What is the role of a MIB in SNMP?

• A. It defines the structure, types, and allowed values of objects for management
• B. It is a routing protocol used by SNMP
• C. It is a physical interface standard
• D. It encrypts SNMP messages for secure transmission

Answer: (C)

The role of a MIB in SNMP is to provide a formal description of what can be managed on a device and how that data is represented. It defines the structure, data types, and allowed values of the management objects, and assigns each item an OID that places it in a hierarchical tree. This lets an SNMP manager query or set values in a consistent, interoperable way across different devices. It isn’t a routing protocol, isn’t a physical interface standard, and doesn’t handle encryption—that’s handled by other parts of the network management stack or by SNMP security features in newer versions.