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In Chapter 7, Network Monitoring with Python – Part 1, we used SNMP to query information from network devices. We did this using an SNMP manager to query the SNMP agent residing on the network device. The SNMP information is structured in a hierarchy format with a specific object ID as a way to represent the value of the object. Most of the time, the value we care about is a number, such as CPU load, memory usage, or interface traffic. We can graph this data against time to give us a sense of how the value has changed over time.

We can typically classify the SNMP approach as a pull method as we constantly ask the device for a particular answer. This method adds a burden to the device because it needs to spend a CPU cycle on the control plane to find answers from the subsystem, package the answer in an SNMP packet, and transport the answer back to the poller. If you have ever been to a family reunion where you...