International Business Machines Corporation

Keith Irwin Meyer

Leo Temoshenko

David De-Hui Chen

William Frank McKenzie

A method of data retrieval reduces the number of Instrumentation message flows in a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) device. The method uses 'look-ahead' algorithms whereby data items which have not yet been requested by the Agent (but are expected to be) are retrieved from Instrumentation. The method comprises the step of retrieving from the Instrumentation an entire row of data from an SNMP table whenever a GetRequest or GetNextRequest Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is issued by the Manager to the Agent. A SubAgent saves this row in anticipation of a subsequent request for another column in this same row thereby eliminating the need for further Instrumentation message flows for further data retrieval from this row. Whenever a new GetRequest is issued by the Manager, a new set of data is retrieved from the Instrumentation. The method further comprises the step of retrieving the next subsequent data item in response to a GetNextRequest against the last row in a given column thereby eliminating the need for a second message exchange at an 'end of column' condition.

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Keith Irwin Meyer