2.4.6 Entity MIB (entmib)

NOTE: This charter is a snapshot of the 60th IETF Meeting in San Diego, CA USA. It may now be out-of-date.

Last Modified: 2004-07-22

Chair(s):
Margaret Wasserman <margaret@thingmagic.com>
Operations and Management Area Director(s):
Bert Wijnen <bwijnen@lucent.com>
David Kessens <david.kessens@nokia.com>
Operations and Management Area Advisor:
Bert Wijnen <bwijnen@lucent.com>
Mailing Lists:
General Discussion: entmib@ietf.org
To Subscribe: http://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/entmib
Archive: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/entmib/index.html
Description of Working Group:
This working group is chartered to standardize a set of managed objects representing logical and physical entities and the relationships between them. Logical entities can occur when a single agent supports multiple instances of one MIB, such as RFCs 1493, 1525, or 1850 where each instance represents a single (logical) device/entity. Physical entities are the actual physical components on which the logical entities operate; typically, the physical components exist in a hierarchy.

The set of objects will be consistent with the SNMP framework and existing SNMP standards.

The scope of the defined managed objects should allow an NMS to interrogate a standard SNMP context and thereby discover what logical and physical entities exist, how to access the MIB information of each logical entity, and the relationships between the various entities. The MIB should support both a single agent or multiple agents in one physical entity.

The WG will also standardize a set of managed objects representing sensor entities. Sensor entities are physical entities that report a value based on external conditions, such as temperature sensors, power monitors, etc. The Sensor Entity MIB will augment the basic Entity MIB to allow an NMS to obtain the value reported by a sensor. This MIB will not contain internal support for alarms or thresholds, but should work with standard alarm and threshold MIBs, such as RMON-2.

Goals and Milestones:
Done  Post Internet-Draft for Entity MIB.
Done  Post updated Entity MIB Internet-Draft.
Done  Submit final version of Internet-Draft for consideration as a Proposed Standard.
Done  Finalize scope of changes/augmentations to RFC 2037
Done  Post updated/new Internet Drafts
Done  Reach agreement on changes/extensions to RFC 2037
Done  Evaluate status of RFC 2037 and report to the IESG if it should be recycled at Proposed or can be elevated to Draft Standard.
Done  Submit Internet Draft containing Entity MIB Extensions to IESG for consideration as a Proposed Standard.
Done  Evaluate status of Entity MIB and collect implementation and interoperability reports
Done  Recommend to the IESG if Entity MIB can be elevated to Draft Standard.
Done  Post Internet-Draft for Sensor Entity MIB
Done  Determine if the Entity MIB should be modified to resolve any open issues
Done  Submit final version of Internet-Draft for Sensor Entity MIB for consideration as a Proposed Standard
Done  Re-cycle the updated Entity MIB at proposed standard, if necessary
Done  Submit final version of Internet-Draft for Sensor Entity MIB for consideration as a Proposed Standard
Done  Post Internet-Draft for Sensor Entity MIB
Done  Determine if the Entity MIB should be modified to resolve any open issues
Done  Publish state/status extensions as a WG I-D
Done  Evaluate status of the Entity MIB and collect implementation and interoperability reports
Done  Evaluate status of the Entity MIB and collect implementation and interoperability reports
Done  Recommend to the IESG if the Entity MIB can be elevated to Draft Standard.
Feb 04  Submit the Entity MIB to the IESG for Draft Standard
Mar 04  Submit Entity State MIB to the IESG for Proposed Standard
Jun 04  Re-charter or shut-down the WG
Internet-Drafts:
  • - draft-ietf-entmib-state-04.txt
  • Request For Comments:
    RFCStatusTitle
    RFC2037 PS Entity MIB
    RFC2737 PS Entity MIB (Version 2)
    RFC3433 PS Entity Sensor Management Information Base

    Current Meeting Report

    Entity MIB (entmib) WG Minutes
    IETF 60, San Diego, CA
    ==============================


    CHAIR:


    Margaret Wasserman <margaret@thingmagic.com>


    AGENDA:


    - Introduction and Agenda Bashing (5 min)


    - Status of the Entity MIB (5 min)


    - Wrapping up the Entity State MIB -- Sharon Chisholm (15 min)
    http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-entmib-state-04.txt
    GOALS: Close all open issues and ship it!


