To see and communicate with your network, the Auvik collector uses these communications protocols:
- SNMP
- SSH (Secure Shell)
- Telnet*
- TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) / FTP
- MDNS (multicast Domain Name System)
- SMB (Server Message Block)
- ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)
- UPnP (Universal Plug and Play)
*Telnet is used only when SSH is not available.
The collector sends information to the Auvik servers through an SSL-encrypted web socket, following industry standards for secure data transmission on the Internet. The collector uses certificate authentication to ensure it’s communicating with the Auvik servers.
SNMP
SNMP is an Internet-standard protocol for collecting and organizing information about devices on an IP network.
SSH
Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for secure data communication, remote command-line login, remote command execution, and other secure network services between two networked computers.
Telnet
Telnet is a client-server protocol historically used to send clear text across a network. Today, most administrators prefer SSH, which provides much of the same functionality as Telnet but with the addition of encryption and public key authentication. Auvik will only use Telnet to communicate with your network if SSH is not available.
TFTP / FTP
TFTP and FTP are simple file transfer protocols that Auvik uses to poll configuration backups from some devices.
MDNS
MDNS resolves host names to IP addresses. It works by sending an IP multicast query message that asks the host having that name to identify itself.
SMB
SMB is an application-layer network protocol that Auvik uses to discover printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between network nodes.
ICMP
ICMP is one of the main protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It’s most often used by network devices, like routers, to send error messages. It can also be used to relay query messages. Auvik uses ICMP to ping devices on your network.
UPnP
UPnP is a set of networking protocols that allows devices to discover each other's presence on a network.