Re: Table idices

Randy Presuhn <rpresuhn@peer.com> Thu, 27 March 1997 19:28 UTC

Received: from cnri by ietf.org id aa03805; 27 Mar 97 14:28 EST
Received: from portal.ex.tis.com by CNRI.Reston.VA.US id aa18540; 27 Mar 97 14:28 EST
Received: (from majordom@localhost) by portal.ex.tis.com (8.8.2/8.8.2) id OAA00438 for snmpv2-outgoing; Thu, 27 Mar 1997 14:17:43 -0500 (EST)
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 11:08:55 -0800
From: Randy Presuhn <rpresuhn@peer.com>
Message-Id: <199703271908.AA249949735@dorothy.peer.com>
To: snmp@lists.psi.com, snmpv2@tis.com
Subject: Re: Table idices
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="X-roman8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: owner-snmpv2@ex.tis.com
Precedence: bulk

Hi - 

> From: "John Leonard" <jleonard@mail1.wireless.tellabs.com>
> To: "SNMPv2 List" <snmpv2@tis.com>, "SNMP List" <snmp@lists.psi.com>
> Subject: Table idices
> Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 13:01:18 -0500
> Message-Id: <19970327175904927.AAA169@jleonard.wireless.tellabs.com>
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> Is there any SNMP or SNMPv2 RFC that comes out and states that INTEGER
> table indices can't take the value 0? I know that there is a *very* strong
> convention that they not use 0, but is this actually forbidden?
> 
> Thanks,
> John
> -------------------------------------------------
> John Leonard	    jleonard@wireless.tellabs.com
> Tellabs WSD         Standard disclaimers apply
> -------------------------------------------------

There is no prohibition; there is only discouragement.  See RFC 1902
clause 7.7:

   Instances identified by use of integer-valued objects should be
   numbered starting from one (i.e., not from zero).  The use of zero as
   a value for an integer-valued index object should be avoided, except
   in special cases.

Now it's my turn: what was so scary about zero-valued indexes?

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 Randy Presuhn            BMC Software, Inc. (Silicon Valley Division)
 Voice: +1 408 556-0720   (Formerly PEER Networks)  http://www.bmc.com
 Fax:   +1 408 556-0735   1190 Saratoga Avenue, Suite 130
 Email: rpresuhn@bmc.com  San Jose, California 95129-3433  USA
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 In accordance with the BMC Communications Systems Use and Security
 Policy memo dated December 10, 1996, page 2, item (g) (the first of
 two), I explicitly state that although my affiliation with BMC may be
 apparent, implied, or provided, my opinions are not necessarily those
 of BMC Software and that all external representations on behalf of
 BMC must first be cleared with a member of "the top management team."
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------