NM "State of the Area" Report

[Marshall Rose <[e-mail]>]

Greetings.  As a result of the IAB/IESG nomination/confirmation process
established by the POISED working group, I now find myself in the role of "Area
Director for Network Management" on the IESG.

The NM area has lacked an AD for approximately two months.  Things have been
piling up.  I am posting the following status report for two reasons:

    - to inform the community as to where I think things stand; and,

    - to find out if I've missed something

Please reply to me directly.

/mtr

		     Getting to know the new NM AD
		     -----------------------------

I am Principal of a consultancy corporation: 50% of my time is devoted to
clients, 50% to community service.  The clients neither fund nor direct any
community service.  The corporation supports my participation on the IESG
solely as a matter of community service.

For over a year now, I have been publishing a bi-monthly newsletter on SNMP
(with the help of several hard-working contributors).  This activity, The
Simple Times, will continue.  However, The Simple Times will remain independent
of my role as NM AD.  I will continue to use the appropriate IETF mailing lists
in my role as NM AD.  I will also use the SNMP mailing list for periodic
updates on the NM area.

There are many demands on my community service time.  By taking the role of NM
AD, these other activities are going to suffer, e.g., I probably won't be
answering "random" questions on mailing lists.

			The NM Area Directorate
			-----------------------

The NM area has a Directorate.  The role of the NM-Directorate is three-fold:

    - to consider strategic evolution of the SNMP framework;

    - to provide architectural and engineering guidance to working groups
      which develop MIB modules, at the earliest possible stages; and,

    - to help the NM AD in reviewing submitted I-Ds.

The current NM-Directorate membership is:

    Fred Baker, Ted Brunner, Jeff Case, Keith McCloghrie, Dave Perkins,
    Bob Stewart, and Steve Waldbusser

The NM-Directorate is an advisory entity and has no standards-setting powers.
The meetings of the NM-Directorate are closed.  The members of the
NM-Directorate are appointed by the NM AD.

For the first role, strategic evolution, the NM-Directorate considers "what
needs to be done next".  Of course, strategic issues may also be pursued in
BOF's at IETF meetings, independently of the NM-Directorate.  Alternately, you
can send a message to me and I will forward it to the NM-Directorate.

For the second role, whenever a WG will be developing a MIB module as a part
of their chartered activities, a member of the NM-Directorate will be asked to
participate in that WG, to provide expert consultation with respect to SNMP,
MIB module design, and standards development.  This assignment will be a
matter of record in the charter.

Finally, for the third role, once a MIB module is completed by a WG, the IESG
asks the NM-Directorate to review the document.  My hope is that this will be
a pro-forma review--after all, a member of the NM-Directorate should
have been assigned to help the WG during their development effort.

The directorate is currently evaluating several I-Ds, prior to submission to
the IESG for standards evaluation:

		    draft-ietf-bridge-objects-01.txt
		      draft-ietf-dns-mibext-05.txt
		   draft-ietf-pppext-bridgemib-01.txt
		    draft-ietf-pppext-ipcpmib-01.txt
		    draft-ietf-pppext-lcpmib-01.txt
		    draft-ietf-pppext-secmib-01.txt
		   draft-ietf-x25mib-ipox25mib-04.txt

With the exception of the DNS MIB, which is much larger than the others,
I hope to have all of these before the IESG by month's end.

			 SNMPv2 and MIB modules
			 ----------------------

This topic is being discussed by the NM-Directorate.  Until such time as a
resolution is reached, here is the interim policy.

From now until August 2, 1993:
    Any MIB module submitted by a WG must use the SNMPv1 SMI (RFCs 1155 and
    1212), taking special care to minimize the transformation necessary to use
    the SNMPv2 SMI.

From August 2, 1993 until the SNMPv2 SMI is a draft Internet-standard:
    All new MIB modules submitted by a WG for standardization must use the
    SNMPv2 SMI.  However, the following SNMPv2 syntaxes may not be used: BIT
    STRING, Counter64, or  UInteger32 (either directly or through a textual
    convention).  Further, any existing MIB modules updated by a WG must be
    evaluated and possibly changed to minimize the transformation necessary to
    use the SNMPv2 SMI.

Once the SNMPv2 SMI is a draft Internet-standard:
    All new MIB modules submitted by a WG for standardization must use the
    SNMPv2 SMI, and are allowed to use any SNMPv2 syntax.  Further, any MIB
    existing modules on the standards-track which use the SNMPv1 SMI will be
    modified to use the SNMPv2 SMI, making the smallest possible set of
    changes.  In most cases, this means that only the IMPORTS statement of the
    MIB module will change.

In addition, from August 2, 1993 onward:
    Whenever a WG works on a MIB module (either developing it or advancing it
    along the standards-track), that WG will be responsible for producing a
    conformance statement, in a separate document, for that MIB.

			     Working Groups
			     --------------

A working group is either active or inactive.  Active working groups have
charters to develop documents.  Inactive working groups have no charter --
typically because they have completed their previous charter.  These inactive
working groups (and their mailing lists) serve as a forum for implementors.
When a standards-track document produced by a working group is ready for
further evaluation or new documents are appropriate, the working group is
re-chartered accordingly.

AToM MIB (atommib)
   Chair(s):  Kaj Tesink <[e-mail]>
   Consultant:Keith McCloghrie <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    beginning

This working group is now chartered.


Bridge MIB (bridge)
   Chair(s):  Fred Baker <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    submitted draft-ietf-bridge-objects-01.txt for draft standard

The working group is developing a Source Routing MIB.


