Subject: New version of the expression MIB

From: Ram Kavasseri <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 22:28:45 -0700 (PDT)

Here's the latest revision of the Expression MIB. There's
one issue I don't know how to address - this MIB refers to
the Event MIB, but the event mib doesn't haev
an official RFC number. What do I do for the REFERENCES section
in this case?

I'll post it to [email-masked] tomorrow, as soon as
someone can toss me a clue about the above issue...

Thanks,

--
Ram Kavasseri

Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

                 Distributed Management Expression MIB

                            22 October 1999

                  draft-ietf-disman-express-mib-10.txt

                              Bob Stewart
                          Cisco Systems, Inc.

                          Status of this Memo

This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that other groups
may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference material
or to cite them other than as ``work in progress.''

The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt

The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

Distribution of this document is unlimited. Please send comments to the
Distributed Management Working Group, <[email-masked]>.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 1]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

1.  Abstract

This memo defines an experimental portion of the Management Information
Base (MIB) for use with network management protocols in the Internet
community.  In particular, it describes managed objects used for
managing expressions of MIB objects.  The results of these expressions
become MIB objects usable like any other MIB object, such as for the
test condition for declaring an event.

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

2.  The SNMP Management Framework

   The SNMP Management Framework presently consists of five major
   components:

    o   An overall architecture, described in RFC 2571 [RFC2571].

    o   Mechanisms for describing and naming objects and events for the
        purpose of management. The first version of this Structure of
        Management Information (SMI) is called SMIv1 and described in
        STD 16, RFC 1155 [RFC1155], STD 16, RFC 1212 [RFC1212] and RFC
        1215 [RFC1215]. The second version, called SMIv2, is described
        in STD 58, RFC 2578 [RFC2578], RFC 2579 [RFC2579] and RFC 2580
        [RFC2580].

    o   Message protocols for transferring management information. The
        first version of the SNMP message protocol is called SNMPv1 and
        described in STD 15, RFC 1157 [RFC1157]. A second version of the
        SNMP message protocol, which is not an Internet standards track
        protocol, is called SNMPv2c and described in RFC 1901 [RFC1901]
        and RFC 1906 [RFC1906]. The third version of the message
        protocol is called SNMPv3 and described in RFC 1906 [RFC1906],
        RFC 2572 [RFC2572] and RFC 2574 [RFC2574].

    o   Protocol operations for accessing management information. The
        first set of protocol operations and associated PDU formats is
        described in STD 15, RFC 1157 [RFC1157]. A second set of
        protocol operations and associated PDU formats is described in
        RFC 1905 [RFC1905].

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 2]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    o   A set of fundamental applications described in RFC 2573
        [RFC2573] and the view-based access control mechanism described
        in RFC 2575 [RFC2575].

   A more detailed introduction to the current SNMP Management Framework
   can be found in RFC 2570 [RFC2570].

   Managed objects are accessed via a virtual information store, termed
   the Management Information Base or MIB.  Objects in the MIB are
   defined using the mechanisms defined in the SMI.

   This memo specifies a MIB module that is compliant to the SMIv2. A
   MIB conforming to the SMIv1 can be produced through the appropriate
   translations. The resulting translated MIB must be semantically
   equivalent, except where objects or events are omitted because no
   translation is possible (use of Counter64). Some machine readable
   information in SMIv2 will be converted into textual descriptions in
   SMIv1 during the translation process. However, this loss of machine
   readable information is not considered to change the semantics of the
   MIB.

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 3]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

3.  Overview

Users of MIBs often desire MIB objects that MIB designers have not
provided.  Furthermore, such needs vary from one management philosphy to
another.  Rather than fill more and more MIBs with standardized objects,
the Expression MIB supports externally defined expressions of existing
MIB objects.

In the Expression MIB the results of an evaluated expression are MIB
objects that may be used like any other MIB objects.  These custom-
defined objects are thus usable anywhere any other MIB object can be
used.  For example, they can be used by a management application
directly or referenced from another MIB, such as the Event MIB
[MIBEventMIB].  They can even be used by the Expression MIB itself,
forming expressions of expressions.

The Expression MIB is instrumentation for a relatively powerful,
complex, high-level application, considerably different from simple
instrumentation for a communication driver or a protocol.  The MIB is
appropriate in a relatively powerful, resource-rich managed system and
not necessarily in a severely limited environment.

Nevertheless, due to dependencies from the Event MIB [RFCEventMIB] and
the need to support as low-end a system as possible, the Expression MIB
can be somewhat stripped down for lower-power, lower-resource
implementations, as described in the Subsets section, below.

Implementation of the Expression MIB in an managed system led to the
addition of objects that may not have been necessary in an application
environment with complete knowledge of compiled MIB definitions.  This
is appropriate since implementation must be possible within typical
managed systems with some constraints on system resources.

3.1.  Usage

On managed systems that can afford the overhead, the Expression MIB is a
way to create new, customized MIB objects for monitoring.  Although
these can save some network traffic and overhead on management systems,
that is often not a good tradeoff for objects that are simply to be
recorded or displayed.

The primary purpose of the Expression MIB is to provide custom objects
for the Event MIB [RFCEventMIB].  A complex expression can evaluate to a
rate of flow or a boolean and thus be subject to testing as an event

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 4]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

trigger, resulting in an SNMP notification.  Without the Expression MIB
such monitoring is limited to the objects in predefined MIBs.  The
Expression MIB thus supports powerful tools for the network manager
faced with the monitoring of large, complex systems that can support a
significant level of self management.

3.2.  Persistance

Although like most MIBs this one has no explicit controls for the
persistance of the values set in configuring an expression, a robust,
polite implementation would certainly not force its managing
applications to reconfigure it whenever it resets.

Again, as with most MIBs, it is implementation specific how a system
provides and manages such persistance.  To speculate, one could imagine,
for example, that persistance depended on the context in which the
expression was configured, or perhaps system-specific characteristics of
the expression's owner.  Or perhaps everything in a MIB such as this
one, which is clearly aimed at persistant configuration, is
automatically part of a system's other persistant configuration.

3.3.  Operation

Most of the operation of the MIB is described or implied in the object
definitions but a few highlights bear mentioning here.

3.3.1.  Sampling

The MIB supports three types of object sampling for the MIB objects that
make up the expression:  absolute, delta, and changed.

Absolute samples are simply the value of the MIB object at the time it
is sampled.

Absolute samples are not sufficient for expressions of counters, as
counters have meaning only as a delta (difference) from one sample to
the next.  Thus objects may be sampled as deltas.  Delta sampling
requires the application to maintain state for the value at the last
sample, and to do continuous sampling whether or not anyone is looking
at the results.  It thus creates constant overhead.

Changed sampling is a simple fallout of delta sampling where rather than

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 5]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

a difference the result is a boolean indicating whether or not the
object changed value since the last sample.

3.3.2.  Wildcards

Wildcards allow the application of a single expression to multiple
instances of the same MIB object.  The definer of the expression
indicates this choice and provides a partial object identifier, with
some or all of the instance portion left off.  The application then does
the equivalent of GetNext to obtain the object values, thus discovering
the instances.

All wildcarded objects in an expression must have the same semantics for
the missing portion of their object identifiers. Otherwise, any
successful evaluation of the wildcarded expression would be the result
of the accidental matching of the wildcarded portion of the object
identifiers in the expression.  Such an evaluation will likely produce
results which are not meaningful.

The expression can be evaluated only for those instances where all the
objects in the expression are available with the same value for the
wildcarded portion of the instance.

3.3.3.  Evaluation

There are two important aspects of evaluation that may not be obvious:
what objects and when.

