CISCO-SLB-MIB

Unsigned32

The SLB instance reference number for this server. This allows multiple SLB's to exist on the same SNMP system. This object's value generally corresponds to the slot number where the module resides.

Counter32 · packets

The number of packets forwarded by the Software Load Balancing manager's software.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · packets

The number of packets forwarded by the Software Load Balancing manager's software. This is the 64-bit version of slbStatsUnassistedPkts.

Counter32 · packets

The number of packets handled by SLB which were switched via the highest-performance switching path.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · packets

The number of packets handled by SLB which were switched via the highest-performance switching path. This is the 64-bit version of slbStatsAssistedSwitchingPkts.

Counter32 · connections

The number of TCP and UDP connections created since SLB was configured. TCP connections are created after seeing a SYN for a connection. UDP connections are created based on the source and destination and are removed based on a timer.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · connections

The number of connections created by SLB since it was configured. TCP connections are created after seeing a SYN for a connection. UDP connections are created based on the source and destination and are removed based on a timer. This is the 64-bit version of slbStatsCreatedConnections.

Counter32 · connections

The number of connections established through SLB (reached the ESTAB state). TCP connections reach the ESTAB state after a SYN - SYN/ACK exchange. UDP connections reach the ESTAB state after data is sent from the client or server.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · connections

The number of connections established through SLB (reached the ESTAB state). TCP connections reach the ESTAB state after a SYN - SYN/ACK exchange. UDP connections reach the ESTAB state after data is sent from the client or server. This is the 64-bit version of slbStatsEstablisedConnections.

Counter32 · connections

The number of TCP and UDP connections destroyed by SLB, either by TCPIP teardown or timeout. UDP connections can only be timed out.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · connections

The number of TCP and UDP connections destroyed by SLB, either by TCPIP teardown or timeout. UDP connections can only be timed out. This is the 64-bit version of slbStatsDestroyedConnections.

Counter32 · connections

The number of TCP and UDP connections reassigned from one real server to another.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · connections

The number of TCP and UDP connections reassigned from one real server to another. This is the 64-bit version of slbStatsReassignedConnections.

Counter32 · zombies

The number of TCP and UDP connections currently in the zombie state waiting for timers to expire.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · zombies

The number of TCP and UDP connections currently in the zombie state waiting for timers to expire. This is the 64-bit version of slbStatsZombies.

SlbServerStringThe configured name associated with an SLB object. SIZE (1..96) · OCTET STRING

The name of server farm.

SlbPredictor1 = roundRobin2 = leastConns3 = ipHash4 = ipHashSrc5 = ipHashDest6 = urlHash7 = forward8 = leastLoaded9 = httpCookieHash10 = httpHeaderHash11 = layer4PayloadHash12 = responseTime13 = leastBandwidth14 = httpContentHashThe predictor represents the load-balancing algorithm being used on a server farm to distribute load evenly among real servers. 'roundRobin' : assign evenly amongst real servers. 'leastConns' : assign to the real server with the least number of current connections. 'ipHash' : assign based on the hash value of the source IP and destination IP address. 'ipHashSrc' : assign based on the hash value of the source IP address. 'ipHashDest' : assign based on the hash value of the destination IP address. 'urlHash' : assign based on the hash value of the URL string. 'forward' : forward the connection to the appropriate next-hop as determined by a routing lookup on the destination IP address. 'leastLoaded' : assign to a real server that is least loaded/busy. The load information is available from agents(DFP, SASP etc). 'httpCookieHash' : assign based on the hash value of the HTTP Cookie value. 'httpHeaderHash' : assign based on the hash value of the HTTP Header Name. 'layer4PayloadHash' : assign to real server based on the hash value (of configured attributes) of the layer 4 payload. 'responseTime' : assign to real server with lowest average response time(for the configured method). 'leastBandwidth' : assign to a real server which has least traffic/bandwidth in a given sampling period. 'httpContentHash' : assign to real server based on the hash value (of configured attributes) of the HTTP payload. · Integer32

The load balancing algorithm in use by the server farm for its real servers for the local SLB entity.

SlbNatSetting1 = noNat2 = clientNat3 = serverNat4 = clientAndServerNatThe current network address translation (NAT) setting for a server farm. 'noNat' : The server farm is not configured for NAT. 'clientNat' : The server farm is configured to translate client IP addresses. 'serverNat' : The server farm is configured to translate server IP addresses. 'clientAndServerNat': The server farm is configured to translate client and server IP addresses. · Integer32

The type of NAT employed by the local SLB entity for servers in this server farm.

Unsigned32

The number of real servers in this server farm.

Unsigned32

slbServerFarmBindId is used to identify one or more real servers for which slbDfpRealWeight applies to the real server's slbRealOperWeight. The identification is done by finding rows in slbServerFarmTable for which slbServerFarmBindId matches slbDfpRealBindId. For each identified server farm, extract the slbServerFarmName and use this value together with slbDfpRealIpAddress and slbDfpRealPort to identify the row in slbRealTable.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The object is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbServerFarmTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

SlbServerStringThe configured name associated with an SLB object. SIZE (1..96) · OCTET STRING

The real server's server farm name.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The IP address of real server.

CiscoPortThe TCP or UDP port number range.Reference: Transmission Control Protocol. J. Postel. RFC793, User Datagram Protocol. J. Postel. RFC768 (0..65535) · Integer32

Reference: slbServerFarmNat

The TCP or UDP port of real server. This is used if SLB NAT is configured (see slbServerFarmNat). If SLB is not using NAT, this value will be 0.

SlbRealServerState1 = outOfService2 = inService3 = failed4 = readyToTest5 = testing6 = maxConnsThrottle7 = maxClientsThrottle8 = dfpThrottle9 = probeFailed10 = probeTesting11 = operWait12 = testWait13 = inbandProbeFailed14 = returnCodeFailed15 = arpFailed16 = standby17 = inactive18 = maxLoadThe server state represents the state of a real server being load-balanced by SLB. 'outOfService' : Server is not in use by SLB as a destination for client connections. This state can be written and read. 'inService' : Server is in use as a destination for SLB client connections. This state can be written and read. 'failed' : Server has failed and will not be retried for retry timer seconds. This state can only be read. 'readyToTest' : Server has failed and has an expired retry timer, test connections will begin flow to it soon. This state can only be read. 'testing' : Server has failed and been given another test connection, success of this connection is not known yet. This state can only be read. 'maxConnsThrottle' : Server has reached its maximum number of connections and is no longer being given connections. This state can only be read. 'maxClientsThrottle': Server has reached the maximum allowed clients. This state can only be read. 'dfpThrottle' : DFP has lowered the weight of this server to throttle level, so that no new connections will be assigned to it until DFP raises its weight. This state can only be read. 'probeFailed' : SLB probe to this this server has failed. No new connections will be assigned to it until a probe to this server succeeds. This state can only be read. 'probeTesting' : Server has received a test probe from SLB. This state can only be read. 'operWait' : Server is ready to go operational, but is waiting for the associated redirect virtual to be inservice. This state can only be read. 'testWait' : Server is ready to be tested. This state is applicable only when the server is used for http redirect load balancing. This state can only be read. 'inbandProbeFailed': Server has failed the inband Health Probe agent. This state can only be read. 'returnCodeFailed' : Server has been disabled because it returned an HTTP code that matched a configured value. This state can only be read. 'arpFailed' : ARP request to this server has failed. This state can only be read. 'standby' : Server is in standby state. No connections will be assigned to it, unless the primary server fails. This state can be written and read. 'inactive' : Server is disabled as it has become inactive such as in the case when the real server is not associated to any server farm.This state can only be read. 'maxLoad' : Server is disabled as it hit max-load. This state can only be read. · Integer32

The current state of real server.

