The TCP/IP Guide  9  TCP/IP Application Layer Protocols, Services and Applications (OSI Layers 5, 6 and 7)       9  TCP/IP Network Configuration and Management Protocols (BOOTP, DHCP, SNMP and RMON)            9  TCP/IP Network Management Framework and Protocols (SNMP and RMON)                 9  TCP/IP Structure of Management Information (SMI) and Management Information Bases (MIBs)

TCP/IP MIB Objects, Object Characteristics and Object Types 1 2 3 4 TCP/IP MIB Modules and Object Groups

Recursive Definition of MIB Object Identifiers

An object is given a text object descriptor by putting its name at the start of the object as shown in Table 207, but the definition of numeric object identifiers is, again, more complex. It is done by defining only the number of the object within its particular subtree. This means the object identifiers are defined recursively (one based on another) and are not explicitly stated for each object. Syntactically precise, but makes it hard to see at a glance what the number is for any particular object.

Consider again the example in Table 207. For this object, sysLocation is the object descriptor, and “{ system 6 }” is the object identifier. This means it is object number 6 within the node system, which is in turn defined as “{ mib-2 1 }”—it is the first node within the mib-2 subtree. Since mib-2 is, as we said above, 1.3.6.1.2.1, this means system is 1.3.6.1.2.1.1 and sysLocation is 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.6.

TCP/IP MIB Objects, Object Characteristics and Object Types 1 2 3 4 TCP/IP MIB Modules and Object Groups