There are certainly many advantages in using Zabbix's own agents and protocol when it comes to monitoring Windows and Unix operating systems or the applications that run on them. However, when it comes to network monitoring, the vast majority of monitored objects are network appliances of various kinds, where it's often impossible to install and run a dedicated agent of any type. This by no means implies that you'll be unable to fully leverage Zabbix's power to monitor your network. Whether it's a simple ICMP echo request, an SNMP query, an SNMP trap, netflow logging, or a custom script, there are many possibilities to extract meaningful data from your network. This section will show you how to set up these different methods of gathering data, and give you a few examples on how to use them.