entries that it owns but has forgotten about (e.g., due to a
crash or other error) so that it can re-use or free them.
4. Provides information to allow an administrator to make an
informed decision to override someone else's control entry when
circumstances make it necessary.
5. Provides information to identify control entries that are set
up automatically when the device starts up.
See the RMON MIB [RFC2819] for further information on the use of
control tables, EntryStatus/RowStatus, and OwnerStrings.
6. Relationship of the SSPM MIB with the APM and TPM MIBs
While APM and TPM may monitor actual traffic generated by end-users
on the network, they may also monitor synthetically generated
traffic. The SSPM MIB provides a mechanism for the generation of
synthetic traffic but no mechanism for monitoring - the task of
monitoring the generated traffic is deferred to the APM and TPM MIBs.
Figure 5 shows an overview of the components of the SSPM MIB
architecture, including the roles played by the APM and TPM MIBs.
The RMON documents address the "Control-Level" in this diagram and
some aspects of the "Synchronization Control-Level". The underlying
"Instrumentation-Level" is implementation dependent and outside the
domain of the RMON specifications.
+----------------+
+-------------| Application |-------------+
| +----------------+ |
| | |
+--------------------------------+ |
| Synchronization Control | |
+--------------------------------+ |
| | |
V V V
+------------------+ +------------------+ +--------------+
|Traffic Generation| |Monitoring Metrics| |Data Reduction|
| Control | | Control | | Control |
+------------------+ +------------------+ +--------------+
| ^ | ^ | ^
| | | | | |
V | V | V |
+------------------+ +------------------+ +---------------+
|Traffic Generation| |Monitoring Metrics| |Data Reduction |
| Instrumentation| | Instrumentation| +-->|Instrumentation|
+------------------+ +------------------+ | +---------------+
| |
| |
Various levels | |
and span +-----------|
|
|
V
Reports
Figure 5: An SSPM Performance Monitoring System
It is the responsibility of the network management application to
coordinate the individual aspects of the performance management
system.
Within the APM, TPM, and SSPM set of RMON MIB modules:
+ APM MIB [APM] is responsible for the aspects of the "Monitoring
Metrics Control" directly related to the end-user's perceived
application-level performance. The APM MIB also handles
aspects of "Data Reduction Control" and "Reports". Finally,
when TPM MIB relies upon the control tables in the APM MIB for
its own control, then APM MIB is providing some aspects of
"Synchronization Control" of the reports from these two MIBs.
+ TPM MIB [TPM] is responsible for the aspects of the "Monitoring
Metrics Control". TPM MIB also handles aspects of "Data
Reduction Control" and "Reports" related to sub-application-
level transactions. Synchronization control with APM MIB is
provided by opting to rely on the APM MIB control tables within
the TPM MIB.
+ SSPM MIB [SSPM] is responsible for the "Traffic Generation
Control" in the event that synthetic traffic is to be
monitored. The other, most common, option is to monitor
natural, user-generated traffic.
The "Monitor Metrics Control" is essentially hard-coded in the APM
MIB. Within the TPM MIB, a metrics table is used to identify the
metrics monitored within a specific implementation of the TPM MIB.
The "Data Reduction Control" is essentially hard-coded within the MIB
structure of the APM MIB and the TPM MIB. These MIBs strictly
specify the statistics to be reported within a set of report tables.
Both the TPM MIB and the SSPM MIB rely upon the APM MIB's
appLocalIndex to specify the application being monitored or
generated. The APM MIB provides the end-user view of the application
performance, e.g., the Whois transaction time. The TPM MIB, through
its tpmTransMetricDirTable, identifies a set of sub-application level
transactions and their metrics, which are associated with the
application. E.g., an implementation of the TPM MIB could report the
DNS lookup time, the TCP connect time (to the Whois Server), the
Whois Req/Resp download time. The SSPM MIB could be configured to
generate synthetically, these Whois transactions.
The testing model then is to first configure the traffic generation
instrumentation through the SSPM MIB control function. This defines
aspects of the synthetic traffic such as application type, targets,
etc. Once the traffic generation is configured, the network
management application can setup the monitoring instrumentation
through the APM MIB and TPM MIB. These control the reporting
periods, the type of data aggregation, etc. Once the tests are
complete, the network management application retrieves the reports
from the monitoring metrics control MIBs, e.g., APM MIB and TPM MIB.
7. Acknowledgements
This memo is a product of the RMON MIB working group. In addition,
the authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions by Lester
D'Souza of NetScout Systems, Inc.
8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC2819] Waldbusser, S., "Remote Network Monitoring
Management Information Base", STD 59, RFC2819,
May 2000.
8.2. Informative References
[RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process --
Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC2026, October 1996.
