RFC 2064 (rfc2064) - Page 2 of 38

Traffic Flow Measurement: Meter MIB

RFC 2064                       Meter MIB                    January 1997


      RFC 1156 defines MIB-I, the core set of managed objects for the
      Internet suite of protocols.  STD 17, RFC 1213 [1] defines MIB-II,
      an evolution of MIB-I based on implementation experience and new
      operational requirements.

      STD 15, RFC 1157 defines the SNMP, the protocol used for network
      access to managed objects.

      RFC 1442 [2] defines the SMI for version 2 of the Simple Network
      Management Protocol.

      RFCs 1443 and 1444 [3,4] define Textual Conventions and
      Conformance Statements for version 2 of the Simple Network
      Management Protocol.

      RFC 1452 [5] describes how versions 1 and 2 of the Simple Network
      Management Protocol should coexist.

   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. Objects in the MIB are
   defined using the subset of Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) [6]
   defined in the SMI. In particular, each object has a name, a syntax,
   and an encoding.  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 language is used for
   this purpose.  However, the SMI [2] purposely restricts the ASN.1
   constructs which may be used.  These restrictions are explicitly made
   for simplicity.

   The encoding of an object type is simply how that object type is
   represented using the object type's syntax.  Implicitly tied to the
   notion of an object type's syntax and encoding is how the object type
   is represented when being transmitted on the network.

   The SMI specifies the use of the basic encoding rules of ASN.1 [7],
   subject to the additional requirements imposed by the SNMP.




Brownlee                      Experimental