[BBLISA] statistics-based zero config network management: why doesnt this exist?

[Edward Ned Harvey (bblisa4)]

> From: bblisa-bounces at bblisa.org [mailto:bblisa-bounces at bblisa.org] On
> Behalf Of Alex Aminoff
> 
> I'm looking at SNMP-based network monitoring systems: cacti, zabbix,
> some other similar ones. All of them seem to require you to configure
> your devices on the system. There are some auto-discovery functions, but
> they only work if you have loaded up the "profile" or "template" for
> your particular network hardware.

I don't think that's correct.  I think SNMP auto discover does exactly as you said.  It just walks the system, discovers whatever it can discover, and there you have it.

The thing is:  Very rarely is SNMP sufficient.  For most devices, it counts no more than a ping monitor.  If you want reliable statistics of cpu, disk, network, memory usage, you have to install an agent.  I emphasize reliable.  Because although SNMP technically supports all that, I've never seen it usable for that purpose.