What objects get used in the evaluation depends on the type of request
and whether or not the expression contains wildcarded objects.  If the
request was a Get, that locks down the instances to be used.  If the
request was a GetNext or GetBulk, the application must work its way up
to the next full set of objects for the expression.

Evaluation of expressions happens at two possible times, depending on
the sampling method (delta or absolute) used to evaluate the expression.

If there are no delta or change values in an expression, the evaluation
occurs on demand, i.e. when a requester attempts to read the value of
the expression.  In this case all requesters get a freshly calculated
value.

For expressions with delta or change values, evaluation goes on

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 6]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

continuously, every sample period.  In this case requesters get the
value as of the last sample period.  For any given sample period of a
given expression, only those instances exist that provided a full set of
object values.  It may be possible that a delta expression which was
evaluated successfully for one sample period may not be successfully
evaluated in the next sample period. This may, for example, be due to
missing instances for some or all of the objects in the expression. In
such cases, the value from the previous sample period (with the
successful evaluation) must not be carried forward to the next sample
period (with the failed evaluation).

3.3.4.  Value Identification

Values resulting from expression evaluation are identified with a
combination of the object identifier (OID) for the data type from
expValueTable (such as expValueCounter32Val), the expression name, and
an OID fragment.

The OID fragment is not an entire OID beginning with iso.dod.org
(1.3.6).  Rather it begins with 0.0.  The remainder is either another 0
when there is no wildcarding or the instance that satisfied the wildcard
if there is wildcarding.

3.4.  Subsets

To pare down the Expression MIBs complexity and use of resources an
implementor can leave out various parts.

3.4.1.  No Wildcards

Leaving out wildcarding significantly reduces the complexity of
retrieving values to evaluate expressions and the processing required to
do so.  Such an implementation would allow expressions made up of
individual MIB objects but would not be suitable for expressions applied
across large tables as each instance in the table would require a
separate expression definition.

Furthermore it would not be suitable for tables with arbitrary, dynamic
instances, as expressions definitions could not predict what instance
values to use.

An implementation without wildcards might be useful for a self-managing

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 7]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

system with small tables or few dynamic instances, or one that can do
calculations only for a few key objects.

3.4.2.  No Deltas

Leaving out delta processing significantly reduces state that must be
kept and the burden of ongoing processing even when no one is looking at
the results.  Unfortunately it also makes expressions on counters
unusable, as counters have meaning only as deltas.

An implementation without deltas might be useful for a severly limited,
self-managing system that has no need for expressions or events on
counters.  Although conceivable, such systems would be rare.

3.5.  Structure

The MIB has the following sections:

    o   Resource -- management of the MIB's use of system resources.

    o   Definition -- definition of expressions.

    o   Value -- values of evaluated expressions.

3.5.1.  Resource

The resource section has objects to manage resource usage by wildcarded
delta expressions, a potential major consumer of CPU and memory.

3.5.2.  Definition

The definition section contains the tables that define expressions.

The expression table, indexed by expression name, contains those
parameters that apply to the entire expression, such as the expression
itself, the data type of the result, and the sampling interval if it
contains delta or change values.

The object table, indexed by expression name and object index within
each expression, contains the parameters that apply to the individual
objects that go into the expression, including the object identifier,

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 8]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

sample type, discontinuity indicator, and such.

3.5.3.  Value

The value section contains the values of evaluated expressions.

The value table, indexed by expression name and instance fragment
contains a "discriminated union" of evaluated expression results.  For a
given expression only one of the columns is instantiated, depending on
the result data type for the expression.  The instance fragment is a
constant or the final section of the object identifier that filled in a
wildcard.

3.6.  Examples

The examples refer to tables and objects defined below in the MIB
itself.  They may well make more sense after reading those definitions.

3.6.1.  Wildcarding

An expression may use wildcarded MIB objects that result in multiple
values for the expression.  To specify a wildcarded MIB object a
management application leaves off part or all of the instance portion of
the object identifier, and sets expObjectWildcard to true(1) for that
object.  For our example we'll use a counter of total blessings from a
table of people.  Another table, indexed by town and person has
blessings just from that town.

So the index clauses are:

    personEntry OBJECT-TYPE
    ...
    INDEX { personIndex }

And:

    townPersonEntry OBJECT-TYPE
    ...
    INDEX { townIndex, personIndex }

In our friendly application we may have entered our expression as:

Expires 22 April 1999                                           [Page 9]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    100 * townPersonBlessings.976.* / personBlessings.*

What goes in expExpression is:

    100*$1/$2

For example purposes we'll use some slightly far-fetched OIDs, but the
weirdity won't matter.  The People MIB is 1.3.6.1.99.7 and the Town MIB
is 1.3.6.1.99.11, so for our two counters the OIDs are:

    personBlessings      1.3.6.1.99.7.1.3.1.4
    townPersonBlessings       1.3.6.1.99.11.1.2.1.9

The rule for wildcards is that all the wildcarded parts have to match
exactly.  In this case that means we have to hardwire the town and only
the personIndex can be wildcarded.  So our values for expObjectID are:

    1.3.6.1.99.7.1.3.1.4
    1.3.6.1.99.11.1.2.1.9.976

We're hardwired to townIndex 976 and personIndex is allowed to vary.

The value of expExpressionPrefix can be either of those two counter OIDs
(including the instance fragment in the second case), since either of
them takes you to a MIB definition where you can look at the INDEX
clause and figure out what's been left off.  What's been left off
doesn't have to work out to be the same object, but it does have to work
out to be the same values (semantics) for the result to make sense.
Note that the managed system can not typically check such semantics and
if given nonsense will return nonsense.

If we have people numbered 6, 19, and 42 in town number 976, the
successive values of expValueInstance will be:

    0.0.6
    0.0.19
    0.0.42

So there will be three values in expValueTable, with those OIDs as the
expValueInstance part of their indexing.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 10]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

3.6.2.  Calculation and Conditional

The following formula for line utilization of a half-duplex link is
adapted from [PracPersp].

    utilization = (ifInOctets + ifOutOctets) * 800 / seconds / ifSpeed

The expression results in the percentage line utilization per second.
The total octets are multipled by 8 to get bits and 100 to scale up the
percentage as an integer.

The following Expression MIB object values implement this as an
expression for all ifIndexes that directly represent actual hardware.
Since the octet counters are Counter32 values, they must be delta
sampled to be meaningful.  The sample period is 6 seconds but for
accuracy and independence is calculated as a delta of sysUpTime.

The expObjectTable entry for ifInOctets has an expObjectConditional that
checks for being a hardware interface.  Only one object in the
expression needs that check associated, since it applies to the whole
expression.  Since ifConnectorPresent is a TruthValue with values of 1
or 2 rather than 0 and non-zero, it must also be in an expression rather
than used directly for the conditional.

The interface-specific discontinuity indicator is supplied only for
ifInOctets since invalidating that sample will invalidate an attempt at
evaluation, effectively invalidating ifOutOctets as well (correctly,
because it has the same indicator).

For notational clarity, in the rest of this document, a string in quotes
as part of the object instance indicates the value that would actually
be one subidentifier per byte.  The objects all belong to owner "me".

Also for clarity OIDs are expressed as the object descriptor and
instance.  In fact they must be supplied numerically, with all
subidentifiers in place before the part for the particular object and
instance.

