Network Working Group                                        K. de Graaf
Request for Comments: 2108                              3Com Corporation
Obsoletes: 1516                                             D. Romascanu
Category: Standards Track                   Madge Networks (Israel) Ltd.
                                                             D. McMaster
                                                   Coloma Communications
                                                           K. McCloghrie
                                                      Cisco Systems Inc.
                                                           February 1997


                     Definitions of Managed Objects
                    for IEEE 802.3 Repeater Devices
                              using SMIv2

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This memo defines a portion of the Management Information Base (MIB)
   for use with network management protocols in the Internet community.
   In particular, it defines objects for managing IEEE 802.3 10 and 100
   Mb/second baseband repeaters based on IEEE Std 802.3 Section 30, "10
   & 100 Mb/s Management," October 26, 1995.

Table of Contents

   1.  The SNMP Network Management Framework....................  2
   1.1.  Object Definitions.....................................  2
   2.  Overview.................................................  2
   2.1.  Relationship to RFC 1516...............................  2
   2.2.  Repeater Management....................................  3
   2.3.  Structure of the MIB...................................  4
   2.3.1.  Basic Definitions....................................  4
   2.3.2.  Monitor Definitions..................................  4
   2.3.3.  Address Tracking Definitions.........................  4
   2.3.4.  Top N Definitions....................................  4
   2.4.  Relationship to Other MIBs.............................  4
   2.4.1.  Relationship to MIB-II...............................  4
   2.4.1.1.  Relationship to the 'system' group.................  5
   2.4.1.2.  Relationship to the 'interfaces' group.............  5
   3. Definitions...............................................  6

   4.  Topology Mapping......................................... 75
   5.  Acknowledgements......................................... 79
   6.  References............................................... 80
   7.  Security Considerations.................................. 81
   8.  Authors' Addresses....................................... 81

1.  The SNMP Network Management Framework

   The SNMP Network Management Framework presently consists of three
   major components.  They are:

   o    the SMI, described in RFC 1902 [6] - the mechanisms used
        for describing and naming objects for the purpose of
        management.

   o    the MIB-II, STD 17, RFC 1213 [5] - the core set of
        managed objects for the Internet suite of protocols.

   o    the protocol, STD 15, RFC 1157 [10] and/or RFC 1905
        [9] - the protocol used for accessing managed information.

   Textual conventions are defined in RFC 1903 [7], and conformance
   statements are defined in RFC 1904 [8].

   The Framework permits new objects to be defined for the purpose of
   experimentation and evaluation.

1.1.  Object Definitions

   Managed objects are accessed via a virtual information store, termed
   the Management Information Base or MIB.  Objects in the MIB are
   defined using the subset of Abstract Syntax Notation one (ASN.1)
   defined in the SMI.  In particular, each object type is named by an
   OBJECT IDENTIFIER, an administratively assigned name.  The object
   type together with an object instance serves to uniquely identify a
   specific instantiation of the object.  For human convenience, we
   often use a textual string, termed the descriptor, to refer to the
   object type.

2.  Overview

2.1.  Relationship to RFC 1516

   This MIB is intended as a superset of that defined by RFC 1516 [11],
   which will go to historic status.  This MIB includes all of the
   objects contained in that MIB, plus several new ones which provide

   for significant additional capabilities.  Implementors are encouraged
   to support all applicable conformance groups in order to make the
   best use of the new functionality provided by this MIB.  The new
   objects provide support for:

   o    multiple repeaters

   o    100BASE-T management

   o    port TopN capability

   o    address search and topology mapping

   Certain objects have been deprecated; in particular, those scalar
   objects used for managing a single repeater are now of minimal use
   since they are duplicated in the new multiple- repeater definitions.
   Additional objects have been deprecated based on implementation
   experience with RFC 1516.

