RE: FW: 64 bit counters in MPLS MIBs

[Andy Bierman <abierman@cisco.com>]

At 03:06 PM 1/6/2003 -0800, Randy Presuhn wrote:
>Hi -
>
>> Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2003 12:22:44 -0800 (PST)
>> From: "C. M. Heard" <heard@pobox.com>
>> To: "Mreview (E-mail)" <mreview@ops.ietf.org>
>> Subject: RE: FW: 64 bit counters in MPLS MIBs
>> In-Reply-To: <7D5D48D2CAA3D84C813F5B154F43B1559899DF@nl0006exch001u.nl.lucent.com>
>> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.10.10301061215100.26591-100000@shell4.bayarea.net>
>...
>> I agree with all of that.  But for the scenario set forth above,
>> the MIB module's compliance statement would presumably say that
>> HC counters are required for highspeed ifaces, while
>> LC counters are required for lowspeed ifaces.
>...
>
>One thing really bugs me about this particular formulation:
>where RFC 2578 clause 7.1.10 is about the selection of a
>SYNTAX for OBJECT-TYPEs, this formulation goes farther and
>makes it a per-instance rule.
>
>I think we should encourage, rather than disparage,
>implementations which support the 64-bit counters
>unconditionally.  (Assuming of course that it's architecturally
>appropriate for the object to be 64 bits in the first place.)
>I believe this would reduce the "yuck" factor Glenn mentioned.

We need to strike a balance.  NMS applications that can
utilize Counter64 probably want all instances of a
counter to be either Counter32 or Counter64.  Agent 
implementations may be constrained (either by HW or
memory/CPU resources) to provide a mixture of 32 and 64 bit
counters based on interface speed (probable rollover time).
(Consider the edge device that has several slow interfaces
and one fast uplink interface.)

To me "yuck factor" is platform developers telling me they
need to ignore the standard MIB and 'clone their own',
because the standard MIB isn't appropriate for their platform.

Andy


> ------------------------------------------------------
> Randy Presuhn          BMC Software, Inc.  SJC-1.3141
> randy_presuhn@bmc.com  2141 North First Street
> Tel: +1 408 546-1006   San José, California 95131  USA
> ------------------------------------------------------
> My opinions and BMC's are independent variables.
> ------------------------------------------------------