Speaking from an operational perspective, I myself would add to your list 'documentation' -- i.e., when I want to better understand what a variable and its values mean, I read the relevant section in the MIB files.
If they serve any other purpose, I would like to hear about it. As an aside regarding terminology, I try to use the following lingo: - Management Information Base (MIB): the collection of variables which the SNMP agent supports, typically chunked into discrete MIBs (e.g. IF-MIB, CISCO-STACK-MIB, LLDP-MIB ...) [The fact that the "sum of all the MIBs" supported by an agent comprise its "MIB" bothers me ... not my idea of clear terminology.] - MIB Files: the text files stored on the network management station which permit the station's SNMP libraries to perform the two functions you describe below. From an operational perspective, useful only to humans, for providing translation services between numbers and more-human-comprehensible-strings. hth, --sk -----Original Message----- From: Martin T [mailto:m4rtn...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2015 4:03 AM To: net-snmp-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: purpose of MIB files in SNMP management stations Hi, it is obvious that MIB's are important for network management stations as otherwise SNMP queries based on object names would not work. For example: $ snmpget -M /dir/that/does/not/exist -On -v 2c -c public 10.10.10.1 sysUpTimeInstance 2>/dev/null $ snmpget -M /dir/that/does/not/exist -On -v 2c -c public 10.10.10.1 .1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0 2>/dev/null .1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0 = Timeticks: (69843635) 8 days, 2:00:36.35 $ Another purpose of MIB's I can see is that they help to make sense of returned values. For example here I don't have Cisco MIBs installed and it is difficult to understand what "33939721.372808280" or "68690115.642234535" means: $ snmpwalk -Of -v 2c -c public 10.10.10.1 .1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.166.1.17.1.1.9 | head -3 .iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprises.9.9.166.1.17.1.1.9.33939721.372808280 = Counter32: 0 .iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprises.9.9.166.1.17.1.1.9.68690115.642234535 = Counter32: 0 .iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprises.9.9.166.1.17.1.1.9.68690115.724494656 = Counter32: 0 $ On the other hand, here I have required MIB databases installed and I can easily see that those entries represent interface names: $ snmpwalk -Of -v 2c -c public 10.10.10.1 .1.3.6.1.2.1.31.1.1.1.1 | head -3 .iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.ifMIB.ifMIBObjects.ifXTable.ifXEntry.ifName.2 = STRING: Null0 .iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.ifMIB.ifMIBObjects.ifXTable.ifXEntry.ifName.3 = STRING: MgmtEth0/RSP0/CPU0/0 .iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib-2.ifMIB.ifMIBObjects.ifXTable.ifXEntry.ifName.4 = STRING: MgmtEth0/RSP0/CPU0/1 $ Is there any additional purpose of MIB files in SNMP management stations? thanks, Martin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't Limit Your Business. Reach for the Cloud. GigeNET's Cloud Solutions provide you with the tools and support that you need to offload your IT needs and focus on growing your business. Configured For All Businesses. Start Your Cloud Today. https://www.gigenetcloud.com/ _______________________________________________ Net-snmp-users mailing list Net-snmp-users@lists.sourceforge.net Please see the following page to unsubscribe or change other options: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/net-snmp-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't Limit Your Business. Reach for the Cloud. GigeNET's Cloud Solutions provide you with the tools and support that you need to offload your IT needs and focus on growing your business. Configured For All Businesses. Start Your Cloud Today. https://www.gigenetcloud.com/ _______________________________________________ Net-snmp-users mailing list Net-snmp-users@lists.sourceforge.net Please see the following page to unsubscribe or change other options: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/net-snmp-users
