RFC 1303 (rfc1303) - Page 2 of 12

A Convention for Describing SNMP-based Agents

RFC 1303         Convention for Describing SNMP Agents     February 1992


1.  The Network Management Framework

   The Internet-standard Network Management Framework consists of
   three components.  They are:

   RFC 1155 [1] which defines the SMI, the mechanisms used for
   describing and naming objects for the purpose of management.
   RFC 1212 [2] defines a more concise description mechanism,
   which is wholly consistent with the SMI.

   RFC 1213 [3] which defines MIB-II, the core set of managed
   objects for the Internet suite of protocols.

   RFC 1157 [4] which defines the SNMP, the protocol used for
   network access to managed objects.

   The Framework permits new objects to be defined for the
   purpose of experimentation and evaluation.

2.  Objects

   Managed objects are accessed via a virtual information store,
   termed the Management Information Base or MIB.  Within a given
   MIB module, objects are defined using RFC 1212's OBJECT-TYPE
   macro.  At a minimum, each object has a name, a syntax, an
   access-level, and an implementation-status.

   The name is an object identifier, an administratively assigned
   name, which specifies an object type.  The object type
   together with an object instance serves to uniquely identify a
   specific instantiation of the object.  For human convenience,
   we often use a textual string, termed the OBJECT DESCRIPTOR,
   to also refer to the object type.

   The syntax of an object type defines the abstract data
   structure corresponding to that object type.  The ASN.1[5]
   language is used for this purpose.  However, RFC 1155
   purposely restricts the ASN.1 constructs which may be used.
   These restrictions are explicitly made for simplicity.

   The access-level of an object type defines whether it makes
   "protocol sense" to read and/or write the value of an instance
   of the object type.  (This access-level is independent of any
   administrative authorization policy.)

   The implementation-status of an object type indicates whether
   the object is mandatory, optional, obsolete, or deprecated.




McCloghrie & Rose