Subject: [Malloc] MALLOC MIB comments

From: Steve Hanna <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 17:27:43 -0400

Dave,

Here are my comments on the latest version of the MALLOC MIB
(draft-ietf-malloc-mib-04.txt). I don't know very much about
SNMP and MIBs, so many of these comments may not be useful.
But I think I may have caught a few errors, so it's probably
worth your time to review them.

Thanks,

Steve

-----------

Comments on draft-ietf-malloc-mib-04.txt

1) Some objects seems to have incorrect MAX-ACCESS values.
   This is more likely due to my misunderstanding of how
   this value is used, but here are my concerns:

   mallocScopeFirstAddress and mallocScopeFirstAddressType
   are marked as not-accessible. I think they should be
   read-create, so that you can read their values and create
   new entries in the Scope table (if allowed).

   mallocAllocRangeFirstAddress and mallocAllocRangeFirstAddressType
   are also marked as not-accessible. I would expect these
   to be read-create.

2) The description of mallocAllocRangeAdvertisable says
   "The default value is true if the scope is divisible,
   and is false otherwise." What do you mean by default?
   Do you mean that some program will set the value
   to these values unless overridden by a human being?
   I suspect you just mean that most people will want to
   set the value to true when the scope is divisible and
   false otherwise. If that's what you mean, you should
   say that.

3) The description of mallocAllocRangeTotalRequestedAddrs
   says "The approximate number of addresses in the range
   which there is potential demand for among MAASs, as
   determined by a Prefix Coordinator." I think that would
   be more grammatically correct if it read "The approximate
   number of addresses in the range for which there is
   potential demand among MAASs, as determined by a Prefix
   Coordinator."

4) In the mallocServerGroup, there are several objects
   missing that I would expect to find there.

   mallocScopeFirstAddress and mallocScopeFirstAddressType
   are missing, as are mallocAllocRangeFirstAddress and
   mallocAllocRangeFirstAddressType and
   mallocScopeExclusionFirstAddress and
   mallocScopeExclusionFirstAddressType and
   mallocScopeNameLangName. I suspect that these are not
   errors, but due to some strange MIB feature that
   automatically includes them because they're indexes
   of their tables and other elements of the tables are
   included in this group. I dunno.

   mallocScopeLastAddressType is missing, but
   mallocScopeLastAddress is there. I suspect that's an
   error.

5) In the mallocClientScopeGroup, mallocScopeSSM seems to
   be missing.

6) The description of mallocPrefixCoordinatorGroup says
   that it is a "collection of notifications". I think
   it's just a "collection of objects". Isn't that right?

7) In the IANA-MALLOC-MIB, IANAmallocRangeSource still
   includes an aap value. I don't think that's needed,
   since development of AAP has been abandoned. If it is
   later resuscitated, we can always ask IANA to assign
   an IANAmallocRangeSource value to it.

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---

From: "Dave Thaler" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 16:30:34 -0700

Steve, thanks for reviewing!

>    new entries in the Scope table (if allowed).

Any objects that appear in the INDEX clause of the table
are not-accessible, since one can read their values by
reading any other object in the table, since their value comes back
in the OID of the object read.

Hence, the status is correct (but thanks for asking).
 
>    are also marked as not-accessible. I would expect these

Same reason.
 
>    and is false otherwise." What do you mean by default?

If you create a new row in the table via SNMP and don't specify
a value for this object.

>    to these values unless overridden by a human being?

Yes.

>    false otherwise. If that's what you mean, you should

It's not what I meant.  In MIBs, there's a DEFVAL clause
that you can put in the default value to be used during
row creation (it's just informative to humans, the clause
isn't used by the management station to do anything differently).
Here, we can't use a DEFVAL clause since there's not a single
default value for all cases, and hence the DESCRIPTION
specifies the default instead.
 
>    potential demand among MAASs, as determined by a Prefix

Agree.

>    included in this group. I dunno.

Yep, that's exactly right.  Objects which are not-accessible
don't appear in conformance groups.
 
>    mallocScopeLastAddress is there. I suspect that's an

I think you're right.  Will fix.

> 5) In the mallocClientScopeGroup, mallocScopeSSM seems to

Yep, will fix.

>    it's just a "collection of objects". Isn't that right?

Yep, will fix.

>    an IANAmallocRangeSource value to it.

Sounds reasonable.

Thanks again!

-Dave