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Re: Mib transition
On Fri, Oct 07, 2005 at 01:19:31PM -0400, David B Harrington wrote:
> 2) modifying - SMIv2 doesn't generally permit existing MIB objects to
> be modified. If IEEE wants to change an object not allowed to be
> changed by SMIv2, they can create a new object under their own arc,
> and provide a compliance clause that says to use that object rather
> than the old object.
Not quite true. The SMIv2 actually allows enumerations to be extended.
[...]
> But, I don't see that as being likely. Each of the existing documents
> will be an IETF standard, and because it would have a serious impact
> on interoperability/backwards compatibility, we don't generally go in
> and obsolete large portions of a standard MIB except under unusual
> circumstances (such as revving RFC1213 or updating existing MIBs for
> IPv6 support).
Note sure what you mean here - RFC 4188 is a proposed standard now.
> The only case I see where this would be likely is misguided efforts
> like Alex Ruzin's MSTP-MIB where he wanted to copy existing BRIDGE-MIB
> objects into his MIB, with new OIDs and descriptors under the ieee802
> arc, and obsolete the BRIDGE-MIB objects. This is bad practice from a
> standpoint of interoperability, and if IETF MIB Doctors and
> knowledgeable 802.1 participants are paying any attention, this is
> unlikely to happen.
I am less optimistic than you. I do believe that we will see valid
requests for changes of these MIB modules and we better plan ahead for
that. Otherwise, people will indeed end up copying lots of objects
under new OIDs which is a pay for interoperability and a clear failure
of our process (which puts interoperability first). In other words, I
believe we need to agree that the IETF either (a) continues to publish
updates to the relevant 802 MIB under IETF control or that (b) the
IETF officially transfers the control of the toplevel OIDs used by
these MIBs over to the IEEE.
/js
--
Juergen Schoenwaelder International University Bremen
<http://www.eecs.iu-bremen.de/> P.O. Box 750 561, 28725 Bremen, Germany