FWD: rmon indexes vs mib compilers

[Randy Presuhn <[e-mail]>]

Hi -

I have received several messages suggesting that I forward the attached
message to the ietf discussion list.   Subsequent discussion should be
available from the rmon list archives.

So far, I have seen four people's (two off-list) comments on this topic;
most have been favorable.

Mike Heard writes:
> I for one would prefer to see the RMON2 mib be written in a manner that
> is insensitive to how legality of the multiple index issue is eventually
> resolved, and sending this as a last-call comment to the IETF list is
> probably the best way to make it happen.

I believe the key point is:
> We have a simple, pragmatic change to the MIB that does not affect
> interoperability.  This change sidesteps the SMI ambiguity, avoids
> the need to tinker with the SMI, and avoids the possibility that the
> resolution of the SMI issues would later require changing the MIB again.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Randy Presuhn                 PEER Networks, a division of BMC Software, Inc.
 Voice: [phone]        1190 Saratoga Avenue, Suite 130
 Fax:   [phone]        San Jose, California 95129-3433
 Email: [e-mail]  USA                             
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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|Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 16:48:09 -0700
|From: Randy Presuhn <[e-mail]>
|To: [e-mail]
|Subject: rmon indexes vs mib compilers
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|Hi -
|
|It's getting late, but...
|
|In <draft-ietf-rmonmib-rmonmib-v2-02.txt> the index clauses for the entry
|definitions for the following tables cause problems for MIB compilers
|that generate index method code:
|
|        alHostTable
|        alMatrixSDTable
|        alMatrixDSTable
|
|In each case, the INDEX list includes protocolDirLocalIndex twice, while
|the DESCRIPTION text makes it clear that different indexing semantics are
|intended for each of the occurrences.  (The SMI-level issue is whether
|a reference in an INDEX clause brings in just the underlying syntax or
|whether the information object's semantics are included.  RFC 1902 clause
|7.7 can be read both ways.)
|
|For developers who are still hand-coding index handling methods this
|is a non-issue, but developers using compiler-based technology are
|forced to "tweak" the MIB to get their tools to produce the right code.
|This impacts both commercial and freely available tools.
|
|I propose modifying the definitions to permit compilation.  These changes
|do NOT affect the bits on the wire, and do NOT impact the interoperability
|of implementations of the MIB.
|
|There are several non-disruptive ways to accomplish this.  Here's one.
|Add the following three definitions:
|
|
|alHostProtocolDirLocalIndex OBJECT-TYPE
|    SYNTAX      Integer32 (1..2147483647)
|    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
|    STATUS      current
|    DESCRIPTION
|        "The identifier in the protocolDirTable associated with the
|         protocol counted by this entry."
|    ::= { alHostEntry 7 }
|
|
|alMatrixSDProtocolDirLocalIndex OBJECT-TYPE
|    SYNTAX      Integer32 (1..2147483647)
|    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
|    STATUS      current
|    DESCRIPTION
|        "The identifier in the protocolDirTable associated with the
|         protocol counted by this entry."
|    ::= { alMatrixSDEntry 5 }
|
|
|alMatrixDSProtocolDirLocalIndex OBJECT-TYPE
|    SYNTAX      Integer32 (1..2147483647)
|    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
|    STATUS      current
|    DESCRIPTION
|        "The identifier in the protocolDirTable associated with the
|         protocol counted by this entry."
|    ::= { alMatrixDSEntry 5 }
|
|
|Update DESCRIPTION and modify the INDEX clause for alHostEntry to read:
|     INDEX { hlHostControlIndex, alHostTimeMark,
|            protocolDirLocalIndex, nlHostAddress,
|            alHostProtocolDirLocalIndex }
| 
|Update DESCRIPTION and modify the INDEX clause for alMatrixSDTable to read:
|    INDEX { hlMatrixControlIndex, alMatrixSDTimeMark,
|            protocolDirLocalIndex,
|            nlMatrixSDSourceAddress, nlMatrixSDDestAddress,
|            alMatrixSDProtocolDirLocalIndex }
|
|Update DESCRIPTION and modify the INDEX clause for alMatrixDSTable to read:
|    INDEX { hlMatrixControlIndex, alMatrixDSTimeMark,
|            protocolDirLocalIndex,
|            nlMatrixDSDestAddress, nlMatrixDSSourceAddress,
|            alMatrixDSProtocolDirLocalIndex }
|
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Randy Presuhn                 PEER Networks, a division of BMC Software, Inc.
| Voice: [phone]        1190 Saratoga Avenue, Suite 130
| Fax:   [phone]        San Jose, California 95129-3433
| Email: [e-mail]  USA                             
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|