Gauge32

The number TCP and UDP connections currently assigned to this real server.

Unsigned32

The current number of idle dummy connections that are not in use but are reserved for this real server to accomplish slow-start.

Unsigned32

The configured maximum number of concurrent connections which SLB will deliver to this real server.

Unsigned32 (0..65535)

The user configured weight of the real server for the load-balancing algorithms. A weight of zero indicates that no new connections will be assigned to this real server. Higher weight values indicate to the load-balancing algorithms a higher availability of this real server to accept more work.

Gauge32

The actual operating weight of the real server used by the load-balancing algorithms. This can be adjusted dynamically by DFP. A weight of zero indicates that no new connections will be assigned to this real server. Higher weight values indicate to the load-balancing algorithms a higher availability of this real server to accept more work.

Gauge32

The value used by the least connections load-balancing algorithm. It is the number of connections divided by the actual operating weight. New connections will be given to the server with the smaller metric.

Unsigned32

The number of consecutive TCP SYNs sent to the real server with no answer before reassigning the connection to another real server.

TimeIntervalA period of time, measured in units of 0.01 seconds. (0..2147483647) · Integer32

The time interval between retries while the server is in the Failed state.

Unsigned32

The number of failed connections after which the real server goes to Failed state. A failed connection is when a SYN timeouts or a RST is received from the real server.

Unsigned32

The number of connections with distinct client IP addresses which need to fail on this real server before it goes to Failed state. A failed connection is when a SYN timeouts or a RST is received from the real server.

Gauge32

The number of connection failures to this real server without a successful connection. A failed connection is when a SYN timeouts or a RST is received from the real server.

Counter32

The total number of times this real server has failed since the creation of this row.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The object used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbRealTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

Counter32

The number of assigned connections handled by this real server since this server was configured.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615)

The number of assigned connections handled by this real server since this server was configured. This is the 64-bit version of slbRealTotalConnections.

SlbServerStringThe configured name associated with an SLB object. SIZE (1..96) · OCTET STRING

The name of the virtual server.

SlbVirtualServState1 = outOfService2 = inService3 = standby4 = inOperReal5 = stbInOperReal6 = testReal7 = outOfMemoryThe state of SLB virtual server 'outOfService' : Virtual server is not active and is not affecting client traffic in any way. 'inService' : Virtual server is active and is load-balancing matching client traffic to available real servers. 'standby' : Virtual server is a backup for a virtual server on another SLB device, and is currently inactive. 'inOperReal' : Real server associated with this redirect virtual server is not operational. This state can only be read. 'stbInOperReal': Real server associated with this redirect virtual server is not operational, and this virtual server is in standby state. This state can only be read. 'testReal' : This is a redirect virtual server and the real server associated with it is being tested. This state can only be read. 'outOfMemory' : Virtual server is not enabled because it does not have enough memory to hold the configured matching policy information. This state can only be read. · Integer32

The state of virtual server.

Unsigned32

The index assigned to a virtual server, used to correlate connections with virtual servers.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The IP address of this virtual server.

CiscoPortThe TCP or UDP port number range.Reference: Transmission Control Protocol. J. Postel. RFC793, User Datagram Protocol. J. Postel. RFC768 (0..65535) · Integer32

The port of this virtual server.

CiscoIpProtocolIP protocol number range.Reference: Internet Protocol. J. Postel. RFC791 (0..255) · Integer32

The protocol for this virtual server.

SlbVirtualService1 = none2 = ftp3 = wsp4 = gtp5 = rtspThe special service configured for this virtual server. Such a specification ensures that session(s) for a given protocol are tracked and assigned to the same real machine. These services include: 'ftp' : File Transfer Protocol 'wsp' : Wireless Session Protocol 'gtp' : GPRS Tunnelling Protocol 'rtsp': Real-Time Streaming Protocol · Integer32

The service setting for this virtual server. Setting this to other than 'none' results in an association being formed between clients using this service and this virtual server. Subsequent packets from clients requiring this service will be forwarded to the nominated real server.

TruthValue1 = true2 = falseRepresents a boolean value. · Integer32

The setting for virtual address advertising. It is set to 'true' if this virtual server has added a static route to the routing table attracting traffic destined for slbVirtualIpAddress.

SlbServerStringThe configured name associated with an SLB object. SIZE (1..96) · OCTET STRING

The name of virtual server farm bound to this virtual server.

Unsigned32 (1..600) · seconds

The amount of time this SLB entity will maintain TCP connection context after a connection has terminated.

Unsigned32 (10..65535) · seconds

The amount of time this SLB entity will maintain connection information in the absence of packet activity for a connection. When the service is configured as 'gtp', this is the amount of time the SLB entity will forward SGSN retries for a SLB session to the same GGSN

TimeIntervalA period of time, measured in units of 0.01 seconds. (0..2147483647) · Integer32

The amount of time that a connection's real server is remembered after a connection has terminated.

Unsigned32

The group ID associated with the 'sticky group' that this virtual server is placed in. A value of zero indicates that no 'sticky group' is associated with this virtual server.

Unsigned32

The number of unanswered SYNs that are allowed to be outstanding to this virtual server. After this number is reached, SYNs are dropped depending on the value of slbVirtualSynguardPeriod.

Unsigned32 · milliseconds

The interval of time that this virtual server can have outstanding unanswered SYNs. This is used with slbVirtualSynguardCount to limit outstanding SYNs.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

This object is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbVirtualServerTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

Gauge32

The number of currently assigned connections being handled by this virtual server.

Counter32

The number of assigned connections handled by this virtual server since this server was configured.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615)

The number of assigned connections handled by this virtual server since this server was configured. This is the 64-bit version of slbVirtualTotalConnections.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The IP subnet mask which is applied to the address of this virtual server for traffic filtering.

Unsigned32 (1..4294967295)

An unique identifier for the virtual server. This value is unique for a combination of class map and a policy map.

SnmpAdminStringAn octet string containing administrative information, preferably in human-readable form. To facilitate internationalization, this information is represented using the ISO/IEC IS 10646-1 character set, encoded as an octet string using the UTF-8 transformation format described in [RFC2279]. Since additional code points are added by amendments to the 10646 standard from time to time, implementations must be prepared to encounter any code point from 0x00000000 to 0x7fffffff. Byte sequences that do not correspond to the valid UTF-8 encoding of a code point or are outside this range are prohibited. The use of control codes should be avoided. When it is necessary to represent a newline, the control code sequence CR LF should be used. The use of leading or trailing white space should be avoided. For code points not directly supported by user interface hardware or software, an alternative means of entry and display, such as hexadecimal, may be provided. For information encoded in 7-bit US-ASCII, the UTF-8 encoding is identical to the US-ASCII encoding. UTF-8 may require multiple bytes to represent a single character / code point; thus the length of this object in octets may be different from the number of characters encoded. Similarly, size constraints refer to the number of encoded octets, not the number of characters represented by an encoding. Note that when this TC is used for an object that is used or envisioned to be used as an index, then a SIZE restriction MUST be specified so that the number of sub-identifiers for any object instance does not exceed the limit of 128, as defined by [RFC3416]. Note that the size of an SnmpAdminString object is measured in octets, not characters. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING · hint 255t

This object contains the class map in which this virtual server is associated with it. A class-map is used to classify a set of traffic with which actions may be associated.

