness, Correctness, Ease-of-use
Applications
Deployment -- demand driven