    - Definitions of Supplemental Entity Managed Objects -- Kaj Tesink (20 min)
    http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-tesink-entity-supplmib-00.txt
    GOALS: Technical review & decision about how/if to move forward


    - Future of the WG -- Margaret Wasserman (15 min)
    GOALS: Determine whether a WG recharter is needed


    - Wrap-up & Action Items (5 min)


    SUMMARY OF CONSENSUS ITEMS
    ==========================


    Consensus was reached in the room on the following items. These need to be confirmed on the mailing list.


    We will request that the Entity MIB document be removed from the IESG queue. We will undo the deprecation of the entAliasMapping identifer and resubmit the updated Entity MIB to the IESG for publication at PS.


    Sharon will update the Entity State MIB to correct the few minor issues discussed below, we will do a brief review on the list and submit the Entity State MIB for publication at PS.


    The WG recommends that the Supplemental Objects MIB module (formerly the TCIF MIB) should be handled as an AD sponsored individual submission.


    The expectation is that the Entity MIB WG will shut down as soon the Entity State MIB and the updated version of the Entity MIB have been approved by the IESG for publication at PS.


    STATUS OF THE ENTITY MIB
    ========================


    The MIB is currently in IETF Last Call, ends Friday.


    Margaret needs to consolidate the implementation report and get it all onto the IETF web site, probably by moving it to a single web page.


    Sharon Chisholm has raised a Last Call issue regarding deprecation of the entAliasMapping Identifier.


    <See Sharon's presentation for more information.>


    Ran Atkinson suggested that we might be on the brink of having a second implementation of this table and that it would be a shame to deprecate this object if that is the case.


    Most of the people in the room expressed concern that we would not have a way to map these two tables, requiring a product-specific work-around. [Note that the document editor, Andy Bierman, was not in the room.]


    There was a strong consensus in the room that we should pull back the document from the IESG and undo the deprecation of this object. Needs to be confirmed on the mailing list.


    There was also unanimous consensus in the room that if we do pull the document back and undo the deprecation, we should immediately re-submit the document for publication at PS.


    WRAPPING UP THE ENTITY STATE MIB
    ================================


    <See Sharon's second presentation.>


    The WG discussed each of the remaining seven issues with the Entity State MIB. See http://rt.iesg.com (userid: ietf, passwd: ietf) for more details about each issue.


    Conclusions:


    Issue 307 - Change the name to "unknown".


    Issue 311 - Date & time issue. We think that the IETF should make Juergen's proposed changes to the DateAndTime TC. The Entity State MIB will remain unchanged.


    Issue 322 - Sharon will add the Entity prefix to TCs.


    Issue 325 - Sharon will make the suggested OID changes.


    Issue 333 - Relationship to Alarm MIB. The Alarm MIB will be an informative reference.


    Issue 334 - No further changes required.


    Issue 354 - The word "report" will remain unchanged. The reference clauses citing X.731 will be removed and the reference to X.731 will be moved to Informative.


    Sharon will fix the remaining issues ASAP and we will submit the document to the IESG with the changes agreed above.


    DEFINITIONS OF SUPPLEMENTAL ENTITY MANAGED OBJECTS
    ==================================================


    Proposed new name: Entity MIB Extensions for Manufacturing and Alternative Identificaton.


    Kaj needs to write an I-D for URN for CLEI codes. Originally, David Perkins was going to do this, but they recently agreed that Kaj would do it.


    Plan is to make the changes proposed (new name and change object to URN), get the document well reviewed by Dan, discuss on the Entity MIB mailing list as necessary and publish as an individual submission.


    FUTURE OF THE WG
    ================


    Margaret shared her expectation that the WG will shut down after the Entity State MIB has been approved by the IESG. If others believe that there is more work to do in this WG, they should talk to Bert Wijnen, the Area Director, about how to continue this work.

    Slides

    Entity MIB
    Entity State MIB