Character MIB (charmib)
   Chair(s):  Bob Stewart <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    Re-activated

Re-activated to evaluate RFCs 1316-1318 with respect to the standards track.


Chassis MIB (chassis)
   Chair(s):  Bob Stewart <[e-mail]>
              Jeffrey Case <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    editing draft-ietf-chassis-mib-00.txt

The working group met in Columbus and is developing the next version of
the draft.


DECnet Phase IV MIB (decnetiv)
   Chair(s):  Jon Saperia <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    Re-activated

Re-activated to evaluate RFC 1289 with respect to the standards track.


FDDI MIB (fddimib)
   Chair(s):  Jeffrey Case <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    editing draft-ietf-fddimib-objects-01.txt

The working group met in Columbus and is developing the next version of the
draft.


Host Resources MIB (hostmib)
   Chair(s):  Steven Waldbusser <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Done:      final I-D in preparation

Consensus reached in the working group, but draft not yet submitted.


IEEE 802.3 Hub MIB (hubmib)
   Chair(s):  Keith McCloghrie <[e-mail]>
              Donna McMaster <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    editing draft-ietf-hubmib-mau-01.txt

The working group met in Columbus and is developing the next version of the
draft.

In addition, RFC 1368 is now eligible for further evaluation for the standards
track.  Once the WG finishes the MAU MIB, I'll draft a revision to its charter
so that it can work on evaluating RFC 1368 for standards track advancement.


Modem Management (modemmgt)
   Chair(s):  Mark S. Lewis <[e-mail]>
   Consultant:Steven Waldbusser <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    beginning

This working group is now chartered.


Remote Monitoring (rmonmib)
   Chair(s):  Michael Erlinger <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Inactive:  awaiting the next stage for RFC 1271 (proposed standard)

The working group is eligible to re-activate now, a charter is being prepared.


SNMP Version 2 (snmpv2)
   Chair(s):  Bob Stewart <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Inactive:  awaiting the next stage for SNMPv2 RFCs (proposed standard)

The I-Ds produced by this WG and the SNMP Security WG were approved by
the IESG as proposed standards and are in the process of RFC
publication.  Because of coordination problems, the SNMPv2 WG will be
given responsibility for all the I-Ds, and the SNMP Security WG will be
disbanded.

Due to demands on my time, I will be unable to continue as editor for these
documents.  As such, Keith McCloghrie is designated as editor.

The working group should re-activate in September.  Prior to this, Keith is
actioned to prepare re-writes of the ADMIN and SEC documents, to improve
readability, but not change technical content.


Token Ring Remote Monitoring (trmon)
   Chair(s):  Michael Erlinger <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    editing

The working group met in Columbus and is developing the next version of the
draft.


Trunk MIB (trunkmib)
   Chair(s):  Fred Baker <[e-mail]>
              Tracy Cox <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Inactive:  awaiting the next stage for RFCs 1406, 1407 (proposed standard)

The working group should re-activate in June.


Uninterruptible Power Supply (upsmib)
   Chair(s):  Jeff Case <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Active:    editing

The working group met in Columbus and is developing the next version of the
draft.


X.25 Management Information Base (x25mib)
   Chair(s):  Dean Throop <[e-mail]>
   WG mail:   [e-mail]
   To Join:   [e-mail]
   Done:      submitted draft-ietf-x25mib-ipox25mib-04.txt for proposed standard

In May, RFCs 1381, 1382 will be available for further evaluation for the
standards track.

		       Other things awaiting work
		       --------------------------

Six NM-related BOFs met in Columbus.  Five of the six concluded with
consensus that a WG should be formed:

	ATM MIB (atommib)
	Frame Relay Service MIB (frnetmib)
	Mail and Directory Management (madman)	
	Modem Management (modemmgt)
	SNA MIB (snamib)

Two of these have already been chartered (atommib and modemmgt).  I am
in the process of preparing charters for the other three.  I hope to 
have the resulting charters approved by the IESG by month's end.

The sixth BOF is

	E-Mail Management (emailmgt)

which is really an IFIP working group (WG6.5) that happens to meet when the
IETF meetings, so no further action is needed.


The following MIB modules are eligible for further evaluation for the standards
track.  However, they lack a working group.  I will consult with the IESG to
charter an "interfaces MIB" working group.

    RFC 1229 - Extensions to the generic-interface MIB
    RFC 1231 - IEEE 802.5 Token Ring Interface Type MIB
    RFC 1304 - SMDS Interface Protocol (SIP) Interface Type MIB

I also expect that this WG could deal with evaluating the ether-like MIB
(RFC 1398) when it is eligible in July.


Here is a list of MIB modules defined by WGs outside of the NM area.  This list
will be provided to the appropriate AD for action.

    RFC    MIB Module				WG		Eligible
    ----   ----------------------------------	-------		--------
    1243   AppleTalk MIB			appleip		now
    1253   OSPF version 2 MIB			ospf		now
    1269   BGP version 3 MIB			bgp		now
    1315   Frame Relay DTE Interface Type MIB	iplpdn		now
    1354   SNMP IP Forwarding Table MIB		rreq		now
    1389   RIPv2 MIB				rip2		July
    1414   Identification MIB			ident		August


Finally, the work of the multi-protocol SNMP WG will need to be advanced in
September.

    RFC    SNMPv1 Mapping			WG		Eligible
    ----   ----------------------------------	-------		--------
    1418   SNMP over OSI			mpsnmp		September
    1419   SNMP over AppleTalk			mpsnmp		September
    1420   SNMP over IPX			mpsnmp		September