Open protocols set you free

One of the sneakier tricks manufacturers sometimes try to pull off is keeping your data proprietary.

That way, if you want to access your information you need to buy software that is available exclusively from the manufacturer. The software usually comes with a hefty price tag and usually doesn’t have the features you want.

Make sure that any environment monitoring equipment you buy has a set of publicly documented standard interfaces from which you can access your data.

The data needs to be in a format that can be converted into a form that can be easily manipulated, visualised and reported. Formats like Microsoft Excel, CSV and the like should be supported.

The ultimate interoperable protocol in network management is, of course, SNMP. More about SNMP in the next section.