SNMP protocol and microcontroller

[ElectroPhysics]

hi. i'm new to SNMP protocols. i have a general understanding about snmp is that, we can monitor sensors attached to atmega8 microcontroller by sending their data through max232 to pc on serial port and a software running on pc with snmp protocol supported can be used to monitor this communication...

is my understanding true??
to start with which free snmp monitoring software should i use??
also other than atmega8 which generally available microcontroller is best suited for this protocol??

[jsgruszynski]

SNMP is mostly for administrative use to monitor functions of an network elements like routers or servers or firewalls. For example, there are network monitoring tools used in a typical Network Operating Center (NOC) that will suck up all the SNMP status from dozens to hundreds of network devices in a company or data center and consolidate that into a management summary. It's pretty good for "yes/no" kind of status. Not good for time series data of double data.

SNMP isn't really intended for instrument control or monitoring. There are protocols for doing that sort of thing. Many protocols.

It depends on what your data rate and multiplex count. On whether you need LAN or WAN (internet) access. What your system architecture is. Whether you are saving the data or just doing some sort of control on-the-fly. Many, many questions.