2.4.11 Remote Network Monitoring (rmonmib)

Last Modified: 2003-05-12

Chair(s):
Andy Bierman <abierman@cisco.com>
Operations and Management Area Director(s):
Randy Bush <randy@psg.com>
Bert Wijnen <bwijnen@lucent.com>
Operations and Management Area Advisor:
Bert Wijnen <bwijnen@lucent.com>
Technical Advisor(s):
Steven Waldbusser <waldbusser@nextbeacon.com>
Matthew Zekauskas <matt@internet2.edu>
Mailing Lists:
General Discussion: rmonmib@ietf.org
To Subscribe: http://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/rmonmib
Archive: www.ietf.org/mail-archive/working-groups/rmonmib/current/maillist.html
Description of Working Group:
Steve Waldbusser is TA for SNMP/MIB related matters
  Matt Zekauskas is TA for Transport Retaled matters



The RMON MIB Working Group is chartered to define a set of managed
objects for remote monitoring of networks. These objects will be the
minimum necessary to provide the ability to monitor multiple network
layers of traffic in remote networks; providing fault, configuration,
and performance management, and will be consistent with the SNMP
framework and existing SNMP standards.

The following list of features for this RMON has been previously
discussed in relation to existing RMON functionality and is included
to focus these RMON activities. It is recognized that other issues
may be considered and that certain of the following issues may not
be part of the final specification(s):

  1. Application Performance Measurement

    Monitoring support for the measurement and characterization
    of network application protocols, striving to measure an
    application user's experience as closely as possible.
    The RMON-2 MIB (RFC 2021) contains a protocol directory
    that will be used to identify applications for monitoring
    purposes.

    While it is important to measure the performance of computing
    and network resources, these measurements don't give an insight
    to the actual service delivered to end-users. This end-user
    experience is best measured by the response-time and availability
    of application transactions because users interact directly
    with applications. This working group will create extensions
    to the RMON-2 MIB that will allow Application Performance
    Measurements to be retrieved with SNMP, no matter which
    technology is used to perform the measurements.

    The goal of the working group is to provide a common framework
    and set of MIB objects, within the current RMON framework,
    for the identification and characterization of application
    responsiveness and availability, and the reporting of
    test results produced by such mechanisms.  Common metrics and
    derived metrics will be characterized and reported in a manner
    consistent with the IP Performance Metrics Framework (RFC 2330).

    It is an explicit non-goal of the working group to select
    one or more mechanisms as the preferred or standard RMON
    application performance measurement mechanism. However, it is
    possible that one or more standard mechanisms will be
    developed in the future, after significant implementation
    experience has been gained by the working group.

  2. Differentiated Services Statistics Collection

    Monitoring support for Differentiated Services (DS) statistics
    collection, for the purpose of DS codepoint usage analysis
    and possibly other statistics related to DS deployment and
    performance tuning.

  3. Interface TopN Reporting

    It is often too slow or difficult to determine the
    busiest ports in devices such as high port-density switches,
    using existing RMON mechanisms.
    New monitoring support is needed for quickly determining
    the most congested (highest utilized) physical ports and
    links in an RMON-capable device with multiple interfaces.

  4. TR-RMON MIB Advancement

    The Token Ring RMON MIB (RFC 1513) is ready for standards
    track advancement. An interoperability and deployment survey
    has already been completed, but the MIB must be updated in
    SMIv2 format before it can be advanced on the standards track.


  5. Transport Performance Measurement

    There is a need for standardized means to collect and report
    selectable performance metrics and statistics derived from
    the monitoring of network packets and transport protocol states.
    The monitoring covers both passive and active traffic generation
    sources. Monitoring support for the these measurements can
    provide a drill-down capability to provide insight into the
    performance of the lower-level transactions which comprise the
    overall performance of a network application.

    The goal of the working group is to provide a common framework
    and set of MIB objects, within the current RMON framework,
    for the identification and characterization of transaction-level
    performance, and the reporting of test results produced by such
    mechanisms. Common metrics and derived statistics will be
    characterized and reported in a manner consistent with the
    IP Performance Metrics Framework (RFC 2330).