SnmpAdminStringAn octet string containing administrative information, preferably in human-readable form. To facilitate internationalization, this information is represented using the ISO/IEC IS 10646-1 character set, encoded as an octet string using the UTF-8 transformation format described in [RFC2279]. Since additional code points are added by amendments to the 10646 standard from time to time, implementations must be prepared to encounter any code point from 0x00000000 to 0x7fffffff. Byte sequences that do not correspond to the valid UTF-8 encoding of a code point or are outside this range are prohibited. The use of control codes should be avoided. When it is necessary to represent a newline, the control code sequence CR LF should be used. The use of leading or trailing white space should be avoided. For code points not directly supported by user interface hardware or software, an alternative means of entry and display, such as hexadecimal, may be provided. For information encoded in 7-bit US-ASCII, the UTF-8 encoding is identical to the US-ASCII encoding. UTF-8 may require multiple bytes to represent a single character / code point; thus the length of this object in octets may be different from the number of characters encoded. Similarly, size constraints refer to the number of encoded octets, not the number of characters represented by an encoding. Note that when this TC is used for an object that is used or envisioned to be used as an index, then a SIZE restriction MUST be specified so that the number of sub-identifiers for any object instance does not exceed the limit of 128, as defined by [RFC3416]. Note that the size of an SnmpAdminString object is measured in octets, not characters. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING · hint 255t

This object identifies the policy map. A policy-map can be used to identify various policies such as security policies or load balancing policies. A class map can be associated with a policy map.

SlbVirtualServState1 = outOfService2 = inService3 = standby4 = inOperReal5 = stbInOperReal6 = testReal7 = outOfMemoryThe state of SLB virtual server 'outOfService' : Virtual server is not active and is not affecting client traffic in any way. 'inService' : Virtual server is active and is load-balancing matching client traffic to available real servers. 'standby' : Virtual server is a backup for a virtual server on another SLB device, and is currently inactive. 'inOperReal' : Real server associated with this redirect virtual server is not operational. This state can only be read. 'stbInOperReal': Real server associated with this redirect virtual server is not operational, and this virtual server is in standby state. This state can only be read. 'testReal' : This is a redirect virtual server and the real server associated with it is being tested. This state can only be read. 'outOfMemory' : Virtual server is not enabled because it does not have enough memory to hold the configured matching policy information. This state can only be read. · Integer32

The state of virtual server.

SnmpAdminStringAn octet string containing administrative information, preferably in human-readable form. To facilitate internationalization, this information is represented using the ISO/IEC IS 10646-1 character set, encoded as an octet string using the UTF-8 transformation format described in [RFC2279]. Since additional code points are added by amendments to the 10646 standard from time to time, implementations must be prepared to encounter any code point from 0x00000000 to 0x7fffffff. Byte sequences that do not correspond to the valid UTF-8 encoding of a code point or are outside this range are prohibited. The use of control codes should be avoided. When it is necessary to represent a newline, the control code sequence CR LF should be used. The use of leading or trailing white space should be avoided. For code points not directly supported by user interface hardware or software, an alternative means of entry and display, such as hexadecimal, may be provided. For information encoded in 7-bit US-ASCII, the UTF-8 encoding is identical to the US-ASCII encoding. UTF-8 may require multiple bytes to represent a single character / code point; thus the length of this object in octets may be different from the number of characters encoded. Similarly, size constraints refer to the number of encoded octets, not the number of characters represented by an encoding. Note that when this TC is used for an object that is used or envisioned to be used as an index, then a SIZE restriction MUST be specified so that the number of sub-identifiers for any object instance does not exceed the limit of 128, as defined by [RFC3416]. Note that the size of an SnmpAdminString object is measured in octets, not characters. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING · hint 255t

This object contains the descriptive text qualifying the reason for the value in slbVServerState. Examples: OK Policy not configured Server Farm failed Real Server failed.

Gauge32

The number of currently assigned connections being handled by this virtual server.

Counter32

The number of assigned connections handled by this virtual server since this server was configured.

Counter32 · connections

The total number of connections dropped by this virtual server due to all reasons. Some of the reasons are - when the interface goes down. - when there are no active serverfarm(s)in policy. - when rserver in the serverfarm goes outofservice. - when the virtual server reaches maximum connections. - when the virtual server crosses the connection rate limit. Hence, the value of this object includes counters reported in following objects: -slbVServerMaxConnLimitDropCounts -slbVServerConnRateLimitDropCounts.

Counter32 · packets

The number of packets sent to virtual server from client. Client is a system which sends requests to the virtual server.

Counter32 · packets

The number of packets sent to virtual server from real server.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · bytes

The number of bytes sent to virtual server from client. Client is a system which sends requests to the virtual server.

Counter64 (0..18446744073709551615) · bytes

The number of bytes sent to virtual-server from real-server.

Counter32 · connections

The number of connections dropped after virtual-server reached maximum number of connections.

Counter32 · connections

The number of connections dropped if virtual-server receives more number of connections per second than the configured rate limit.

Counter32 · connections

The number of connections dropped if accumulated bandwidth in all the connections to virtual-server crosses the configured bandwidth. This object has been deprecated because it doesn't give number of connections dropped but it gives number of bytes dropped. This object has been replaced by slbVServerBandWidthRateLimitDropCounts.

Counter32 · bytes

The number of bytes dropped if accumulated bandwidth in all the connections to virtual-server crosses the configured bandwidth.

Counter32 · connections

The number of layer4 loadbalance decisions made by this virtual server.

Counter32 · connections

The total number of layer7 loadbalance decisions made by this virtual server.

Gauge32 · connections

The total number of successfully established connections to this virtual server.

Unsigned32 (1..4294967295)

The index identifying an entry applicable to the same virtual server identified by slbVServerIndex.

InetAddressType0 = unknown1 = ipv42 = ipv63 = ipv4z4 = ipv6z16 = dnsA value that represents a type of Internet address. unknown(0) An unknown address type. This value MUST be used if the value of the corresponding InetAddress object is a zero-length string. It may also be used to indicate an IP address that is not in one of the formats defined below. ipv4(1) An IPv4 address as defined by the InetAddressIPv4 textual convention. ipv6(2) An IPv6 address as defined by the InetAddressIPv6 textual convention. ipv4z(3) A non-global IPv4 address including a zone index as defined by the InetAddressIPv4z textual convention. ipv6z(4) A non-global IPv6 address including a zone index as defined by the InetAddressIPv6z textual convention. dns(16) A DNS domain name as defined by the InetAddressDNS textual convention. Each definition of a concrete InetAddressType value must be accompanied by a definition of a textual convention for use with that InetAddressType. To support future extensions, the InetAddressType textual convention SHOULD NOT be sub-typed in object type definitions. It MAY be sub-typed in compliance statements in order to require only a subset of these address types for a compliant implementation. Implementations must ensure that InetAddressType objects and any dependent objects (e.g., InetAddress objects) are consistent. An inconsistentValue error must be generated if an attempt to change an InetAddressType object would, for example, lead to an undefined InetAddress value. In particular, InetAddressType/InetAddress pairs must be changed together if the address type changes (e.g., from ipv6(2) to ipv4(1)). · Integer32

The type of IP address configured in slbVServerIpAddress.