What the user must set in expExpressionTable:

expExpression.2."me".4."hard"      = "$1==1"
expExpressionValueType.2."me".4."hard"  = unsigned32
expExpressionRowStatus.2."me"4."hard"   = 'active'

expExpression.2."me".4."util"      = "($1+$2)*800/$4/$3"

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 11]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

expExpressionValueType.2."me".4."util"  = integer32
expExpressionDeltaInterval.2."me".4."util"   = 6
expExpressionRowStatus.2."me"4."util"   = 'active'

What the user must set in expObjectTable:

expObjectID.2."me".4."hard".1      = ifConnectorPresent
expObjectWildcard.2."me".4."hard".1     = 'true'
expObjectSampleType.2."me".4."hard".1   = 'absoluteValue'
expObjectRowStatus.2."me".4."hard".1    = 'active'

expObjectID.2."me".4."util".1      = ifInOctets
expObjectWildcard.2."me".4."util".1     = 'true'
expObjectSampleType.2."me".4."util".1   = 'deltaValue'
expObjectConditional.2."me".4."util".1  =
expValueUnsigned32Val.4."hard".0.0
expObjectConditionalWildcard.2."me".4."util".1    = 'true'
expObjectDiscontinuityID.2."me".4."util".1   =
ifCounterDiscontinuityTime
expObjectDiscontinuityIDWildcard.2."me".4."util".1     = 'true'
expObjectRowStatus.2."me".4."util".1    = 'active'

expObjectID.2."me".4."util".2      = ifOutOctets
expObjectWildcard.2."me".4."util".2     = 'true'
expObjectSampleType.2."me".4."util".2   = 'deltaValue'
expObjectRowStatus.2."me".4."util".2    = 'active'

expObjectID.2."me".4."util".3      = ifSpeed
expObjectWildcard.2."me".4."util".3     = 'true'
expObjectSampleType.2."me".4."util".3   = 'absoluteValue'
expObjectRowStatus.2."me".4."util".3    = 'active'

expObjectID.2."me".4."util".4      = sysUpTime.0
expObjectWildcard.2."me".4."util".4     = 'false'
expObjectSampleType.2."me".4."util".4   = 'deltaValue'
expObjectRowStatus.2."me".4."util".4    = 'active'

These settings will result in populating one column of expValueTable:

expValueInteger32Val.2."me".4."util".0.0.?

The subidentifier represented by "?" above represents one subidentifier
that takes on a value of ifIndex and identifies a row for each ifIndex
value where ifConnectorPresent is 'true' and the interface was present
for two samples to provide a delta.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 12]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

This value could in turn be used as an event threshold [RFCEventMIB] to
watch for overutilization of all hardware network connections.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 13]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

4.  Definitions

DISMAN-EXPRESSION-MIB DEFINITIONS ::= BEGIN

IMPORTS
    MODULE-IDENTITY, OBJECT-TYPE,
    Integer32, Gauge32, Unsigned32,
    Counter32, Counter64, IpAddress,
    TimeTicks                 FROM SNMPv2-SMI
    RowStatus, TruthValue, TimeStamp    FROM SNMPv2-TC
    sysUpTime                 FROM SNMPv2-MIB
    SnmpAdminString           FROM SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB
    MODULE-COMPLIANCE, OBJECT-GROUP     FROM SNMPv2-CONF;

dismanExpressionMIB MODULE-IDENTITY
    LAST-UPDATED "9906241700Z"
    ORGANIZATION "IETF Distributed Management Working Group"
    CONTACT-INFO "Ramanathan Kavasseri
                  Cisco Systems, Inc.
                  170 West Tasman Drive,
                  San Jose CA 95134-1706.
                  Phone: +1 408 527 2446
                  Email: [email-masked]"
    DESCRIPTION
     "The MIB module for defining expressions of MIB objects for
     management purposes."
-- Revision History

       REVISION     "9910220000Z"            -- 22 October 1999
       DESCRIPTION  "Updated editors' addresses, fixed typos."
    ::= { mib-2 xx } - final assignment by IANA at publication time

dismanExpressionMIBObjects OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { dismanExpressionMIB 1 }

expResource    OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { dismanExpressionMIBObjects 1 }
expDefine OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { dismanExpressionMIBObjects 2 }
expValue  OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { dismanExpressionMIBObjects 3 }

--
-- Resource Control
--

expResourceDeltaMinimum OBJECT-TYPE

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 14]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    SYNTAX      Integer32 (-1 | 1..600)
    UNITS       "seconds"
    MAX-ACCESS  read-write
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The minimum expExpressionDeltaInterval this system will
     accept.  A system may use the larger values of this minimum to
     lessen the impact of constantly computing deltas.  For larger
     delta sampling intervals the system samples less often and
     suffers less overhead.  This object provides a way to enforce
     such lower overhead for all expressions created after it is
     set.

     The value -1 indicates that expResourceDeltaMinimum is
     irrelevant as the system will not accept 'deltaValue' as a
     value for expObjectSampleType.

     Unless explicitly resource limited, a system's value for
     this object should be 1, allowing as small as a 1 second
     interval for ongoing delta sampling.

     Changing this value will not invalidate an existing setting
     of expObjectSampleType."
    ::= { expResource 1 }

expResourceDeltaWildcardInstanceMaximum OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Unsigned32
    UNITS       "instances"
    MAX-ACCESS  read-write
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "For every instance of a deltaValue object, one dynamic instance
     entry is needed for holding the instance value from the previous
     sample, i.e. to maintain state.

     This object limits maximum number of dynamic instance entries
     this system will support for wildcarded delta objects in
     expressions. For a given delta expression, the number of
     dynamic instances is the number of values that meet all criteria
     to exist times the number of delta values in the expression.

     A value of 0 indicates no preset limit, that is, the limit
     is dynamic based on system operation and resources.

     Unless explicitly resource limited, a system's value for

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 15]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     this object should be 0.

     Changing this value will not eliminate or inhibit existing delta
     wildcard instance objects but will prevent the creation of more
     such objects.

     An attempt to allocate beyond the limit results in expErrorCode
     being tooManyWildcardValues for that evaluation attempt."
    ::= { expResource 2 }

expResourceDeltaWildcardInstances OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Gauge32
    UNITS       "instances"
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The number of currently active instance entries as
     defined for expResourceDeltaWildcardInstanceMaximum."
    ::= { expResource 3 }

expResourceDeltaWildcardInstancesHigh OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Gauge32
    UNITS       "instances"
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The highest value of expResourceDeltaWildcardInstances
     that has occurred since initialization of the managed
     system."
    ::= { expResource 4 }

expResourceDeltaWildcardInstanceResourceLacks OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Counter32
    UNITS       "instances"
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The number of times this system could not evaluate an
     expression because that would have created a value instance in
     excess of expResourceDeltaWildcardInstanceMaximum."
    ::= { expResource 5 }

--
-- Definition

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 16]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

--
-- Expression Definition Table
--

expExpressionTable OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      SEQUENCE OF ExpExpressionEntry
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "A table of expression definitions."
    ::= { expDefine 1 }

expExpressionEntry OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      ExpExpressionEntry
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "Information about a single expression.  New expressions
     can be created using expExpressionRowStatus.

     To create an expression first create the named entry in this
     table.  Then use expExpressionName to populate expObjectTable.
     For expression evaluation to succeed all related entries in
     expExpressionTable and expObjectTable must be 'active'.  If
     these conditions are not met the corresponding values in
     expValue simply are not instantiated.

     Deleting an entry deletes all related entries in expObjectTable
     and expErrorTable.

     Because of the relationships among the multiple tables for an
     expression (expExpressionTable, expObjectTable, and
     expValueTable) and the SNMP rules for independence in setting
     object values, it is necessary to do final error checking when
     an expression is evaluated, that is, when one of its instances
     in expValueTable is read or a delta interval expires.  Earlier
     checking need not be done and an implementation may not impose
     any ordering on the creation of objects related to an
     expression.

