RFC 1443 (rfc1443) - Page 2 of 31

Textual Conventions for version 2 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv2)

          RFC 1443        Textual Conventions for SNMPv2      April 1993


          1.  Introduction

          A network management system contains: several (potentially
          many) nodes, each with a processing entity, termed an agent,
          which has access to management instrumentation; at least one
          management station; and, a management protocol, used to convey
          management information between the agents and management
          stations.  Operations of the protocol are carried out under an
          administrative framework which defines both authentication and
          authorization policies.

          Network management stations execute management applications
          which monitor and control network elements.  Network elements
          are devices such as hosts, routers, terminal servers, etc.,
          which are monitored and controlled through access to their
          management information.

          Management information is viewed as a collection of managed
          objects, residing in a virtual information store, termed the
          Management Information Base (MIB).  Collections of related
          objects are defined in MIB modules.  These modules are written
          using a subset of OSI's Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1)
          [1], termed the Structure of Management Information (SMI) [2].

          When designing a MIB module, it is often useful to new define
          types similar to those defined in the SMI.  In comparison to a
          type defined in the SMI, each of these new types has a
          different name, a similar syntax, but a more precise
          semantics.  These newly defined types are termed textual
          conventions, and are used for the convenience of humans
          reading the MIB module.  It is the purpose of this document to
          define the initial set of textual conventions available to all
          MIB modules.

          Objects defined using a textual convention are always encoded
          by means of the rules that define their primitive type.
          However, textual conventions often have special semantics
          associated with them.  As such, an ASN.1 macro, TEXTUAL-
          CONVENTION, is used to concisely convey the syntax and
          semantics of a textual convention.

          For all textual conventions defined in an information module,
          the name shall be unique and mnemonic, and shall not exceed 64
          characters in length.  All names used for the textual
          conventions defined in all "standard" information modules





          Case, McCloghrie, Rose & Waldbusser