InetAddressDenotes a generic Internet address. An InetAddress value is always interpreted within the context of an InetAddressType value. Every usage of the InetAddress textual convention is required to specify the InetAddressType object that provides the context. It is suggested that the InetAddressType object be logically registered before the object(s) that use the InetAddress textual convention, if they appear in the same logical row. The value of an InetAddress object must always be consistent with the value of the associated InetAddressType object. Attempts to set an InetAddress object to a value inconsistent with the associated InetAddressType must fail with an inconsistentValue error. When this textual convention is used as the syntax of an index object, there may be issues with the limit of 128 sub-identifiers specified in SMIv2, STD 58. In this case, the object definition MUST include a 'SIZE' clause to limit the number of potential instance sub-identifiers; otherwise the applicable constraints MUST be stated in the appropriate conceptual row DESCRIPTION clauses, or in the surrounding documentation if there is no single DESCRIPTION clause that is appropriate. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING

The IP address of the virtual server. The type of IP address is provided in slbVServerIpAddressType.

InetAddressPrefixLengthDenotes the length of a generic Internet network address prefix. A value of n corresponds to an IP address mask that has n contiguous 1-bits from the most significant bit (MSB), with all other bits set to 0. An InetAddressPrefixLength value is always interpreted within the context of an InetAddressType value. Every usage of the InetAddressPrefixLength textual convention is required to specify the InetAddressType object that provides the context. It is suggested that the InetAddressType object be logically registered before the object(s) that use the InetAddressPrefixLength textual convention, if they appear in the same logical row. InetAddressPrefixLength values larger than the maximum length of an IP address for a specific InetAddressType are treated as the maximum significant value applicable for the InetAddressType. The maximum significant value is 32 for the InetAddressType 'ipv4(1)' and 'ipv4z(3)' and 128 for the InetAddressType 'ipv6(2)' and 'ipv6z(4)'. The maximum significant value for the InetAddressType 'dns(16)' is 0. The value zero is object-specific and must be defined as part of the description of any object that uses this syntax. Examples of the usage of zero might include situations where the Internet network address prefix is unknown or does not apply. The upper bound of the prefix length has been chosen to be consistent with the maximum size of an InetAddress. (0..2040) · Unsigned32 · hint d

This object is subnet mask for the slbVServerIpAddress. The IP subnet mask is applied to the address of this virtual server for traffic filtering. The value 0 is used to specifiy that the address mask of the virtual server is unknown or not used.

CiscoIpProtocolIP protocol number range.Reference: Internet Protocol. J. Postel. RFC791 (0..255) · Integer32

The protocol for the virtual server IP address.

InetPortNumberRepresents a 16 bit port number of an Internet transport layer protocol. Port numbers are assigned by IANA. A current list of all assignments is available from <http://www.iana.org/>. The value zero is object-specific and must be defined as part of the description of any object that uses this syntax. Examples of the usage of zero might include situations where a port number is unknown, or when the value zero is used as a wildcard in a filter.Reference: STD 6 (RFC 768), STD 7 (RFC 793) and RFC 2960 (0..65535) · Unsigned32 · hint d

This object identifies the port number of the virtual server that is used in loadbalancing decisions. This has to be less than or equal to slbVServerPortHigh.

InetPortNumberRepresents a 16 bit port number of an Internet transport layer protocol. Port numbers are assigned by IANA. A current list of all assignments is available from <http://www.iana.org/>. The value zero is object-specific and must be defined as part of the description of any object that uses this syntax. Examples of the usage of zero might include situations where a port number is unknown, or when the value zero is used as a wildcard in a filter.Reference: STD 6 (RFC 768), STD 7 (RFC 793) and RFC 2960 (0..65535) · Unsigned32 · hint d

This object identifies the upper bound of the port number of the virtual server that is used in loadbalancing decisions. This has to be greater than or equal to slbVServerPortLow.

StorageType1 = other2 = volatile3 = nonVolatile4 = permanent5 = readOnlyDescribes the memory realization of a conceptual row. A row which is volatile(2) is lost upon reboot. A row which is either nonVolatile(3), permanent(4) or readOnly(5), is backed up by stable storage. A row which is permanent(4) can be changed but not deleted. A row which is readOnly(5) cannot be changed nor deleted. If the value of an object with this syntax is either permanent(4) or readOnly(5), it cannot be written. Conversely, if the value is either other(1), volatile(2) or nonVolatile(3), it cannot be modified to be permanent(4) or readOnly(5). (All illegal modifications result in a 'wrongValue' error.) Every usage of this textual convention is required to specify the columnar objects which a permanent(4) row must at a minimum allow to be writable. · Integer32

The storage type for this conceptual row.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

This object is used to create/delete entries in this table.

Unsigned32

The index to internal structures for the connection.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The IP address of the virtual server.

CiscoPortThe TCP or UDP port number range.Reference: Transmission Control Protocol. J. Postel. RFC793, User Datagram Protocol. J. Postel. RFC768 (0..65535) · Integer32

The port of the virtual server.

CiscoIpProtocolIP protocol number range.Reference: Internet Protocol. J. Postel. RFC791 (0..255) · Integer32

The connection protocol.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The client IP address.

CiscoPortThe TCP or UDP port number range.Reference: Transmission Control Protocol. J. Postel. RFC793, User Datagram Protocol. J. Postel. RFC768 (0..65535) · Integer32

The client port.

SlbConnectionState1 = init2 = synClient3 = synServer4 = synBoth5 = estab6 = finClient7 = finServer8 = closing9 = zombie10 = conclient11 = conserverThe state for TCP, UDP, and WSP connections being load-balanced by the SLB feature. Each protocol uses a subset of these states. 'init' : Connection has seen traffic and is in the process of being load-balanced. 'synClient': SLB has seen a client SYN for this connection. 'synServer': SLB has seen a server SYN for this connection. 'synBoth' : SLB has seen both client and server SYNs for this connection. 'estab' : Connection is established. 'finClient': SLB has seen a client FIN for this connection. 'finServer': SLB has seen a server FIN for this connection. 'closing' : Connection is in the process of coming down. 'zombie' : Connection exists but is not in use, waiting for timers to expire. 'conclient': Session has seen a connection request from client. 'conserver': Session has seen a connection request from server. · Integer32

The current state of this connection.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The IP Address of the real server to which this client is being load-balanced.

CiscoPortThe TCP or UDP port number range.Reference: Transmission Control Protocol. J. Postel. RFC793, User Datagram Protocol. J. Postel. RFC768 (0..65535) · Integer32

The port number at the real server to which this client is being load-balanced.

Gauge32

The number of netflow cache entries for this connection. An entry for a terminated connection cannot be deleted while this number is non-zero.

Counter32

The number of SYNs seen from client.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The IP address of the client. It is used along with the slbVirtualClientMask to represent subsets of client traffic being handled by the particular virtual server.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The general purpose mask of the client. It is used along with the slbVirtualClientIpAddress to represent subsets of client traffic being handled by the particular virtual server.

