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.
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 |
Nov 01 |    | Call for RMON-2 Implementation reports |
Nov 01 |    | Call for RMON-PI Implementation reports |
Done |    | Submit initial Internet-Draft for Synthetic Sources for Performance Monitoring |
Nov 01 |    | Submit initial Internet-Draft for the RMON Framework |
Dec 01 |    | Complete RMON-PI Implementation Report |
Dec 01 |    | Begin WG Last Call for Transport Performance Measurement |
Dec 01 |    | Submit Final SMON Implementation Report to IESG |
Dec 01 |    | Complete SMON Implementation Report |
Dec 01 |    | Complete RMON-2 Implementation Report |
Dec 01 |    | Submit Final RMON-PI Implementation Report to IESG |
Jan 02 |    | Submit Final RMON-2 Implementation Report to IESG |
Done |    | Submit Final Draft of TR-RMON MIB in SMIv2 Format |
RFC | Status | Title |
RFC2021 | PS | Remote Network Monitoring Management Information Base Version 2 using SMIv2 |
RFC2613 | PS | Remote Network Monitoring MIB Extensions for Switch Networks Version 1.0 |
RFC2819 | S | Remote Network Monitoring Management Information Base |
RFC2895 | PS | Remote Network Monitoring MIB Protocol Identifier Reference |
RFC2896 | Remote Network Monitoring MIB Protocol Identifier Macros | |
RFC3144 | PS | Remote Monitoring MIB Extensions for Interface Parameters Monitoring |