  6. SMON MIB Advancement

    The SMON MIB (RFC 2613) is ready for standards
    track advancement. An interoperability and deployment survey
    will be completed, and submitted to the IESG.
    It is possible that minor enhancements and corrections to
    RFC 2613 will be made, based on the survey findings and
    working group input.

  7. RMON-2 MIB Advancement

    The RMON-2 MIB (RFC 2021) is ready for standards
    track advancement. An interoperability and deployment survey
    will be completed, and submitted to the IESG.
    It is possible that minor enhancements and corrections to
    RFC 2021 will be made, based on the survey findings and
    working group input.

  8. RMON PI Reference Advancement

    The RMON Protocol Identifiers Reference (RFC 2895) is ready
    for standards track advancement. An interoperability and
    deployment survey will be completed, and submitted to the
    IESG. It is possible that minor enhancements and corrections
    to RFC 2895 will be made, based on the survey findings and
    working group input.

  9. Synthetic Sources for Performance Monitoring

    Mechanisms are needed for the remote control of synthetic
    packet sources and destinations, for the purpose of
    enhancing remote performance monitoring capabilities within
    IP networks and services. These mechanisms must utilize
    the RMON protocol directory for protocol encapsulation
    identification. Any interactions with the
    RMON Framework or dependencies on specific RMON MIB objects
    (if any) will be specified as well.

  10. RMON Framework

    Documentation is needed which clarifies the remote network
    monitoring framework, and describes the inter-relationships and
    dependencies between the various RMON MIB modules. A conceptual
    model is needed to help administrators and developers better
    understand data sources, the protocol directory, and the existing
    RMON statistical collections. Undocumented 'RMON folklore', as
well
    as the limitations and appropriate application of various
    implementation techniques will also be addressed.

  11. Real-time Application QoS Monitoring MIB

    There is a need to extend the RMON framework to monitor end
devices
    such as IP Phones, pagers, Instant Message Clients, Cell Phones,
    and PDA devices. An end-to-end user experience of the quality of
    service (QoS) and performance for such an application is a
    combination of device performance and transport network
    performance. Monitoring should be performed at the application
    layer that reflects a specific end user experience on a particular
    IP end point, reflecting specific transport network performance

There is a need to extend the RMON framework to monitor end devices
such as IP Phones, pagers, Instant Message Clients, Cell Phones,
and PDA devices. An end-to-end user experience of the quality of
service (QoS) and performance for such an application is a combination
of device performance and transport network performance. Monitoring
should be performed at the application layer that reflects a specific
end user experience on a particular IP end point, reflecting specific
transport network performance.

This working group will extend the RMON Framework to allow Real-time
Application QoS information of these types of end devices to be
retrieved with SNMP, independent of the technology used to
perform the measurements.

The WG will define a common framework and set of MIB objects,
within the current RMON framework, for the identification and
characterization of application QoS parameters, and the reporting
of the on-going measurement reports produced by these mechanisms.
Common metrics and derived metrics will be characterized and reported
in a manner consistent with the IP Performance Metrics Framework
(RFC 2330).

The WG will also define a set of RAQMON Application level QoS PDUs
to have common formats of reporting statistics between a RAQMON
Data Source and a RAQMON Report Collector. These Common
RAQMON PDUs will be transported over existing protocols, such as
RTCP or SNMP.

The measurement methodology is out of the scope of the RAQMON work
and will be in conformance with the IPPM WG recommendations, and
also may take into account considerations from application-specific
(IM and telephony) WGs as needed. This WG will consider the
cases for transport of RAQMON PDUs, including how RTCP might be
used and still meet security/privacy goals.