TruthValue1 = true2 = falseRepresents a boolean value. · Integer32

The truth value that determines if the client range should be included or excluded on the virtual server.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The row status is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbVirtualClientTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

Unsigned32 (1..65535)

The group ID for this sticky object.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The client IP address with which this object is associated.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The real server IP address selected for all clients bound to this sticky object.

Gauge32

The number of connections currently associated with this sticky object.

Gauge32

The number of FTP control connections currently associated with this sticky object.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The row status is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbStickyObjectTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

SlbPasswordStringThe string for the Dynamic Feedback Protocol (DFP) password. A zero-length value when writing this object will unset the password. SIZE (0..32) · OCTET STRING

The pending password which will be used by DFP for MD5 authentication within password timeout ticks. When read, this object returns a zero-length string and writing a zero-length string unsets the password. If this object is modified twice within the time interval given by slbDfpPasswordTimeout, the password and timeout of the first modification are forgotten and replaced by the password and timeout of the second.

TimeIntervalA period of time, measured in units of 0.01 seconds. (0..2147483647) · Integer32

The time interval between the setting of the pending password and the removal of the current password.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The object is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbDfpPasswordTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The DFP agent's IP address.

CiscoPortThe TCP or UDP port number range.Reference: Transmission Control Protocol. J. Postel. RFC793, User Datagram Protocol. J. Postel. RFC768 (0..65535) · Integer32

The DFP agent's port.

SlbDfpAgentState1 = notOpen2 = trying3 = connecting4 = open5 = failed6 = securityErrorThe status of a remote Dynamic Feedback Protocol (DFP) agent as it appears to a local DFP manager. 'notOpen' : The initial state when the DFP Agent block is instantiated. 'trying' : The state when the Agent tries to open the socket to the DFP manger. 'connecting' : The state when the Agent opens the socket, and is connecting to the DFP manager. 'open' : The state when an Agent is talking to the DFP manager. This is the desirable place to be. 'failed' : The state when there is an error in the data, or when the maximum number of retries is reached. 'securityError' : The state when there is a security error in the received message. Either there is no security vector when one was required, or the MD5 string in the message did not match the expected result (password not correct). · Integer32

The state of the DFP agent.

TimeIntervalA period of time, measured in units of 0.01 seconds. (0..2147483647) · Integer32

Time interval during which the agent must send at least one message to the manager.

Unsigned32 (0..65535)

The number of times the manager will attempt to re-establish a connection with the agent. If this value is exceeded, the agent is placed in 'failed' state, and the manager does not attempt to re-establish a connection with the agent.

TimeIntervalA period of time, measured in units of 0.01 seconds. (0..2147483647) · Integer32

Time interval before SLB retries connecting to a DFP agent.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The row status is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbDfpAgentTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

IpAddress SIZE (4)

The DFP agent's IP address

CiscoIpProtocolIP protocol number range.Reference: Internet Protocol. J. Postel. RFC791 (0..255) · Integer32

The protocol of the real server.

CiscoPortThe TCP or UDP port number range.Reference: Transmission Control Protocol. J. Postel. RFC793, User Datagram Protocol. J. Postel. RFC768 (0..65535) · Integer32

The port number of the real server.

Unsigned32

The Bind ID identifies one or more server farms to which the real server belongs. The real servers are identified by finding rows in slbServerFarmTable for which slbServerFarmBindId matches slbDfpRealBindId. For each identified server farm, extract the slbServerFarmName and use this value together with slbDfpRealIpAddress and slbDfpRealPort to identify the row in slbRealTable.

Unsigned32 (0..65535)

The weight of the real server reported from a DFP agent. The weight represents a relative capacity to accept new connections.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The row status is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbDfpRealTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

SnmpAdminStringAn octet string containing administrative information, preferably in human-readable form. To facilitate internationalization, this information is represented using the ISO/IEC IS 10646-1 character set, encoded as an octet string using the UTF-8 transformation format described in [RFC2279]. Since additional code points are added by amendments to the 10646 standard from time to time, implementations must be prepared to encounter any code point from 0x00000000 to 0x7fffffff. Byte sequences that do not correspond to the valid UTF-8 encoding of a code point or are outside this range are prohibited. The use of control codes should be avoided. When it is necessary to represent a newline, the control code sequence CR LF should be used. The use of leading or trailing white space should be avoided. For code points not directly supported by user interface hardware or software, an alternative means of entry and display, such as hexadecimal, may be provided. For information encoded in 7-bit US-ASCII, the UTF-8 encoding is identical to the US-ASCII encoding. UTF-8 may require multiple bytes to represent a single character / code point; thus the length of this object in octets may be different from the number of characters encoded. Similarly, size constraints refer to the number of encoded octets, not the number of characters represented by an encoding. Note that when this TC is used for an object that is used or envisioned to be used as an index, then a SIZE restriction MUST be specified so that the number of sub-identifiers for any object instance does not exceed the limit of 128, as defined by [RFC3416]. Note that the size of an SnmpAdminString object is measured in octets, not characters. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING · hint 255t

The unique identifier required by SASP for all load balancers. In a redundant system, where there is a master and backup load balancer, each load balancer must have different identifiers. The slbSaspIdentifier may only be changed when the slbSaspEnabled object is false. The default value of the slbSaspIdentfier is 'Cisco-<LB>', where <LB> is the Cisco acronoym for the load balancer.

TruthValue1 = true2 = falseRepresents a boolean value. · Integer32

Indicates whether the SASP functionality is currently in use by the load balancer. 'true' The SASP functionality is enabled on the load balancer. 'false' The SASP functionality is disabled on the load balancer.

SlbSaspLBHealth1 = other2 = idle3 = down4 = saturated5 = overUsed6 = msgLimitReached7 = heavyLoad8 = moderateLoad9 = lightLoad10 = healthyThe Load Balancer Health that is reported to the SASP Agent in the Set Load Balancer State Message. This value represents the load balancers ability to handle SASP messages. 'other' : The load balancer health when none of the other values apply. 'idle' : SASP is enabled on the load balancer, but no SASP Agents or Members are configured. 'down' : The load balancer cannot handle any SASP messages at this time. 'saturated' : The load balancer is failing to process SASP messages in a timely manner, and messages are being lost. 'overUsed' : The load balancer is failing to process SASP messages in a timely manner. 'msgLimitReached': The load balancer has reached it functional limit in its ability to handle SASP messages. Additional work should be avoided. 'heavyLoad' : A plethora of SASP messages are sent and received for a modest to large number of SASP Agents and Members. 'moderateLoad' : SASP messages are sent on a regular basis for a small to modest number of SASP Agents and Members. 'lightLoad' : SASP messages are sent and received on a consistent basis, over a long period of time, for a small number of SASP Agents and Members. 'healthy' : SASP messages are sporadically being sent and received by the load balancer for a small number of SASP Agents and Members. · Integer32

The health value reported to the SASP Agents via the Set Load Balancer State Message. The value represents the load balancer's ability to handle SASP messages.

SlbSaspRedundancy1 = other2 = master3 = backupThe redundancy state of the Load Balancer. 'other' : The redundant state of the Load Balancer when none of the other states apply. 'master' : The redundant state of the Load Balancer if it is not in a redundant setup, or is the active system used in a redundant setup. 'backup' : The redundant state of the Load Balancer if it is the idle system in a redundant setup. · Integer32

The Load Balancer's state in a redundant setup. The Load Balancer may still contact the SASP Agents, which are defined in the slbSaspAgentTable, regardless of the state. This is possible because every Load Balancer contacting a SASP Agent is required to have it's own unique identifier. Therefore, the master and backup Load Balancer MUST have different unique identifiers.

