RFC 1382 (rfc1382) - Page 2 of 69


SNMP MIB Extension for the X



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



RFC 1382                 X.25 Packet Layer MIB             November 1992


   7. References .............................................   67
   8. Security Considerations ................................   68
   9. Author's Address .......................................   69

1.  The Network Management Framework

   The Internet-standard Network Management Framework consists of three
   components.  These components give the rules for defining objects,
   the definitions of objects, and the protocol for manipulating
   objects.

   The network management framework structures objects in an abstract
   information tree. The branches of the tree name objects and the
   leaves of the tree contain the values manipulated to effect
   management. This tree is called the Management Information Base or
   MIB. The concepts of this tree are given in STD 16/RFC 1155, "The
   Structure of Management Information" or SMI [1]. The SMI defines the
   trunk of the tree and the types of objects used when defining the
   leaves. STD 16/RFC 1212, "Towards Concise MIB Definitions" [4],
   defines a more concise description mechanism that preserves all the
   principals of the SMI.

   The core MIB definitions for the Internet suite of protocols can be
   found in RFC 1156 [2] "Management Information Base for Network
   Management of TCP/IP-based internets". STD 17/RFC 1213 [5] defines
   MIB-II, an evolution of MIB-I with changes to incorporate
   implementation experience and new operational requirements.

   STD 15/RFC 1157 [3] defines the SNMP protocol itself. The protocol
   defines how to manipulate the objects in a remote MIB.

   The tree structure of the MIB allows new objects to be defined for
   the purpose of experimentation and evaluation.

2.  Objects

   The definition of an object in the MIB requires an object name and
   type.  Object names and types are defined using the subset of
   Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) [6] defined in the SMI [1].
   Objects are named using ASN.1 object identifiers, administratively
   assigned names, to specify object types.  The object name, together
   with an optional object instance, uniquely identifies a specific
   instance of an object.  For human convenience, we often use a textual
   string, termed the OBJECT DESCRIPTOR, to also refer to objects.

   Objects also have a syntax that defines the abstract data structure
   corresponding to that object type.  The ASN.1 language [6] provides
   the primitives used for this purpose.  The SMI [1] purposely



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