Security aspects related to RAQMON reports will be cognizant of
privacy and anonymity issues while being responsive to the needs
of measurement applications.
Goals and Milestones:
Done  Activation of working group, call for suggested MIB modules.
Done  Reach agreement on the functional scope of the charter, and finalize the document deliverables.
Done  Submit initial Internet-Draft for Differentiated Services Monitoring
Done  Submit initial Internet-Draft for Interface TopN Reporting
Done  Submit initial Internet-Draft for TR-RMON MIB in SMIv2 Format
Done  Begin Working Group Last Call for TR-RMON MIB in SMIv2 Format
Done  Submit initial Internet-Draft for Application Performance Metrics
Done  Begin Working Group Last Call for Differentiated Services Monitoring
Done  Begin Working Group Last Call for Interface TopN Reporting
Done  Submit Final Draft of Differentiated Services Monitoring to IESG for standards track action
Done  Begin Working Group Last Call for Application Performance Metrics
Done  Submit Final Draft of Application Performance Metrics to IESG for standards track action
Done  Submit Final Draft of Interface TopN Reporting to IESG for standards track action
Done  Call for MIB Modules for Synthetic Sources for Performance Monitoring
Done  Call for RMON-2 Implementation reports
Done  Call for RMON-PI Implementation reports
Done  Submit initial Internet-Draft for Synthetic Sources for Performance Monitoring
Done  Submit initial Internet-Draft for the RMON Framework
Done  Submit Final Draft of TR-RMON MIB in SMIv2 Format
Done  Complete RMON-PI Implementation Report
Done  Begin WG Last Call for Transport Performance Measurement
Done  Begin WG Last Call for Synthetic Sources for Performance Monitoring
Done  Submit Final RMON-2 Implementation Report to IESG
Done  Submit Final SMON Implementation Report to IESG
Done  Complete RMON-2 Implementation Report
Done  Submit Final RMON-PI Implementation Report to IESG
Done  Complete SMON Implementation Report
Done  Begin WG Last Call for RMON Framework
Done  Publish initial Internet-Draft for the Extensions to RMON Framework for RAQMON
Done  Publish initial Internet-Draft for the RAQMON PDU Types
Done  Submit Final Draft of Transport Performance Measurement to IESG for standards track action
Done  Submit Final Draft of Synthetic Sources for Performance Monitoring to IESG for standards track action
Done  Publish initial Internet-Draft for the RAQMON MIB
Done  Submit Final Draft of RMON Framework to IESG for standards track action
Apr 03  Begin Working Group Last Call for the Extensions to RMON Framework for RAQMON document
May 03  Begin Working Group Last Call for the RAQMON PDU Types document
May 03  Begin Working Group Last Call for the RAQMON MIB document
Jul 03  Submit the Extensions to RMON Framework for RAQMON document to the IESG for publication consideration as an Informational RFC
Aug 03  Submit the RAQMON PDU Types document to the IESG for publication consideration as a Proposed Standard
Aug 03  Submit the RAQMON MIB document to the IESG for publication consideration as a Proposed Standard
Internet-Drafts:
  • - draft-ietf-rmonmib-apm-mib-10.txt
  • - draft-ietf-rmonmib-tpm-mib-09.txt
  • - draft-ietf-rmonmib-sspm-mib-07.txt
  • - draft-ietf-rmonmib-raqmon-mib-01.txt
  • - draft-ietf-rmonmib-raqmon-framework-02.txt
  • - draft-ietf-rmonmib-raqmon-pdu-02.txt
    • Request For Comments:
    Remote Network Monitoring Management Information Base (RFC 1271) (184111 bytes) obsoleted by RFC 1757
    Remote Network Monitoring Management Information Base (RFC 1757) (208117 bytes) obsoleted by RFC 2819
    Remote Network Monitoring Management Information Base Version 2 using SMIv2 (RFC 2021) (262223 bytes)
    Remote Network Monitoring MIB Protocol Identifiers (RFC 2074) (81262 bytes) obsoleted by RFC 2895
    Remote Network Monitoring MIB Extensions for Switch Networks Version 1.0 (RFC 2613) (88701 bytes)
    Remote Network Monitoring Management Information Base (RFC 2819) (198676 bytes)
    Remote Network Monitoring MIB Protocol Identifier Reference (RFC 2895) (88094 bytes)
    Remote Network Monitoring MIB Protocol Identifier Macros (RFC 2896) (135768 bytes)
    Remote Monitoring MIB Extensions for Interface Parameters Monitoring (RFC 3144) (62491 bytes)
    Remote Monitoring MIB Extensions for Differentiated Services (RFC 3287) (249622 bytes)
    Remote Network Monitoring Management Information Base for High Capacity Networks (RFC 3273) (150924 bytes)
    Remote Network Monitoring MIB Protocol Identifier Reference Extensions (RFC 3395) (43862 bytes)
    Remote Monitoring MIB Extensions for High Capacity Alarms (RFC 3434) (51072 bytes)
    Introduction to the Remote Monitoring (RMON) Family of MIB Modules (RFC 3577) (68551 bytes)