Unsigned32

The maximum number of SASP Agents that can be configured on the Load Balancer. The SASP Agents are configured via the slbSaspAgentTable.

Unsigned32

The maximum weight supported by the Load Balancer. Any weight reported for a SASP Member, which can be found within the slbSaspMemberSaspWeight object, MUST be converted to the Load Balancer's weight range. The minimum weight for a Load Balancer MUST be zero. A weight of zero indicates that the SASP Member is down and that the Member is not going to receive new connections.

InetAddressType0 = unknown1 = ipv42 = ipv63 = ipv4z4 = ipv6z16 = dnsA value that represents a type of Internet address. unknown(0) An unknown address type. This value MUST be used if the value of the corresponding InetAddress object is a zero-length string. It may also be used to indicate an IP address that is not in one of the formats defined below. ipv4(1) An IPv4 address as defined by the InetAddressIPv4 textual convention. ipv6(2) An IPv6 address as defined by the InetAddressIPv6 textual convention. ipv4z(3) A non-global IPv4 address including a zone index as defined by the InetAddressIPv4z textual convention. ipv6z(4) A non-global IPv6 address including a zone index as defined by the InetAddressIPv6z textual convention. dns(16) A DNS domain name as defined by the InetAddressDNS textual convention. Each definition of a concrete InetAddressType value must be accompanied by a definition of a textual convention for use with that InetAddressType. To support future extensions, the InetAddressType textual convention SHOULD NOT be sub-typed in object type definitions. It MAY be sub-typed in compliance statements in order to require only a subset of these address types for a compliant implementation. Implementations must ensure that InetAddressType objects and any dependent objects (e.g., InetAddress objects) are consistent. An inconsistentValue error must be generated if an attempt to change an InetAddressType object would, for example, lead to an undefined InetAddress value. In particular, InetAddressType/InetAddress pairs must be changed together if the address type changes (e.g., from ipv6(2) to ipv4(1)). · Integer32

Defines the IP address type used by the slbSaspAgentIpAddress.

InetAddressDenotes a generic Internet address. An InetAddress value is always interpreted within the context of an InetAddressType value. Every usage of the InetAddress textual convention is required to specify the InetAddressType object that provides the context. It is suggested that the InetAddressType object be logically registered before the object(s) that use the InetAddress textual convention, if they appear in the same logical row. The value of an InetAddress object must always be consistent with the value of the associated InetAddressType object. Attempts to set an InetAddress object to a value inconsistent with the associated InetAddressType must fail with an inconsistentValue error. When this textual convention is used as the syntax of an index object, there may be issues with the limit of 128 sub-identifiers specified in SMIv2, STD 58. In this case, the object definition MUST include a 'SIZE' clause to limit the number of potential instance sub-identifiers; otherwise the applicable constraints MUST be stated in the appropriate conceptual row DESCRIPTION clauses, or in the surrounding documentation if there is no single DESCRIPTION clause that is appropriate. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING

The IP address of the SASP Agent that is used for weight reporting.

InetPortNumberRepresents a 16 bit port number of an Internet transport layer protocol. Port numbers are assigned by IANA. A current list of all assignments is available from <http://www.iana.org/>. The value zero is object-specific and must be defined as part of the description of any object that uses this syntax. Examples of the usage of zero might include situations where a port number is unknown, or when the value zero is used as a wildcard in a filter.Reference: STD 6 (RFC 768), STD 7 (RFC 793) and RFC 2960 (0..65535) · Unsigned32 · hint d

The TCP Port number used when connecting to a SASP Agent.

SnmpAdminStringAn octet string containing administrative information, preferably in human-readable form. To facilitate internationalization, this information is represented using the ISO/IEC IS 10646-1 character set, encoded as an octet string using the UTF-8 transformation format described in [RFC2279]. Since additional code points are added by amendments to the 10646 standard from time to time, implementations must be prepared to encounter any code point from 0x00000000 to 0x7fffffff. Byte sequences that do not correspond to the valid UTF-8 encoding of a code point or are outside this range are prohibited. The use of control codes should be avoided. When it is necessary to represent a newline, the control code sequence CR LF should be used. The use of leading or trailing white space should be avoided. For code points not directly supported by user interface hardware or software, an alternative means of entry and display, such as hexadecimal, may be provided. For information encoded in 7-bit US-ASCII, the UTF-8 encoding is identical to the US-ASCII encoding. UTF-8 may require multiple bytes to represent a single character / code point; thus the length of this object in octets may be different from the number of characters encoded. Similarly, size constraints refer to the number of encoded octets, not the number of characters represented by an encoding. Note that when this TC is used for an object that is used or envisioned to be used as an index, then a SIZE restriction MUST be specified so that the number of sub-identifiers for any object instance does not exceed the limit of 128, as defined by [RFC3416]. Note that the size of an SnmpAdminString object is measured in octets, not characters. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING · hint 255t

A label that can be assigned by the user for the SASP Agent during entry creation. The label should be in a human readable form that describes the SASP Agent. The description could be the physical location of the Agent or some other field relevant to the user. The label is provided for informational purposes only, and it does not affect the operation of the SASP Agent.

SlbSaspAgentState1 = other2 = initialized3 = closed4 = trying5 = connecting6 = established7 = downTrying8 = downDuplicate9 = downThe status of a remote Server Application State Protocol (SASP) Agent as it appears to a local SASP manager. 'other' : The state the Agent enters when none of the other states apply. 'initialized' : The initial state when the SASP Agent memory is created. 'closed' : The state the SASP Agent enters when the SASP functionality is disabled, but the Agent has not been removed. 'trying' : The state when the Agent tries to open the socket to the SASP manger. 'connecting' : The state when the SASP Manager opens the socket, and is connecting to the SASP Agent. 'established' : The state when an Agent is communicating with the SASP manager. This is the desirable place to be. 'downTrying' : The state when there is a communication failure with the SASP Agent, and the load balancer is attempting to reconnect to the Agent. 'downDuplicate' : The Agent enters this state if a duplicate load balancer identifier is detected on the network. 'down' : The state of the Agent when there is a communication failure, and the load balancer is unable to re-establish the connection. · Integer32

The current connection state of the SASP Agent. The load balancer does not give up trying to reach the SASP Agent when it is down.

