RFC 3291 (rfc3291) - Page 2 of 20
Textual Conventions for Internet Network Addresses
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 3291 TCs for Internet Network Addresses May 2002
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. The SNMP Management Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Usage Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.1 Table Indexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2 Uniqueness of Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.3 Multiple Addresses per Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.4 Resolving DNS Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5. Table Indexing Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8. Intellectual Property Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9. Changes from RFC 2851 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1. Introduction
Several standards-track MIB modules use the IpAddress SMIv2 base
type. This limits the applicability of these MIB modules to IP
Version 4 (IPv4) since the IpAddress SMIv2 base type can only contain
4 byte IPv4 addresses. The IpAddress SMIv2 base type has become
problematic with the introduction of IP Version 6 (IPv6) addresses
[19].
This document defines multiple textual conventions as a mechanism to
express generic Internet network layer addresses within MIB module
specifications. The solution is compatible with SMIv2 (STD 58) and
SMIv1 (STD 16). New MIB definitions which need to express network
layer Internet addresses SHOULD use the textual conventions defined
in this memo. New MIB modules SHOULD NOT use the SMIv2 IpAddress
base type anymore.
A generic Internet address consists of two objects, one whose syntax
is InetAddressType, and another whose syntax is InetAddress. The
value of the first object determines how the value of the second
object is encoded. The InetAddress textual convention represents an
opaque Internet address value. The InetAddressType enumeration is
used to "cast" the InetAddress value into a concrete textual
convention for the address type. This usage of multiple textual
conventions allows expression of the display characteristics of each
address type and makes the set of defined Internet address types
extensible.
Daniele, et. al. Standards Track