Management Protocol Essay

A protocol in the simplest words is a set of rules that allows and facilitates a connection to communicate between two computers. Protocols can be implemented through hardware or software. Whatever their scope, they are what govern networks and monitor them for effective communication. An internet protocol is more data oriented rather than connection oriented in the sense that it facilitates the exchange of data. Whatever the type of protocol is used, it is based on a few basic steps or prerequisites. These include detecting if a connection is possible, establishing connection, establishing rules of communication and messaging, editing messages, detect errors and termination of connection. Hence every protocol follows these steps. Protocols are important in the sense that we live in a networked society. Without protocols, this communication between computers would not be possible. There are famous protocols like the ones in the TCP/IP suite which are used on almost every computer. They however are ntot he only ones. Despite of many famous protocols like HTTP, FTP, IPv6, there are many others which have been developed over the years for specific purposes or as an alternate to the more famous protocols. One of these is the SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). The main purpose of this protocol is to detect and manage computers on a network. It uses variables to store and retrieve data regarding whether connections are present and if yes then also their status regarding connectivity etc. Another protocol is the SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). It is one that manages computers by communicating through XML based objects instead of packets over a network. References: Mukhi, Vijay. Kotecha, Sonal. SNMP: The Simple Network Management Protocol. 2 December 2007 Box, Don. Ehnebuske, David. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) 1. 1 W3C Note 08 May 2000. 2 December 2007