Re: [ECOS] eCos MIB file?

[Grant Edwards <grante at visi dot com>]

On Fri, Oct 19, 2001 at 09:48:50AM +0200, Andrew Lunn wrote:

> > I'm not sure I understand your answer.  The C language source
> > files in the eCos source tree are generated from a specific set
> > of MIB files.  Where are those files located?  On your machine
> > where you packaged up the SNMP stuff or on my machine where I
> > build the SNMP stuff?
> 
> Nope. The MIB compiler can be used for generating template code
> to implement a MIB. You then have to fill in the real
> implementation for each variable. Thinks of the MIB compiler as
> a GUI builder. The GUI builder will give you the buttons,
> dialog boxes, scroll bars etc, you the programmer has to fill
> in the code which does the functionality behind the buttons. As
> with a GUI, you don't have to use the GUI builder, you can code
> everything by hand. Thats what happens with the MIBs eCos
> implements. The MIB compiler is there for users who want to add
> there own MIBs.

Ah, so mib2c _wasn't_ used to generate the C sources in the
SNMP package.

> > I've got a customer who wants copies of the MIB files used by
> > the eCos SNMP agent, and at present I've no idea what files to
> > give him.  I've got a set of 33 MIB files on my development
> > machine, but I don't know if those are the ones used by eCos.
> 
> What your customer wants is the textual description of the MIB
> to feed into his management station.

Right.  I assume he wants the ASN.1 specification for the
objects implimented by eCos's SNMP agent.

> The agent implements MibII and the 802.3 MIB. MibII is the De
> facto standard so all management stations should already know
> about this. 802.3 is also a well known standard, also known as
> the EtherLike-MIB. Maybe his station does not know this one?

I don't know.  All I know is that I was forwarded an e-mail
asking for the MIB files for the eCos SNMP agent.  It appears
the best we can do is tell him we impliment the "standard"
MIBII and Ethernet tables.  Since I thought the C sources were
generated from ASN.1 files with mib2c, I thought I could send
him the files that actually corresponded to the eCos
implimentation rather than refer to a standard when I don't
really know whether my end or his end fully meets the standard.

Perhaps standards in the SNMP world are better than elsewhere,
but I have little confidence in just telling him we impliment
the standard.  I'd much rather send him a file that describes
exactly what eCos does impliment -- that avoids the whole
process of figuring out how his "standard" differs from eCos's
"standard".  But since there is no such file, I'll just reply
that we do the standard stuff.

> In UCD its called EtherLike-MIB.txt. If all else fails, ask him
> for the OIDs he is having problems with. Its then easy to find
> the correct file.
>
> My experience is that customers do not understand SNMP very
> well and so ask silly questions. Its worth spending a little
> time educating them, or pointing them towards a good book.

-- 
Grant Edwards
grante@visi.com