Subject: Message Tracking MIB and BOF

From: [email-masked] (Gordon B. Jones)
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 14:27:33 -0500

Greetings,

Three companies have implemented SNMP MIBs for message tracking, an
e-mail management function. An internet-draft for the work exists and a
BOF meeting is planned for the December IETF.

If this interests you, continue to read this message.

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The draft is called draft-ietf-madman-trackmib-00.txt. It was origjnally
released under MADMAN for lack of a better place to put it; the MIB is
messaging-specific and in  a way extends the work done by that group.

The acronym msgmib will be used on any agenda mentioning the BOF, if
such an agenda appears.

If you want more technical information, here is a brief synopsis:

Much work has been done in standards communities to define standards for
managing messaging using the Internet Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) and Management Information Bases (MIBs). Until this time,
however, these standards have focused upon aggregates of messages
processed by the messaging entity (e.g., the total number of messages
received over a specific time interval), but have not addressed
individual messages, their characteristics, or the path they have taken
through the messaging network.

Several companies have now implemented SNMP MIBs in accordance with an
Internet draft standard for message tracking. SNMP is a mature network
and application management technology that provides an abundance of user
tools, and a cross-vendor, cross-technology ubiquity. SNMP provides a
migration path to a secure solution, and to web-based user interfaces.
SNMP is the only approved Internet standard for application management.
Use of this will allow development of message tracking applications that
can operate in a multi-vendor messaging environment: the approach is a
standard approach open to any messaging vendor.

The phenomenon we call message tracking has multiple uses:

· When there is a lack of trust in the messaging system, such as when an
originator claims a message failed to be delivered, the point of failure
may be isolated. This includes messages that were never delivered or
messages that were delivered incorrectly. Message tracking thus adds to
the overall reliability of the mail system;
· Per-message information obtained from message tracking can be used for
accounting and billing purposes, to itemize traffic on a per-origin or
per-destination basis by system or originator. This typically involves
two steps: collection of message traffic data, followed by the
generation of appropriate reports or billing. A MIB approach aids report
generation in that COTS managers can place the MIB information directly
in a COTS database;
· Message tracking information provides security in that the origins of
potential security threats can be more precisely determined. If a system
were flooded with traffic, for instance, the origin of this traffic
would become known. Message tracking information is suitable for routine
security audits containing the details of messaging traffic over
specific time intervals;
· The message tracking MIB would aid in message loop detection, since
unique message identifiers of looping messages, when these exist, would
be recorded multiple times;
· Performance characteristics about the type of messaging traffic could
be determined, such as the multiple number of outbound messages that
resulted from a single inbound message, and the percentage of message
traffic that consists of delivery reports or receipts;
· Standardized message tracking information acts as a bridge between
dissimilar messaging products and dissimilar messaging communities.

This message tracking approach provides flexible functionality in
certain key areas, particularly when compared with "hard-wired" message
tracking approaches where custom code is written to perform a limited
number of sequential operations:

· The approach is a standard approach open to any messaging vendor;
· The approach does not require the user to have prior knowledge of
attributes such as the message ID or originating system in order to
track a message;
· The approach allows a user to search "forward" through the chain of
MTAs in the delivery path for a message starting with the first MTA, as
well as "backwards" starting with the final MTA in the delivery path;
· The approach allows both a sequential search through a path of MTAs or
a concurrent "pull" of information from multiple MTAs simultaneously. In
the second case the processing is completely distributed and the
determination of the delivery path can be performed after the fact in
one central location without tying up resources at the MTAs; in the
first case it can be performed sequentially upon demand;
· The approach treats both completed transactions and incomplete
transactions in the same way;
· Multiple, concurrent searches can be issued simultanoeusly;
· Data can be automatically extracted by a management application
between specified time intervals;
· Management platforms often provide "off-the-shelf" integration between
SNMP and commercial database technologies

The internet-draft has the rest...