     To maintain security of MIB information, when creating a new row in
     this table, the managed system must record the security credentials
     of the requester.  These security credentials are the parameters
     necessary as inputs to isAccessAllowed from the Architecture for
     Describing SNMP Management Frameworks.  When obtaining the objects

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 17]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     that make up the expression, the system must (conceptually) use
     isAccessAllowed to ensure that it does not violate security.

     The evaluation of the expression takes place under the
     security credentials of the creator of its expExpressionEntry.

     Values of read-write objects in this table may be changed
     at any time."
    INDEX       { expExpressionOwner, expExpressionName }
    ::= { expExpressionTable 1 }

ExpExpressionEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
    expExpressionOwner           SnmpAdminString,
    expExpressionName             SnmpAdminString,
    expExpression                OCTET STRING,
    expExpressionValueType       INTEGER,
    expExpressionComment         SnmpAdminString,
    expExpressionDeltaInterval   Integer32,
    expExpressionPrefix           OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
    expExpressionErrors          Counter32,
    expExpressionEntryStatus     RowStatus
}

expExpressionOwner OBJECT-TYPE
   SYNTAX      SnmpAdminString (SIZE(0..32))
   MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
   STATUS      current
   DESCRIPTION
     "The owner of this entry. The exact semantics of this
     string are subject to the security policy defined by the
     security administrator."
    ::= { expExpressionEntry 1 }

expExpressionName OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      SnmpAdminString (SIZE (1..32))
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The name of the expression.  This is locally unique, within
     the scope of an expExpressionOwner."
    ::= { expExpressionEntry 2 }

expExpression OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OCTET STRING (SIZE (1..1024))
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 18]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The expression to be evaluated.  This object is the same
     as a DisplayString (RFC 1903) except for its maximum length.

     Except for the variable names the expression is in ANSI C
     syntax.  Only the subset of ANSI C operators and functions
     listed here is allowed.

     Variables are expressed as a dollar sign ('$') and an
     integer that corresponds to an expObjectIndex.  An
     example of a valid expression is:

          ($1-$5)*100

     Expressions must not be recursive, that is although an expression
     may use the results of another expression, it must not contain
     any variable that is directly or indirectly a result of its own
     evaluation. The managed system must check for recursive
     expressions.

     The only allowed operators are:

          ( )
          - (unary)
          + - * / %
          & | ^ << >> ~
          ! && || == != > >= < <=

     Note the parentheses are included for parenthesizing the
     expression, not for casting data types.

     The only constant types defined are:

          int (32-bit signed)
          long (64-bit signed)
          unsigned int
          unsigned long
          hexadecimal
          character
          string
          oid

     The default type for a positive integer is int unless it is too
     large in which case it is long.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 19]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     All but oid are as defined for ANSI C.  Note that a
     hexadecimal constant may end up as a scalar or an array of
     8-bit integers.  A string constant is enclosed in double
     quotes and may contain back-slashed individual characters
     as in ANSI C.

     An oid constant comprises 32-bit, unsigned integers and at
     least one period, for example:

          0.
          .0
          1.3.6.1

     No additional leading or trailing subidentifiers are automatically
     added to an OID constant.  The constant is taken as expressed.

     Integer-typed objects are treated as 32- or 64-bit, signed
     or unsigned integers, as appropriate.  The results of
     mixing them are as for ANSI C, including the type of the
     result.  Note that a 32-bit value is thus promoted to 64 bits
     only in an operation with a 64-bit value.  There is no
     provision for larger values to handle overflow.

     Relative to SNMP data types, a resulting value becomes
     unsigned when calculating it uses any unsigned value,
     including a counter.  To force the final value to be of
     data type counter the expression must explicitly use the
     counter32() or counter64() function (defined below).

     OCTET STRINGS and OBJECT IDENTIFIERs are treated as
     one-dimensioned     arrays of unsigned 8-bit integers and
     unsigned 32-bit integers, respectively.

     IpAddresses are treated as 32-bit, unsigned integers in
     network byte order, that is, the hex version of 255.0.0.0 is
     0xff000000.

     Conditional expressions result in a 32-bit, unsigned integer
     of value 0 for false or 1 for true. When an arbitrary value
     is used as a boolean 0 is false and non-zero is true.

     Rules for the resulting data type from an operation, based on
     the operator:

     For << and >> the result is the same as the left hand operand.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 20]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     For &&, ||, ==, !=, <, <=, >, and >= the result is always
     Unsigned32.

     For unary - the result is always Integer32.

     For +, -, *, /, %, &, |, and ^ the result is promoted according
     to the following rules, in order from most to least preferred:

          If left hand and right hand operands are the same type,
          use that.

          If either side is Counter64, use that.

          If either side is IpAddress, use that.

          If either side is TimeTicks, use that.

          If either side is Counter32, use that.

          Otherwise use Unsigned32.

     The following rules say what operators apply with what data
     types.  Any combination not explicitly defined does not work.

     For all operators any of the following can be the left hand or
     right hand operand: Integer32, Counter32, Unsigned32, Counter64.

     The operators +, -, *, /, %, <, <=, >, and >= work with
     TimeTicks.

     The operators &, |, and ^ work with IpAddress.

     The operators << and >> work with IpAddress but only as the
     left hand operand.

     The + operator performs a concatenation of two OCTET STRINGs or
     two OBJECT IDENTIFIERs.

     The operators &, | perform bitwise operations on OCTET STRINGs.
     If the OCTET STRING happens to be a DisplayString the results
     may be meaningless, but the agent system does not check this as
     some such systems do not have this information.

     The operators << and >> perform bitwise operations on OCTET
     STRINGs appearing as the left hand operand.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 21]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     The only functions defined are:

          counter32
          counter64
          arraySection
          stringBegins
          stringEnds
          stringContains
          oidBegins
          oidEnds
          oidContains
          average
          maximum
          minimum
          sum
          exists

     The following function definitions indicate their parameters by
     naming the data type of the parameter in the parameter's position
     in the parameter list.  The parameter must be of the type indicated
     and generally may be a constant, a MIB object, a function, or an
     expression.

     counter32(integer) - wrapped around an integer value counter32
     forces Counter32 as a data type.

     counter64(integer) - similar to counter32 except that the
     resulting data type is 'counter64'.

     arraySection(array, integer, integer) - selects a piece of an
     array (i.e. part of an OCTET STRING or OBJECT IDENTIFIER).  The
     integer arguments are in the range 0 to 4,294,967,295.  The
     first is an initial array index (one-dimensioned) and the second
     is an ending array index.  A value of 0 indicates first or last
     element, respectively.  If the first element is larger than the
     array length the result is 0 length.  If the second integer is
     less than or equal to the first, the result is 0 length.  If the
     second is larger than the array length it indicates last
     element.

     stringBegins/Ends/Contains(octetString, octetString) - looks for
     the second string (which can be a string constant) in the first
     and returns the one-dimensioned arrayindex where the match began.
     A return value of 0 indicates no match (i.e. boolean false).

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 22]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     oidBegins/Ends/Contains(oid, oid) - looks for the second OID
     (which can be an OID constant) in the first and returns the
     the one-dimensioned index where the match began. A return value
     of 0 indicates no match (i.e. boolean false).

     average/maximum/minimum(integer) - calculates the average,
     minimum, or maximum value of the integer valued object over
     multiple sample times.  If the object disappears for any
     sample period, the accumlation and the resulting value object
     cease to exist until the object reappears at which point the
     calculation starts over.

     sum(integerObject*) - sums all available values of the
     wildcarded integer object, resulting in an integer scalar.  Must
     be used with caution as it wraps on overflow with no
     notification.

     exists(anyTypeObject) - verifies the object instance exists. A
     return value of 0 indicates NoSuchInstance (i.e. boolean
     false)."
    ::= { expExpressionEntry 3 }

expExpressionValueType OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      INTEGER { counter32(1), unsigned32(2), timeTicks(3),
                 integer32(4), ipAddress(5), octetString(6),
                 objectId(7), counter64(8) }
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The type of the expression value.  One and only one of the
     value objects in expValueTable will be instantiated to match
     this type.