    Current Meeting Report

     
    
OPS Area
RMONMIB WG Meeting Minutes
IETF #57
July 14, 2003
Minutes by Andy Bierman

Review Material
---------------

(A) 
draft-ietf-rmonmib-raqmon-framework-02.txt
(B) draft-ietf-rmonmib-raqmon-pdu-02.txt
(C) draft-ietf-rmonmib-raqmon-mib-01.txt
(D) 
draft-stephan-ipv6-protocol-identifier-00.txt
(E) draft-ietf-rmonmib-apm-mib-09.txt
(F) draft-ietf-rmonmib-tpm-mib-09.txt
(G) draft-ietf-rmonmib-sspm-mib-07.txt

Agenda
------

  1) WG Status
  2) Fixing the TimeFilter TC and updating RFC 2021
  3) Real-time Application Quality of Service Monitoring
  4) Protocol Identifiers for IPv6

Minutes
-------

1) Working Group Status

The following work items have been completed, but not yet published as 
RFCs. Some need more work before they can be published.

a) Advancement of RFC 2895 (RMON PI)

This RFC was approved as a Draft Standard in June 2003. It is not yet 
listed on the RFC Editor's pages as a Draft Standard.

b) Advancement of RFC 2613 (SMON)

The WG is currently waiting for IESG action for advancement to Draft 
Standard.  This action is on hold because RFC 2613 has a normative 
reference to RFC 2021 (RMON-2).  It cannot advance until RMON-2 
advances to Draft Standard.

c) APM-MIB

The AD review was completed in December 2002.  An update 
<draft-ietf-rmonmib-apm-mib-10.txt> should be published soon.  This 
version should be ready for IETF Last Call.

d) TPM-MIB

The AD review was completed in February 2003.  An update 
<draft-ietf-rmonmib-tpm-mib-09.txt> was published in June 2003.  This 
draft needs to be checked for any needed corrections.  It should be ready 
for IETF Last Call.

e) SSPM-MIB

The AD review was completed in February 2003.  An update 
<draft-ietf-rmonmib-sspm-mib-07.txt> was published in June 2003.  This 
draft needs to be checked for any needed corrections.  It should be ready 
for IETF Last Call.

f) Introduction to RMON Family of MIBs

This RFC was approved as an Informational RFC in June 2003. It should be 
published soon as RFC 3577.

g) Advancement of RFC 2021 (RMON-2)

The WG has decided to attempt to advance RFC 2021 to Draft Standard.  An 
update to this RFC is expected soon to make the following changes:

