MIB Views provides an elegant graphical interface into the intricate world of SNMP, letting you query devices, extract entire MIBs, and even compile them. It can query multiple SNMP agents at once, search MIBs -- both the variable names and values -- and decode hex dumps of SNMP transactions. Supporting the whole spectrum of SNMP versions, v1, v2c, and v3, the tool provides HMAC MD5-96 and SHA-96 encryption, as well as CBC-DES. I know of no other tool that offers all these features -- at any price -- and does so with the ease of use of a Web browser.

The utility runs on five platforms, which covers all of the ones I use regularly: Windows, FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, and MacOS X. The vendor says he is open to porting to additional platforms as the need arises, an attitude I really appreciate.

You start out with MIB View's tree view, which lets you drill down into a MIBs complexity as needed, without having to manhandle the entire MIB at one time. The SNMP Walk feature will retrieve an entire MIB from any SNMP agent, and the Table View tool lets you view table-oriented variables clearly. You can also monitor for traps with Trap Watch. The built-in MIB compiler reads and validates vendor-provided MIBs and then lets you use those MIBs to interpret SNMP queries and browse live MIB data.

My favorite use for SNMP analysis tools is to locate undocumented MIB variables in a device so that I can monitor them with an NMS, such as Dartware's Intermapper. MIB Views works very well for this, showing me the precise Object Identifier (OID) I am looking for, letting me easily create an NMS monitor for that variable.

http://http://www.muonics.com/Products/MIBViews/