     If the result of the expression can not be made into this type,
     an invalidOperandType error will occur."
    DEFVAL      { counter32 }
    ::= { expExpressionEntry 4 }

expExpressionComment OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      SnmpAdminString
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "A comment to explain the use or meaning of the expression."
    DEFVAL      { ''H }

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 23]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    ::= { expExpressionEntry 5 }

expExpressionDeltaInterval OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Integer32 (0..86400)
    UNITS       "seconds"
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "Sampling interval for objects in this expression with
     expObjectSampleType 'deltaValue'.

     This object has no effect if the the expression has no
     deltaValue objects.

     A value of 0 indicates no automated sampling.  In this case
     the delta is the difference from the last time the expression
     was evaluated.  Note that this is subject to unpredictable
     delta times in the face of retries or multiple managers.

     A value greater than zero is the number of seconds between
     automated samples.

     Until the delta interval has expired once the delta for the
     object is effectively not instantiated and evaluating
     the expression has results as if the object itself were not
     instantiated.

     Note that delta values potentially consume large amounts of
     system CPU and memory.  Delta state and processing must
     continue constantly even if the expression is not being used.
     That is, the expression is being evaluated every delta interval,
     even if no application is reading those values.  For wildcarded
     objects this can be substantial overhead.

     Note that delta intervals, external expression value sampling
     intervals and delta intervals for expressions within other
     expressions can have unusual interactions as they are impossible
     to synchronize accurately.  In general one interval embedded
     below another must be enough shorter that the higher sample
     sees relatively smooth, predictable behavior.  So, for example,
     to avoid the higher level getting the same sample twice, the
     lower level should sample at least twice as fast as the higher
     level does."
    DEFVAL      { 0 }
    ::= { expExpressionEntry 6 }

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 24]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

expExpressionPrefix OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OBJECT IDENTIFIER
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "An object prefix to assist an application in determining
     the instance indexing to use in expValueTable, relieving the
     application of the need to scan the expObjectTable to
     determine such a prefix.

     See expObjectTable for information on wildcarded objects.

     If the expValueInstance portion of the value OID may
     be treated as a scalar (that is, normally, 0) the value of
     expExpressionPrefix is zero length, that is, no OID at all.
     Note that zero length implies a null OID, not the OID 0.0.

     Otherwise, the value of expExpressionPrefix is the expObjectID
     value of any one of the wildcarded objects for the expression.
     This is sufficient, as the remainder, that is, the instance
     fragment relevant to instancing the values, must be the same for
     all wildcarded objects in the expression."
    ::= { expExpressionEntry 7 }

expExpressionErrors OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Counter32
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The number of errors encountered while evaluating this
     expression.

     Note that an object in the expression not being accessible,
     is not considered an error. An example of an inaccessible
     object is when the object is excluded from the view of the
     user whose security credentials are used in the expression
     evaluation. In such cases, it is a legitimate condition
     that causes the corresponding expression value not to be
     instantiated."
    ::= { expExpressionEntry 8 }

expExpressionEntryStatus OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      RowStatus
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 25]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    DESCRIPTION
     "The control that allows creation and deletion of entries."
    ::= { expExpressionEntry 9 }

--
-- Expression Error Table
--

expErrorTable OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      SEQUENCE OF ExpErrorEntry
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "A table of expression errors."
    ::= { expDefine 2 }

expErrorEntry OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      ExpErrorEntry
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "Information about errors in processing an expression.

     Entries appear in this table only when there is a matching
     expExpressionEntry and then only when there has been an
     error for that expression as reflected by the error codes
     defined for expErrorCode."
    INDEX       { expExpressionOwner, expExpressionName }
    ::= { expErrorTable 1 }

ExpErrorEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
    expErrorTime       TimeStamp,
    expErrorIndex      Integer32,
    expErrorCode       INTEGER,
    expErrorInstance   OBJECT IDENTIFIER
}

expErrorTime OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      TimeStamp
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value of sysUpTime the last time an error caused a
     failure to evaluate this expression."

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 26]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    ::= { expErrorEntry 1 }

expErrorIndex OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Integer32
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The one-dimensioned character array index into
     expExpression for where the error occurred.  The value
     zero indicates irrelevance."
    ::= { expErrorEntry 2 }

expErrorCode OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      INTEGER {
          invalidSyntax(1),
          undefinedObjectIndex(2),
          unrecognizedOperator(3),
          unrecognizedFunction(4),
          invalidOperandType(5),
          unmatchedParenthesis(6),
          tooManyWildcardValues(7),
          recursion(8),
          deltaTooShort(9),
          resourceUnavailable(10),
          divideByZero(11)
          }
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The error that occurred.  In the following explanations the
     expected timing of the error is in parentheses.  'S' means
     the error occurs on a Set request.  'E' means the error
     occurs on the attempt to evaluate the expression either due to
     Get from expValueTable or in ongoing delta processing.

     invalidSyntax       the value sent for expExpression is not
                    valid Expression MIB expression syntax
                    (S)
     undefinedObjectIndex     an object reference ($n) in
                    expExpression does not have a matching
                    instance in expObjectTable (E)
     unrecognizedOperator     the value sent for expExpression held an
                    unrecognized operator (S)
     unrecognizedFunction     the value sent for expExpression held an
                    unrecognized function name (S)

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 27]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     invalidOperandType  an operand in expExpression is not the
                    right type for the associated operator
                    or result (SE)
     unmatchedParenthesis     the value sent for expExpression is not
                    correctly parenthesized (S)
     tooManyWildcardValues    evaluating the expression exceeded the
                    limit set by
                    expResourceDeltaWildcardInstanceMaximum
                    (E)
     recursion      through some chain of embedded
                    expressions the expression invokes itself
                    (E)
     deltaTooShort       the delta for the next evaluation passed
                    before the system could evaluate the
                    present sample (E)
     resourceUnavailable some resource, typically dynamic memory,
                    was unavailable (SE)
     divideByZero        an attempt to divide by zero occurred
                    (E)

     For the errors that occur when the attempt is made to set
     expExpression Set request fails with the SNMP error code
     'wrongValue'.  Such failures refer to the most recent failure to
     Set expExpression, not to the present value of expExpression
     which must be either unset or syntactically correct.

     Errors that occur during evaluation for a Get* operation return
     the SNMP error code 'genErr' except for 'tooManyWildcardValues'
     and 'resourceUnavailable' which return the SNMP error code
     'resourceUnavailable'."
    ::= { expErrorEntry 3 }

expErrorInstance OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OBJECT IDENTIFIER
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The expValueInstance being evaluated when the error
     occurred.  A zero-length indicates irrelevance."
    ::= { expErrorEntry 4 }

--
-- Object Table
--

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 28]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

expObjectTable OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      SEQUENCE OF ExpObjectEntry
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "A table of object definitions for each expExpression.

     Wildcarding instance IDs:

     It is legal to omit all or part of the instance portion for
     some or all of the objects in an expression. (See the
     DESCRIPTION of expObjectID for details.  However, note that
     if more than one object in the same expression is wildcarded
     in this way, they all must be objects where that portion of
     the instance is the same.  In other words, all objects may be
     in the same SEQUENCE or in different SEQUENCEs but with the
     same semantic index value (e.g., a value of ifIndex)
     for the wildcarded portion."
    ::= { expDefine 3 }

expObjectEntry OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      ExpObjectEntry
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "Information about an object.  An application uses
     expObjectEntryStatus to create entries in this table while
     in the process of defining an expression.