[RFC2578] McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D. and J. Schoenwaelder,
Eds., "Structure of Management Information Version
2 (SMIv2)", STD 58, RFC2578, April 1999.
[RFC2579] McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D. and J. Schoenwaelder,
J., Eds., "Textual Conventions for SMIv2", STD 58,
RFC2579, April 1999.
[RFC2580] McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D. and J. Schoenwaelder,
J., Eds., "Conformance Statements for SMIv2", STD
58, RFC2580, April 1999.
[RFC3410] Case, J., Mundy, R., Partain, D. and B. Stewart,
"Introduction and Applicability Statements for
Internet-Standard Management Framework", RFC3410,
December 2002.
[RFC1513] Waldbusser, S., "Token Ring Extensions to the
Remote Network Monitoring MIB", RFC1513,
September 1993.
[RFC2021] Waldbusser, S., "Remote Network Monitoring
Management Information Base Version 2 using
SMIv2", RFC2021, January 1997.
[RFC2895] Bierman, A., Bucci, C. and R. Iddon, "Remote
Network Monitoring Management Information Base
Protocol Identification Reference", RFC2895,
August 2000.
[RFC2896] Bierman, A., Bucci, C. and R. Iddon, "Remote
Network Monitoring MIB Protocol Identifier
Macros", RFC2896, August 2000.
[RFC2613] Waterman, R., Lahaye, B., Romascanu, D. and S.
Waldbusser, "Remote Network Monitoring MIB
Extensions for Switched Networks Version 1.0", RFC
2613, June 1999.
[RFC3144] Waldbusser, S., "Remote Monitoring MIB Extensions
for Interface Parameters Monitoring", RFC3144,
August 2001.
[RFC3287] Bierman, A., "Remote Monitoring MIB Extensions for
Differentiated Services", RFC3287, July 2002.
[RFC3273] Waldbusser, S., "Remote Network Monitoring
Management Information Base for High Capacity
Networks", RFC3273, July 2002.
[APM] Waldbusser, S., "Application performance
measurement MIB", Work in Progress.
[RFC3395] Bierman, A., Bucci, C., Dietz, R. and A. Warth,
"Remote Network Monitoring MIB Protocol Identifier
Reference Extensions", RFC3395, September 2002.
[TPM] Dietz, R. and R.G.Cole, "Application Performance
Measurement Framework Transport Performance
Metrics MIB", Work in Progress.
[SSPM] Kalbfleisch, K., Cole, R.G. and D. Romascanu,
"Definition of Managed Objects for Synthetic
Sources for Performance Monitoring Algorithms",
Work in Progress.
[RFC3434] Bierman, A. and K. McCloghrie, "Remote Monitoring
MIB Extensions for High Capacity Alarms", RFC
3434, December 2002.
[RFC2233] McCloghrie, K. and F. Kastenholz, "The Interfaces
Group MIB Using SMIv2", RFC2233, November 1997.
[RFC2863] McCloghrie, K. and F. Kastenholz, "The Interfaces
Group MIB", RFC2863, June 2000.
[RFC2330] Paxson, V., Almes, G., Mahdavi, J. and M. Mathis,
"Framework for IP Performance Metrics", RFC2330,
May 1998.
[OWDP] Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B. and M. Zekauskas, "A
One-way Active Measurement Protocol", Work in
Progress.
[RAQMON-FRAMEWORK] Siddiqui, A., Romascanu, D. and E. Golovinsky,
"Real-time Application Quality of Service
Monitoring (RAQMON) Framework", Work in Progress.
[RAQMON-MIB] Siddiqui, A., Romascanu, D., Golovinsky, E. and R.
Smith, "Real-Time Application Quality of Service
Monitoring (RAQMON) MIB", Work in Progress.
9. Security Considerations
This document is a description of existing documents and as such it
does not have any security impact. In order to understand the
security-related issues of the different RMON documents, the reader
is directed to the Security Considerations sections of the respective
documents.
10. Authors' Addresses
Steve Waldbusser
Phone: +1 650-948-6500
Fax: +1 650-745-0671
EMail: waldbusser@nextbeacon.com
Carl W. Kalbfleisch
NTT/VERIO
8700 Stemmons Freeway, Suite 211
Dallas, TX 75247
United States
Phone: +1 972-906-2034
EMail: cwk@verio.net
Robert G. Cole
AT&T Labs
Network Design and Performance Analysis Department
330 Saint John Street, 2nd Floor
Havre de Grace, MD 21078
United States
Phone: +1 410-939-8732
Fax: +1 410-939-8732
EMail: rgcole@att.com
Dan Romascanu
Avaya
Atidim Technology Park, Bldg. #3
Tel Aviv, 61131
Israel
Phone: +972-3-645-8414
EMail: dromasca@avaya.com
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