2.2.  Repeater Management

   Instances of the object types defined in this memo represent
   attributes of an IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet-like) repeater, as defined by
   Section 9, "Repeater Unit for 10 Mb/s Baseband Networks" in the IEEE
   802.3/ISO 8802-3 CSMA/CD standard [1], and Section 27, "Repeater for
   100 Mb/s Baseband Networks" in the IEEE Standard 802.3u-1995 [2].

   These Repeater MIB objects may be used to manage non-standard
   repeater-like devices, but defining objects to describe
   implementation-specific properties of non-standard repeater- like
   devices is outside the scope of this memo.


   The definitions presented here are based on Section 30.4, "Layer
   Management for 10 and 100 Mb/s Baseband Repeaters" and Annex 30A,
   "GDMO Specificataions for 802.3 managed objects" of [3].

   Implementors of these MIB objects should note that [3] explicitly
   describes when, where, and how various repeater attributes are
   measured.  The IEEE document also describes the effects of repeater
   actions that may be invoked by manipulating instances of the MIB
   objects defined here.

   The counters in this document are defined to be the same as those
   counters in [3], with the intention that the same instrumentation can
   be used to implement both the IEEE and IETF management standards.

2.3.  Structure of the MIB

   Objects in this MIB are arranged into packages, each of which
   contains a set of related objects within a broad functional category.
   Objects within a package are generally defined under the same OID
   subtree.  These packages are intended for organizational convenience
   ONLY, and have no relation to the conformance groups defined later in
   the document.

2.3.1.  Basic Definitions

   The basic definitions include objects which are applicable to all
   repeaters: status, parameter and control objects for each repeater
   within the managed system, for the port groups within the system, and
   for the individual ports themselves.

2.3.2.  Monitor Definitions

   The monitor definitions include monitoring statistics for each
   repeater within the system and for individual ports.

2.3.3.  Address Tracking Definitions

   This collection includes objects for tracking the MAC addresses of
   the DTEs attached to the ports within the system and for mapping the
   topology of a network.

   Note:  These definitions are based on a technology which has been
   patented by Hewlett-Packard Company.  HP has granted rights to this
   technology to implementors of this MIB.  See [12] and [13] for
   details.

2.3.4.  Top N Definitions

   These objects may be used for tracking the ports with the most
   activity within the system or within particular repeaters.

2.4.  Relationship to Other MIBs

2.4.1.  Relationship to MIB-II

   It is assumed that a repeater implementing this MIB will also
   implement (at least) the 'system' group defined in MIB-II [5].

2.4.1.1.  Relationship to the 'system' group

   In MIB-II, the 'system' group is defined as being mandatory for all
   systems such that each managed entity contains one instance of each
   object in the 'system' group.  Thus, those objects apply to the
   entity even if the entity's sole functionality is management of
   repeaters.

2.4.1.2.  Relationship to the 'interfaces' group

   In MIB-II, the 'interfaces' group is defined as being mandatory for
   all systems and contains information on an entity's interfaces, where
   each interface is thought of as being attached to a 'subnetwork'.
   (Note that this term is not to be confused with 'subnet' which refers
   to an addressing partitioning scheme used in the Internet suite of
   protocols.)

   This Repeater MIB uses the notion of ports on a repeater.  The
   concept of a MIB-II interface has NO specific relationship to a
   repeater's port.  Therefore, the 'interfaces' group applies only to
   the one (or more) network interfaces on which the entity managing the
   repeater sends and receives management protocol operations, and does
   not apply to the repeater's ports.

   This is consistent with the physical-layer nature of a repeater.  A
   repeater is a bitwise store-and-forward device.  It recognizes
   activity and bits, but does not process incoming data based on any
   packet-related information (such as checksum or addresses).  A
   repeater has no MAC address, no MAC implementation, and does not pass
   packets up to higher-level protocol entities for processing.

   (When a network management entity is observing a repeater, it may
   appear as though the repeater is passing packets to a higher-level
   protocol entity.  However, this is only a means of implementing
   management, and this passing of management information is not part of
   the repeater functionality.)