     Values of read-create objects in this table may be
     changed at any time."
    INDEX       { expExpressionOwner, expExpressionName, expObjectIndex }
    ::= { expObjectTable 1 }

ExpObjectEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
    expObjectIndex                     Unsigned32,
    expObjectID                        OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
    expObjectIDWildcard                TruthValue,
    expObjectSampleType                INTEGER,
    expObjectDeltaDiscontinuityID      OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
    expObjectDiscontinuityIDWildcard   TruthValue,
    expObjectDiscontinuityIDType       INTEGER,
    expObjectConditional               OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
    expObjectConditionalWildcard       TruthValue,
    expObjectEntryStatus               RowStatus

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 29]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

}

expObjectIndex OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Unsigned32 (1..4294967295)
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "Within an expression, a unique, numeric identification for an
     object.  Prefixed with a dollar sign ('$') this is used to
     reference the object in the corresponding expExpression."
    ::= { expObjectEntry 1 }

expObjectID OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OBJECT IDENTIFIER
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The OBJECT IDENTIFIER (OID) of this object.  The OID may be
     fully qualified, meaning it includes a complete instance
     identifier part (e.g., ifInOctets.1 or sysUpTime.0), or it
     may not be fully qualified, meaning it may lack all or part
     of the instance identifier.  If the expObjectID is not fully
     qualified, then expObjectWildcard must be set to true(1).
     The value of the expression will be multiple
     values, as if done for a GetNext sweep of the object.

     An object here may itself be the result of an expression but
     recursion is not allowed.

     NOTE:  The simplest implementations of this MIB may not allow
     wildcards."
    ::= { expObjectEntry 2 }

expObjectIDWildcard  OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      TruthValue
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
        "A true value indicates the expObjecID of this row is a wildcard
        object. False indicates that expObjectID is fully instanced.
        If all expObjectWildcard values for a given expression are FALSE,
        expExpressionPrefix will reflect a scalar object (ie will
        be 0.0).

        NOTE:  The simplest implementations of this MIB may not allow

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 30]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

        wildcards."
    DEFVAL      { false }
    ::= { expObjectEntry 3 }

expObjectSampleType OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      INTEGER { absoluteValue(1), deltaValue(2),
                          changedValue(3) }
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The method of sampling the selected variable.

     An 'absoluteValue' is simply the present value of the object.

     A 'deltaValue' is the present value minus the previous value,
     which was sampled expExpressionDeltaInterval seconds ago.
     This is intended primarily for use with SNMP counters, which are
     meaningless as an 'absoluteValue', but may be used with any
     integer-based value.

     A 'changedValue' is a boolean for whether the present value is
     different from the previous value.  It is applicable to any data
     type and results in an Unsigned32 with value 1 if the object's
     value is changed and 0 if not.  In all other respects it is as a
     'deltaValue' and all statements and operation regarding delta
     values apply to changed values.

     When an expression contains both delta and absolute values
     the absolute values are obtained at the end of the delta
     period."
    DEFVAL      { absoluteValue }
    ::= { expObjectEntry 4 }

sysUpTimeInstance OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { sysUpTime 0 }

expObjectDeltaDiscontinuityID OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OBJECT IDENTIFIER
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The OBJECT IDENTIFIER (OID) of a TimeTicks, TimeStamp, or
     DateAndTime object that indicates a discontinuity in the value
     at expObjectID.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 31]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     This object is instantiated only if expObjectSampleType is
     'deltaValue' or 'changedValue'.

     The OID may be for a leaf object (e.g. sysUpTime.0) or may
     be wildcarded to match expObjectID.

     This object supports normal checking for a discontinuity in a
     counter.  Note that if this object does not point to sysUpTime
     discontinuity checking must still check sysUpTime for an overall
     discontinuity.

     If the object identified is not accessible no discontinuity
     check will be made."
    DEFVAL      { sysUpTimeInstance }
    ::= { expObjectEntry 5 }

expObjectDiscontinuityIDWildcard OBJECT-TYPE
     SYNTAX      TruthValue
     MAX-ACCESS  read-create
     STATUS      current
     DESCRIPTION
     "A true value indicates the expObjectDeltaDiscontinuityID of
     this row is a wildcard object.  False indicates that
     expObjectDeltaDiscontinuityID is fully instanced.

     This object is instantiated only if expObjectSampleType is
     'deltaValue' or 'changedValue'.

     NOTE:  The simplest implementations of this MIB may not allow
     wildcards."
    DEFVAL      { false }
     ::= { expObjectEntry 6 }

expObjectDiscontinuityIDType OBJECT-TYPE
     SYNTAX      INTEGER { timeTicks(1), timeStamp(2), dateAndTime(3) }
     MAX-ACCESS  read-create
     STATUS      current
     DESCRIPTION
     "The value 'timeTicks' indicates the expObjectDeltaDiscontinuityID
     of this row is of syntax TimeTicks.  The value 'timeStamp' indicates
     syntax TimeStamp.  The value 'dateAndTime indicates syntax
     DateAndTime.

     This object is instantiated only if expObjectSampleType is
     'deltaValue' or 'changedValue'."

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 32]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    DEFVAL      { timeTicks }
     ::= { expObjectEntry 7 }

zeroDotZero OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { 0 0 }

expObjectConditional OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OBJECT IDENTIFIER
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The OBJECT IDENTIFIER (OID) of an object that overrides
     whether the instance of expObjectID is to be considered
     usable.  If the value of the object at expObjectConditional
     is 0 or not instantiated, the object at expObjectID is
     treated as if it is not instantiated.  In other words,
     expObjectConditional is a filter that controls whether or
     not to use the value at expObjectID.

     The OID may be for a leaf object (e.g. sysObjectID.0) or may be
     wildcarded to match expObjectID.  If expObject is wildcarded and
     expObjectID in the same row is not, the wild portion of
     expObjectConditional must match the wildcarding of the rest of
     the expression.  If no object in the expression is wildcarded
     but expObjectConditional is, use the lexically first instance
     (if any) of expObjectConditional.

     If the value of expObjectConditional is 0.0 operation is
     as if the value pointed to by expObjectConditional is a
     non-zero (true) value.

     Note that expObjectConditional can not trivially use an object
     of syntax TruthValue, since the underlying value is not 0 or 1."
    DEFVAL      { zeroDotZero }
    ::= { expObjectEntry 8 }

 expObjectConditionalWildcard  OBJECT-TYPE
     SYNTAX      TruthValue
     MAX-ACCESS  read-create
     STATUS      current
     DESCRIPTION

     "A true value indicates the expObjectConditional of this row is
     a wildcard object. False indicates that expObjectConditional is
     fully instanced.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 33]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     NOTE: The simplest implementations of this MIB may not allow
     wildcards."
    DEFVAL      { false }
     ::= { expObjectEntry 9 }

expObjectEntryStatus OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      RowStatus
    MAX-ACCESS  read-create
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The control that allows creation/deletion of entries.

     Objects in this table may be changed while
     expObjectEntryStatus is in any state."
    ::= { expObjectEntry 10 }

--
-- Expression Value Table
--

expValueTable OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      SEQUENCE OF ExpValueEntry
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "A table of values from evaluated expressions."
    ::= { expValue 1 }

expValueEntry OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      ExpValueEntry
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "A single value from an evaluated expression.  For a given
     instance, only one 'Val' object in the conceptual row will be
     instantiated, that is, the one with the appropriate type for
     the value.  For values that contain no objects of
     expObjectSampleType 'deltaValue' or 'changedValue', reading a
     value from the table causes the evaluation of the expression
     for that value.  For those that contain a 'deltaValue' or
     'changedValue' the value read is as of the last sampling
     interval.