   The following MIB objects will be deprecated:

        probeDownloadFile
        probeDownloadTFTPServer
        probeDownloadAction
        probeDownloadStatus
        serialMode
        serialProtocol
        serialTimeout
        serialModemInitString
        serialModemHangUpString
        serialModemConnectResp
        serialModemNoConnectResp
        serialDialoutTimeout
        serialStatus
        serialConnectDestIpAddress
        serialConnectType
        serialConnectDialString
        serialConnectSwitchConnectSeq
        serialConnectSwitchDisconnectSeq
        serialConnectSwitchResetSeq
        serialConnectOwner
        serialConnectStatus
        netConfigIPAddress
        netConfigSubnetMask
        netConfigStatus
        netDefaultGateway
        tokenRingMLStatsDroppedFrames
        tokenRingMLStatsCreateTime
        tokenRingPStatsDroppedFrames
        tokenRingPStatsCreateTime
        ringStationControlDroppedFrames
        ringStationControlCreateTime
        sourceRoutingStatsDroppedFrames
        sourceRoutingStatsCreateTime

 A new MODULE-COMPLIANCE and appropriate GROUP macros will be added which 
removes the newly deprecated objects.

 The boilerplate and references will be updated to be aligned with the 
current template.

 The nlMatrixTopNControlRateBase and 
nlMatrixTopNControlRateBase objects will be updated to int grate the 
changes described in  section 3 of the HC-RMON MIB (RFC 3273). The 
conformance section of the RMON2-MIB module will e updated to indicate that 
the addition high capacity enumerations are not required for 
compliance to the RMON2-MIB.


2) Fixing the TimeFilter TC

The working group decided that a new MIB object to identify the 
TimeFilter mode implemented by an agent is not needed.  An 
application uses the exact same algorithm to process TimeFilter index 
information whether the agent returns all possible instances of the 
TimeFilter value or if it suppresses redundant instances.  Since it is 
possible that multiple tables using a TimeFilter can be supported by a 
single agent, a simple scalar TimeFilter mode object is not 
sufficient anyway.

3) Real-time Application Quality of Service Monitoring

The RAQMON Framework (A), RAQMON PDU (B), and RAQMON MIB (C) documents were 
discussed together.  A presentation on these drafts was given, 
explaining the changes from the last versions,  and open issues with each 
draft.  Refer to the slides for details on this presentation.

One issue discussed was whether RAQMON overlaps too much with RTCP.  It was 
argued that RAQMON has distinct functionality because we don't want to 
sniff packets, but rather collect metrics from the endpoint.  The 
packets could be encrypted, preventing statistics collection. Also we want a 
snapshot of the metrics at the time of failure from the endpoint.

The following changes to the RAQMON documents were discussed:
   - use Enterprise ID and report ID to identify section
   - enterprise ID should be 32 bits instead of 16
   - IP addresses will be binary instead of ASCII
   - RMON not RAQMON in the name field in the RTCP APP packet
   - RAQMON RDS MIB is used to define the objects for the 
notification -- do not have jitter in the mandatory list; look at list and 
figure out which should be there every time for every application
   - use of Inform you need to process ACK; you must be 
congestion-aware or congestion-safe;
   - perhaps this requirement could be met by sending 1 report every 2 
minutes, but this may not be safe because congestion could occur at the 
receiver aggregation point
   - change draft to say RDS MUST meet RFC 2914 requirements somehow.
   - MIB changes:
      - use InetAddress instead of IpAddress
      - use MAX-ACCESS read-create instead of read-write in the 
exception table
      - use reference clauses instead of cut-and-paste; have normative text 
in just one place

New versions of the the RAQMON documents are expected within five weeks of 
the IETF meeting.

4) Protocol Identifier Macros for IPv6

Emile Stephan presented some slides outlining the need for an 
extension to RFC 2895 to support new encapsulation layers. New 
encapsulations should include:
   - IPv6 (IPv6, IPv6 in IPv4, IPv4 in IPv6)
Refer to the slides for more details on this presentation.

The working group decided to work on this update to RFC 2895, if an 
author could be found (Emile agreed to author this document) and if the 
additions are limited to a very short list, related only to IPv6 
encapsulations. This work will be proposed as an extension the RMON 
Protocol Identifiers portion of the working group charter.

    Slides

    RMONMIB WG
    Realtime Application QOS Monitoring (RAQMON)
    draft-stephan-ipv6-protocol-identifier-00.txt