1. A method comprising: issuing, with a network management device, a data retrieval command to direct a managed network device to retrieve a set of management variables stored within a database within the managed network device; receiving, with the network management device, an initial response from the managed network device, the initial response indicating an error; receiving, with the network management device and without issuing a second data retrieval command to the managed network device to retrieve the set of management variables, a plurality of partial responses from the managed network device, wherein each of the plurality of partial responses is received as a separate message from the managed network device and includes a different portion of the set of management variables requested by the data retrieval command; executing software on the network management device that analyzes the received plurality of partial responses, wherein each received partial response comprises a partial response counter, a sequence number, and a remaining length, and wherein the software analyzes the partial response counter, the sequence number, and the remaining length of each received partial response to determine if one or more partial response are missing from the plurality of received partial responses; responsive to determining that one or more partial responses are missing from the plurality of received partial responses, issuing, with the network device, the second data retrieval command to the managed network device to retrieve the set of management variables; and responsive to determining that no partial responses are missing from the plurality of received partial responses, executing software on the network management device that combines the plurality of partial responses received from the managed network device into the set of management variables requested by the data retrieval command.