     If in the attempt to evaluate the expression one or more
     of the necessary objects is not available, the corresponding

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 34]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     entry in this table is effectively not instantiated.

     To maintain security of MIB information, when creating a new
     row in this table, the managed system must record the security
     credentials of the requester.  These security credentials are
     the parameters necessary as inputs to isAccessAllowed from [RFC2571].
     When obtaining the objects that make up the expression, the
     system must (conceptually) use isAccessAllowed to ensure that
     it does not violate security.

     The evaluation of that expression takes place under the
     security credentials of the creator of its expExpressionEntry.

     To maintain security of MIB information, expression evaluation must
     take place using security credentials for the implied Gets of the
     objects in the expression as inputs (conceptually) to
     isAccessAllowed from the Architecture for Describing SNMP Management
     Frameworks.  These are the security credentials of the creator
     of the corresponding expExpressionEntry."
    INDEX       { expExpressionOwner, expExpressionName,
                  IMPLIED expValueInstance }
    ::= { expValueTable 1 }

ExpValueEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
    expValueInstance          OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
    expValueCounter32Val      Counter32,
    expValueUnsigned32Val     Unsigned32,
    expValueTimeTicksVal      TimeTicks,
    expValueInteger32Val      Integer32,
    expValueIpAddressVal      IpAddress,
    expValueOctetStringVal    OCTET STRING,
    expValueOidVal            OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
    expValueCounter64Val      Counter64
}

expValueInstance OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OBJECT IDENTIFIER
    MAX-ACCESS  not-accessible
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The final instance portion of a value's OID according to
     the wildcarding in instances of expObjectID for the
     expression.  The prefix of this OID fragment is 0.0,
     leading to the following behavior.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 35]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

     If there is no wildcarding, the value is 0.0.0.  In other
     words, there is one value which standing alone would have
     been a scalar with a 0 at the end of its OID.

     If there is wildcarding, the value is 0.0 followed by
     a value that the wildcard can take, thus defining one value
     instance for each real, possible value of the wildcard.
     So, for example, if the wildcard worked out to be an ifIndex,
     there is an expValueInstance for each applicable ifIndex."
    ::= { expValueEntry 1 }

expValueCounter32Val OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Counter32
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value when expExpressionValueType is 'counter32'."
    ::= { expValueEntry 2 }

expValueUnsigned32Val OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Unsigned32
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value when expExpressionValueType is 'unsigned32'."
    ::= { expValueEntry 3 }

expValueTimeTicksVal OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      TimeTicks
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value when expExpressionValueType is 'timeTicks'."
    ::= { expValueEntry 4 }

expValueInteger32Val OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Integer32
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value when expExpressionValueType is 'integer32'."
    ::= { expValueEntry 5 }

expValueIpAddressVal OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      IpAddress

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 36]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value when expExpressionValueType is 'ipAddress'."
    ::= { expValueEntry 6 }

expValueOctetStringVal OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OCTET STRING (SIZE (0..65536))
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value when expExpressionValueType is 'octetString'."
    ::= { expValueEntry 7 }

expValueOidVal OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      OBJECT IDENTIFIER
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value when expExpressionValueType is 'objectId'."
    ::= { expValueEntry 8 }

expValueCounter64Val OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Counter64
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
     "The value when expExpressionValueType is 'counter64'."
    ::= { expValueEntry 9 }

--
-- Conformance
--

dismanExpressionMIBConformance OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { dismanExpressionMIB 3 }
dismanExpressionMIBCompliances OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::=
    { dismanExpressionMIBConformance 1 }
dismanExpressionMIBGroups      OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::=
    { dismanExpressionMIBConformance 2 }

-- Compliance

dismanExpressionMIBCompliance MODULE-COMPLIANCE
     STATUS current
     DESCRIPTION

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 37]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

          "The compliance statement for entities which implement
          the Expression MIB."
     MODULE    -- this module
          MANDATORY-GROUPS {
               dismanExpressionResourceGroup,
               dismanExpressionDefinitionGroup,
               dismanExpressionValueGroup
          }

     OBJECT         expResourceDeltaMinimum
     SYNTAX         Integer32 (-1 | 60..600)
     DESCRIPTION
          "Implementation need not allow deltas or it may
          implement them and restrict them to higher values."

     OBJECT         expObjectSampleType
     WRITE-SYNTAX   INTEGER { absoluteValue(1) }
     DESCRIPTION
          "Implementation may disallow deltas calculation or
          change detection."

     OBJECT         expObjectIDWildcard
     WRITE-SYNTAX   INTEGER { false(2) }
     DESCRIPTION
          "Implementation may allow wildcards."

     OBJECT         expObjectDiscontinuityIDWildcard
     WRITE-SYNTAX   INTEGER { false(2) }
     DESCRIPTION
          "Implementation need not allow wildcards."

     OBJECT          expObjectConditionalWildcard
     WRITE-SYNTAX   INTEGER { false(2) }
     DESCRIPTION
          "Implementation need not allow deltas wildcards."

     ::= { dismanExpressionMIBCompliances 1 }

-- Units of Conformance

dismanExpressionResourceGroup OBJECT-GROUP
     OBJECTS {
          expResourceDeltaMinimum,
          expResourceDeltaWildcardInstanceMaximum,
          expResourceDeltaWildcardInstances,

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 38]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

          expResourceDeltaWildcardInstancesHigh,
          expResourceDeltaWildcardInstanceResourceLacks
     }
     STATUS current
     DESCRIPTION
          "Expression definition resource management."
     ::= { dismanExpressionMIBGroups 1 }

dismanExpressionDefinitionGroup OBJECT-GROUP
     OBJECTS {
          expExpression,
          expExpressionValueType,
          expExpressionComment,
          expExpressionDeltaInterval,
          expExpressionPrefix,
          expExpressionErrors,
          expExpressionEntryStatus,

          expErrorTime,
          expErrorIndex,
          expErrorCode,
          expErrorInstance,

          expObjectID,
          expObjectIDWildcard,
          expObjectSampleType,
          expObjectDeltaDiscontinuityID,
          expObjectDiscontinuityIDWildcard,
          expObjectDiscontinuityIDType,
          expObjectConditional,
          expObjectConditionalWildcard,
          expObjectEntryStatus
     }
     STATUS current
     DESCRIPTION
          "Expression definition."
     ::= { dismanExpressionMIBGroups 2 }

dismanExpressionValueGroup OBJECT-GROUP
     OBJECTS {
          expValueCounter32Val,
          expValueUnsigned32Val,
          expValueTimeTicksVal,
          expValueInteger32Val,
          expValueIpAddressVal,

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 39]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

          expValueOctetStringVal,
          expValueOidVal,
          expValueCounter64Val
     }
     STATUS current
     DESCRIPTION
          "Expression value."
     ::= { dismanExpressionMIBGroups 3 }

END

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 40]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

5.  Intellectual Property

The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain
to the implementation or use of the technology described in this
document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or
might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any
effort to identify any such rights.  Information on the IETF's
procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and standards-
related documentation can be found in BCP-11.  Copies of claims of
rights made available for publication and any assurances of licenses to
be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general
license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by
implementors or users of this specification can be obtained from the
IETF Secretariat.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 41]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

6.  Acknowledgements

This MIB contains considerable contributions from the Distributed
Management Design Team (Andy Bierman, Maria Greene, Bob Stewart, and
Steve Waldbusser), and colleagues at Cisco who did the first
implemenation.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 42]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

