SNMP stands for
SimpleNetworkManagementProtocol
It can be used for
WebTesting,
HttpUnit.
http://net-snmp.sourceforge.net
SNMP is a UDP-based protocol, originally designed for configuring and monitoring routers, gateways, and similar equipment. (It can run over TCP, though this is not commonly done).
It has sense been used in many other applications.
Despite the name, it hardly is "simple".
It is pretty simple, except for ASN.1 (AbstractSyntaxNotationOne) and OIDs, binary encodings, and the plethora of slightly different versions, and the routing and security issues.
SNMP is a client/server protocol, where a SNMP
manager (usually an automation system, or an operator's workstation) issues commands and queries to one or more
agents (network nodes, etc.). In addition, the agents can issue asynchronous
traps to the manager.
SNMP has a small command set (get, set, get multiple, etc.) and a numerical hierarchical namespace of
ObjectIdentifiers, or OIDs for short.