DateAndTimeA date-time specification. field octets contents range ----- ------ -------- ----- 1 1-2 year* 0..65536 2 3 month 1..12 3 4 day 1..31 4 5 hour 0..23 5 6 minutes 0..59 6 7 seconds 0..60 (use 60 for leap-second) 7 8 deci-seconds 0..9 8 9 direction from UTC '+' / '-' 9 10 hours from UTC* 0..13 10 11 minutes from UTC 0..59 * Notes: - the value of year is in network-byte order - daylight saving time in New Zealand is +13 For example, Tuesday May 26, 1992 at 1:30:15 PM EDT would be displayed as: 1992-5-26,13:30:15.0,-4:0 Note that if only local time is known, then timezone information (fields 8-10) is not present. SIZE (8 | 11) · OCTET STRING · hint 2d-1d-1d,1d:1d:1d.1d,1a1d:1d

Displays the date and time of the last state change that was incurred by the Agent. The time that is reported is only local time, so the timezone portion of the DateAndTime TC will not be specified.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The row status is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbSaspAgentTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

SnmpAdminStringAn octet string containing administrative information, preferably in human-readable form. To facilitate internationalization, this information is represented using the ISO/IEC IS 10646-1 character set, encoded as an octet string using the UTF-8 transformation format described in [RFC2279]. Since additional code points are added by amendments to the 10646 standard from time to time, implementations must be prepared to encounter any code point from 0x00000000 to 0x7fffffff. Byte sequences that do not correspond to the valid UTF-8 encoding of a code point or are outside this range are prohibited. The use of control codes should be avoided. When it is necessary to represent a newline, the control code sequence CR LF should be used. The use of leading or trailing white space should be avoided. For code points not directly supported by user interface hardware or software, an alternative means of entry and display, such as hexadecimal, may be provided. For information encoded in 7-bit US-ASCII, the UTF-8 encoding is identical to the US-ASCII encoding. UTF-8 may require multiple bytes to represent a single character / code point; thus the length of this object in octets may be different from the number of characters encoded. Similarly, size constraints refer to the number of encoded octets, not the number of characters represented by an encoding. Note that when this TC is used for an object that is used or envisioned to be used as an index, then a SIZE restriction MUST be specified so that the number of sub-identifiers for any object instance does not exceed the limit of 128, as defined by [RFC3416]. Note that the size of an SnmpAdminString object is measured in octets, not characters. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING · hint 255t

The SASP group represents the group of SASP Members that have the same functional capabilities.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The row status is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbSaspGroupTable following the RowStatus textual convention. Removing the group from this table would have the effect of removing all of the SASP Members associated with this group from the SASP Member table.

InetAddressType0 = unknown1 = ipv42 = ipv63 = ipv4z4 = ipv6z16 = dnsA value that represents a type of Internet address. unknown(0) An unknown address type. This value MUST be used if the value of the corresponding InetAddress object is a zero-length string. It may also be used to indicate an IP address that is not in one of the formats defined below. ipv4(1) An IPv4 address as defined by the InetAddressIPv4 textual convention. ipv6(2) An IPv6 address as defined by the InetAddressIPv6 textual convention. ipv4z(3) A non-global IPv4 address including a zone index as defined by the InetAddressIPv4z textual convention. ipv6z(4) A non-global IPv6 address including a zone index as defined by the InetAddressIPv6z textual convention. dns(16) A DNS domain name as defined by the InetAddressDNS textual convention. Each definition of a concrete InetAddressType value must be accompanied by a definition of a textual convention for use with that InetAddressType. To support future extensions, the InetAddressType textual convention SHOULD NOT be sub-typed in object type definitions. It MAY be sub-typed in compliance statements in order to require only a subset of these address types for a compliant implementation. Implementations must ensure that InetAddressType objects and any dependent objects (e.g., InetAddress objects) are consistent. An inconsistentValue error must be generated if an attempt to change an InetAddressType object would, for example, lead to an undefined InetAddress value. In particular, InetAddressType/InetAddress pairs must be changed together if the address type changes (e.g., from ipv6(2) to ipv4(1)). · Integer32

Defines the IP address type of the slbSaspMemberIpAddress.

InetAddressDenotes a generic Internet address. An InetAddress value is always interpreted within the context of an InetAddressType value. Every usage of the InetAddress textual convention is required to specify the InetAddressType object that provides the context. It is suggested that the InetAddressType object be logically registered before the object(s) that use the InetAddress textual convention, if they appear in the same logical row. The value of an InetAddress object must always be consistent with the value of the associated InetAddressType object. Attempts to set an InetAddress object to a value inconsistent with the associated InetAddressType must fail with an inconsistentValue error. When this textual convention is used as the syntax of an index object, there may be issues with the limit of 128 sub-identifiers specified in SMIv2, STD 58. In this case, the object definition MUST include a 'SIZE' clause to limit the number of potential instance sub-identifiers; otherwise the applicable constraints MUST be stated in the appropriate conceptual row DESCRIPTION clauses, or in the surrounding documentation if there is no single DESCRIPTION clause that is appropriate. SIZE (0..255) · OCTET STRING

The IP address of the member. The IP address, along with the port and protocol type, is registered with the SASP Agent. The SASP Agent includes this information when reporting the weights for each member in either the 'Get Weights Reply' or the 'Send Weights Message'.

InetPortNumberRepresents a 16 bit port number of an Internet transport layer protocol. Port numbers are assigned by IANA. A current list of all assignments is available from <http://www.iana.org/>. The value zero is object-specific and must be defined as part of the description of any object that uses this syntax. Examples of the usage of zero might include situations where a port number is unknown, or when the value zero is used as a wildcard in a filter.Reference: STD 6 (RFC 768), STD 7 (RFC 793) and RFC 2960 (0..65535) · Unsigned32 · hint d

The TCP or UDP port number associated with the slbSaspMemberIpAddress. The port number, along with the IP address and protocol type, is registered with the SASP Agent. The SASP Agent includes this information when reporting the weights for each member in either the 'Get Weights Reply' or the 'Send Weights Message'.

CiscoIpProtocolIP protocol number range.Reference: Internet Protocol. J. Postel. RFC791 (0..255) · Integer32

The IP protocol type that is associated with the slbSaspMemberIpAddress and slbSaspMemberPort. The protocol type, along with the IP address and port number, is registered with the SASP Agent. The SASP Agent includes this information when reporting the weights for each member in either the 'Get Weights Reply' or the 'Send Weights Message'.

Unsigned32 (0..65535)

The reported weight by the SASP Agent. The weights are reported via the 'Send Weights Message' or in the 'Get Weights Reply'. The reported weight MUST be converted to be within the Load Balancer's supported weight range, specified by the slbSaspMaxLbWeight object. The resulting weight value will be stored in the slbSaspMemberConvertedWeight object.

TruthValue1 = true2 = falseRepresents a boolean value. · Integer32

Represents the SASP Agent's confidence in the reported weight. 'true' Indicates the slbSaspMemberSaspWeight value is accurate and reflects the up-to-date real-time statistics collected by the SASP Agent. 'false' Indicates the SASP Agent is guessing the weight of the member based on prior knowledge. It is at the load balancer's discretion whether or not to use this weight. If not, the default weight must be used (slbSaspMemberDefaultWeight).

Unsigned32 (0..65535)

The SASP weight converted to the local load balancer weight range. The load balancer's weight range is implementation dependent, as is the formula used to convert the weight. The following formula is an example weight conversion that could be used by the load balancer: answer => slbSaspMemberConvertedWeight maxLbWgt => slbSaspMaxLbWeight mbrSaspWgt => slbSaspMemberSaspWeight answer = ((mbrSaspWgt * maxLbWgt) / 65535) + 1 Note: There are two edge cases that need to be considered; when the mbrSaspWgt is 0 and 65535. If the mbrSaspWgt is 0, then the converted weight must also be 0 (the result of the calculation would be 1). If the mbrSaspWgt is 65535, then the converted weight must be the load balancers maximum weight (the result of the calculation would be the load balancers maxiumum weight plus 1).