7.  References

[RFC2571]   Harrington, D., Presuhn, R., and B. Wijnen, "An Architecture
            for Describing SNMP Management Frameworks", RFC 2571, April
            1999

[RFC1155]   Rose, M., and K. McCloghrie, "Structure and Identification
            of Management Information for TCP/IP-based Internets", STD
            16, RFC 1155, May 1990

[RFC1212]   Rose, M., and K. McCloghrie, "Concise MIB Definitions", STD
            16, RFC 1212, March 1991

[RFC1215]   M. Rose, "A Convention for Defining Traps for use with the
            SNMP", RFC 1215, March 1991

[RFC2578]   McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., Schoenwaelder, J., Case, J.,
            Rose, M., and S. Waldbusser, "Structure of Management
            Information Version 2 (SMIv2)", STD 58, RFC 2578, April 1999

[RFC2579]   McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., Schoenwaelder, J., Case, J.,
            Rose, M., and S. Waldbusser, "Textual Conventions for
            SMIv2", STD 58, RFC 2579, April 1999

[RFC2580]   McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., Schoenwaelder, J., Case, J.,
            Rose, M., and S. Waldbusser, "Conformance Statements for
            SMIv2", STD 58, RFC 2580, April 1999

[RFC1157]   Case, J., Fedor, M., Schoffstall, M., and J. Davin, "Simple
            Network Management Protocol", STD 15, RFC 1157, May 1990.

[RFC1901]   Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M., and S. Waldbusser,
            "Introduction to Community-based SNMPv2", RFC 1901, January
            1996.

[RFC1906]   Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M., and S. Waldbusser,
            "Transport Mappings for Version 2 of the Simple Network
            Management Protocol (SNMPv2)", RFC 1906, January 1996.

[RFC2572]   Case, J., Harrington D., Presuhn R., and B. Wijnen, "Message
            Processing and Dispatching for the Simple Network Management
            Protocol (SNMP)", RFC 2572, April 1999

[RFC2574]   Blumenthal, U., and B. Wijnen, "User-based Security Model
            (USM) for version 3 of the Simple Network Management

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 43]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

            Protocol (SNMPv3)", RFC 2574, April 1999

[RFC1905]   Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M., and S. Waldbusser,
            "Protocol Operations for Version 2 of the Simple Network
            Management Protocol (SNMPv2)", RFC 1905, January 1996.

[RFC2573]   Levi, D., Meyer, P., and B. Stewart, "SNMPv3 Applications",
            RFC 2573, April 1999

[RFC2575]   Wijnen, B., Presuhn, R., and K. McCloghrie, "View-based
            Access Control Model (VACM) for the Simple Network
            Management Protocol (SNMP)", RFC 2575, April 1999

[RFC2570]   Case, J., Mundy, R., Partain, D., and B. Stewart,
            "Introduction to Version 3 of the Internet-standard Network
            Management Framework", RFC 2570, April 1999

[RFC1903]   Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M. and S. Waldbusser,
            "Coexistence between Version 1 and version 2 of the
            Internet-standard Network Management Framework", RFC 1903,
            January 1996.

[RFCEventMIB]
     Stewart, B., "Event MIB", RFC ????, ?Month? 1999.

[PracPersp]
     Leinwand, A. and K. Fang, "Network Management: A Practical
     Perspective", Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1993.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 44]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

8.  Security Considerations

Expression MIB security involves two perspectives:  protection of
expressions from tampering or unauthorized use of resources, and
protection of the objects used to calculate the expressions.

Security of expression definitions and results depends on the expression
owner (expExpressionOwner).  With view-based access control [RFC2575] a
network manager can control who has what level of access to what
expressions.

Access control for the objects within the expression depends on the
security credentials of the expression creator.  These are the security
credentials used to get the objects necessary to evaluate the
expression.  They are the security credentials that were used to set the
expExpressionRowStatus object for that expression to 'active', as
recorded by the managed system.

This means that the results of an expression could potentially be made
available to someone who does not have access to the raw data that went
into them.  This could be either legitimate or a security violation,
depending on the specific situation and security policy.

To facilitate the provisioning of access control by a security
administrator for this MIB itself using the View-Based Access Control
Model (VACM) defined in RFC 2575 [RFC2575] for tables in which multiple
users may need to independently create or modify entries, the initial
index is used as an "owner index". Such an initial index has a syntax of
SnmpAdminString, and can thus be trivially mapped to a securityName or
groupName as defined in VACM, in accordance with a security policy.

All entries in related tables belonging to a particular user will have
the same value for this initial index.  For a given user's entries in a
particular table, the object identifiers for the information in these
entries will have the same subidentifiers (except for the "column"
subidentifier) up to the end of the encoded owner index. To configure
VACM to permit access to this portion of the table, one would create
vacmViewTreeFamilyTable entries with the value of
vacmViewTreeFamilySubtree including the owner index portion, and
vacmViewTreeFamilyMask "wildcarding" the column subidentifier.  More
elaborate configurations are possible.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 45]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

9.  Author's Address

     Bob Stewart
     Cisco Systems, Inc.
     170 West Tasman Drive
     San Jose, CA 95134-1706
     U.S.A.

10.  Editor's Address

     Ramanathan Kavasseri
     Cisco Systems, Inc.
     170 West Tasman Drive
     San Jose, CA 95134-1706
     U.S.A.

     Phone: +1 408 527 2446
     Email: [email-masked]

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 46]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

11.  Full Copyright Statement

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.

This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or
assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and
distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind,
provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included
on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this document itself
may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice
or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations,
except as needed for the  purpose of developing Internet standards in
which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet
Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into
languages other than English.

The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS
IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK
FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT
INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 47]


Internet Draft    Distributed Management Expression MIB  22 October 1999

Table of Contents

1 Abstract ........................................................    2
2 The SNMP Management Framework ...................................    2
3 Overview ........................................................    4
3.1 Usage .........................................................    4
3.2 Persistance ...................................................    5
3.3 Operation .....................................................    5
3.3.1 Sampling ....................................................    5
3.3.2 Wildcards ...................................................    6
3.3.3 Evaluation ..................................................    6
3.3.4 Value Identification ........................................    7
3.4 Subsets .......................................................    7
3.4.1 No Wildcards ................................................    7
3.4.2 No Deltas ...................................................    8
3.5 Structure .....................................................    8
3.5.1 Resource ....................................................    8
3.5.2 Definition ..................................................    8
3.5.3 Value .......................................................    9
3.6 Examples ......................................................    9
3.6.1 Wildcarding .................................................    9
3.6.2 Calculation and Conditional .................................   11
4 Definitions .....................................................   14
5 Intellectual Property ...........................................   41
6 Acknowledgements ................................................   42
7 References ......................................................   43
8 Security Considerations .........................................   45
9 Author's Address ................................................   46
10 Editor's Address ...............................................   46
11 Full Copyright Statement .......................................   47

Expires 22 April 1999                                          [Page 48]

---

From: Randy Presuhn <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 08:55:43 -0700 (PDT)

Hi -

> From: Ram Kavasseri <[email-masked]>
> Subject: New version of the expression MIB
> To: [email-masked]
> Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 22:28:45 -0700 (PDT)
...
...

The exact RFC number and publication date will be filled in by the
RFC editor during the publication process.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Randy Presuhn           [email-masked]     http://www.bmc.com/
 Voice: +1 408 616-3100  BMC Software, Inc.           965 Stewart Drive
 Fax:   +1 408 616-3101  Sunnyvale, California 94086  USA
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Any relationship between my opinions and BMC's is probably coincidental.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------