Oracle uses the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to enable communication between the Intelligent Agents and the Event Manager. SNMP is a standard Internet protocol enabling certain nodes in a network via the management stations or managing nodes, to query other network components or applications for information concerning their status and activities. Management stations are the OEM data collectors from the intelligent agents. The managing nodes are the Remote servers that are running an instance of intelligent agent.
Traditionally, managed elements have been limited to network components such as bridges and routers, but recently the definition has been extended to include mission-critical applications such as databases.
An Intelligent Agent resides on the same node as the services it supports. However, the agent can support more than one service on a particular node.
For example, if two databases are installed on one machine, a single agent can support both databases. The agents perform OEM tasks such as running jobs and monitoring events.
The next lesson looks at how an Intelligent Agent is installed and configured.