Which protocol provides monitoring and alerting for network health without relying on third-party software?

• A. FTP
• B. SNMP
• C. DNS
• D. HTTP

Answer: (B)

Monitoring and alerting of network health are built into a protocol that exposes device metrics and events in a standardized way. SNMP works by running agents on network devices that expose performance counters, interface statuses, and other health data as MIB objects. A central SNMP manager can periodically poll these objects to gather current statistics and also receive asynchronous alerts called traps or informs when something noteworthy happens. This combination gives ongoing visibility into network health and timely notifications without needing extra, specialized software beyond the normal SNMP agents and manager. That’s why SNMP is the best fit for monitoring and alerting in a straightforward, widely supported way.

In contrast, FTP is about moving files, DNS translates names to addresses, and HTTP delivers web content. None of them are designed for systematic health monitoring or alerting in the way SNMP is.