Is it possible to create a network topology diagram using SNMP?

Question

I'm struggling to come up with a topic for my final year project/dissertation at University. I've had an idea but I'm not sure if it's a.) possible and b.) feasible in my timeframe.

My idea is to create a piece of software which uses SNMP to get information (perhaps from ARP tables/routing tables) and construct a visual topology map (GUI).

I'm not sure how reliable SNMP would be in this respect and to be honest I'm not sure how it'd work overall. Obviously I'd be willing to research it heavily if it could work.

Also it's a lot to do to write an app that uses sockets and can parse SNMP in to useable application data, AS WELL as create graphics. For these reasons I'm uncertain in my own abilities to create the app itself.

Any feedback, ideas or help are greatly appreciated,

Cheers, Dan

Answer 1

If your network is running OSPF, then yes it is possible and pretty easy. You could get the entire topology from a single node. Using SNMP you can get the OSPF link state database from the router and use it to draw the topology (because of the way OSPF works, you have info about all the links). Of course, if your network consists of more than one OSPF area, then it could get tricky. For OSPF, take a look at this MIB: http://www.oidview.com/mibs/0/RFC1253-MIB.html

That should be a good start.

If you're not running OSPF or some other link state routing algorithm it may be a bit more difficult since a single router won't know the entire topology.