Unsigned32 (0..65535)

The default weight assigned to the member if any SASP Agent weight reporting failure occurs. If there is a communication failure or if the slbSaspMemberConfidentWeight is false, then the load balancer should use this weight as its fallback weight when making load balancing decisions.

Counter32

The total number of times the weight has been modified by the SASP Agent.

DateAndTimeA date-time specification. field octets contents range ----- ------ -------- ----- 1 1-2 year* 0..65536 2 3 month 1..12 3 4 day 1..31 4 5 hour 0..23 5 6 minutes 0..59 6 7 seconds 0..60 (use 60 for leap-second) 7 8 deci-seconds 0..9 8 9 direction from UTC '+' / '-' 9 10 hours from UTC* 0..13 10 11 minutes from UTC 0..59 * Notes: - the value of year is in network-byte order - daylight saving time in New Zealand is +13 For example, Tuesday May 26, 1992 at 1:30:15 PM EDT would be displayed as: 1992-5-26,13:30:15.0,-4:0 Note that if only local time is known, then timezone information (fields 8-10) is not present. SIZE (8 | 11) · OCTET STRING · hint 2d-1d-1d,1d:1d:1d.1d,1a1d:1d

Displays the date and time of the last weight change. The time that is reported is only local time, so the timezone portion of the DateAndTime TC will not be specified. If there have been no reports, the empty string is returned.

RowStatus1 = active2 = notInService3 = notReady4 = createAndGo5 = createAndWait6 = destroyThe RowStatus textual convention is used to manage the creation and deletion of conceptual rows, and is used as the value of the SYNTAX clause for the status column of a conceptual row (as described in Section 7.7.1 of [2].) The status column has six defined values: - `active', which indicates that the conceptual row is available for use by the managed device; - `notInService', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is unavailable for use by the managed device (see NOTE below); 'notInService' has no implication regarding the internal consistency of the row, availability of resources, or consistency with the current state of the managed device; - `notReady', which indicates that the conceptual row exists in the agent, but is missing information necessary in order to be available for use by the managed device (i.e., one or more required columns in the conceptual row have not been instanciated); - `createAndGo', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row and to have its status automatically set to active, making it available for use by the managed device; - `createAndWait', which is supplied by a management station wishing to create a new instance of a conceptual row (but not make it available for use by the managed device); and, - `destroy', which is supplied by a management station wishing to delete all of the instances associated with an existing conceptual row. Whereas five of the six values (all except `notReady') may be specified in a management protocol set operation, only three values will be returned in response to a management protocol retrieval operation: `notReady', `notInService' or `active'. That is, when queried, an existing conceptual row has only three states: it is either available for use by the managed device (the status column has value `active'); it is not available for use by the managed device, though the agent has sufficient information to attempt to make it so (the status column has value `notInService'); or, it is not available for use by the managed device, and an attempt to make it so would fail because the agent has insufficient information (the state column has value `notReady'). NOTE WELL This textual convention may be used for a MIB table, irrespective of whether the values of that table's conceptual rows are able to be modified while it is active, or whether its conceptual rows must be taken out of service in order to be modified. That is, it is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to specify whether the status column must not be `active' in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified. If such a specification is made, affected columns may be changed by an SNMP set PDU if the RowStatus would not be equal to `active' either immediately before or after processing the PDU. In other words, if the PDU also contained a varbind that would change the RowStatus value, the column in question may be changed if the RowStatus was not equal to `active' as the PDU was received, or if the varbind sets the status to a value other than 'active'. Also note that whenever any elements of a row exist, the RowStatus column must also exist. To summarize the effect of having a conceptual row with a status column having a SYNTAX clause value of RowStatus, consider the following state diagram: STATE +--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- | A | B | C | D | |status col.|status column| |status column | is | is |status column ACTION |does not exist| notReady | notInService| is active --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError ->D|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndGo |inconsistent- | | | | Value| | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError see 1|inconsist- |inconsistent-|inconsistent- column to | or | entValue| Value| Value createAndWait |wrongValue | | | --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError column to | Value| entValue| | active | | | | | | or | | | | | | | |see 2 ->D|see 8 ->D| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |inconsistent- |inconsist- |noError |noError ->C column to | Value| entValue| | notInService | | | | | | or | | or | | | | | |see 3 ->C| ->C|see 6 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set status |noError |noError |noError |noError ->A column to | | | | or destroy | ->A| ->A| ->A|see 7 --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- set any other |see 4 |noError |noError |see 5 column to some| | | | value | | see 1| ->C| ->D --------------+--------------+-----------+-------------+------------- (1) goto B or C, depending on information available to the agent. (2) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide values for all columns which are missing but required, and all columns have acceptable values, then return noError and goto D. (3) if other variable bindings included in the same PDU, provide legal values for all columns which are missing but required, then return noError and goto C. (4) at the discretion of the agent, the return value may be either: inconsistentName: because the agent does not choose to create such an instance when the corresponding RowStatus instance does not exist, or inconsistentValue: if the supplied value is inconsistent with the state of some other MIB object's value, or noError: because the agent chooses to create the instance. If noError is returned, then the instance of the status column must also be created, and the new state is B or C, depending on the information available to the agent. If inconsistentName or inconsistentValue is returned, the row remains in state A. (5) depending on the MIB definition for the column/table, either noError or inconsistentValue may be returned. (6) the return value can indicate one of the following errors: wrongValue: because the agent does not support notInService (e.g., an agent which does not support createAndWait), or inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to take the row out of service at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (7) the return value can indicate the following error: inconsistentValue: because the agent is unable to remove the row at this time, perhaps because it is in use and cannot be de-activated. (8) the transition to D can fail, e.g., if the values of the conceptual row are inconsistent, then the error code would be inconsistentValue. NOTE: Other processing of (this and other varbinds of) the set request may result in a response other than noError being returned, e.g., wrongValue, noCreation, etc. Conceptual Row Creation There are four potential interactions when creating a conceptual row: selecting an instance-identifier which is not in use; creating the conceptual row; initializing any objects for which the agent does not supply a default; and, making the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. Interaction 1: Selecting an Instance-Identifier The algorithm used to select an instance-identifier varies for each conceptual row. In some cases, the instance- identifier is semantically significant, e.g., the destination address of a route, and a management station selects the instance-identifier according to the semantics. In other cases, the instance-identifier is used solely to distinguish conceptual rows, and a management station without specific knowledge of the conceptual row might examine the instances present in order to determine an unused instance-identifier. (This approach may be used, but it is often highly sub-optimal; however, it is also a questionable practice for a naive management station to attempt conceptual row creation.) Alternately, the MIB module which defines the conceptual row might provide one or more objects which provide assistance in determining an unused instance-identifier. For example, if the conceptual row is indexed by an integer-value, then an object having an integer-valued SYNTAX clause might be defined for such a purpose, allowing a management station to issue a management protocol retrieval operation. In order to avoid unnecessary collisions between competing management stations, `adjacent' retrievals of this object should be different. Finally, the management station could select a pseudo-random number to use as the index. In the event that this index was already in use and an inconsistentValue was returned in response to the management protocol set operation, the management station should simply select a new pseudo-random number and retry the operation. A MIB designer should choose between the two latter algorithms based on the size of the table (and therefore the efficiency of each algorithm). For tables in which a large number of entries are expected, it is recommended that a MIB object be defined that returns an acceptable index for creation. For tables with small numbers of entries, it is recommended that the latter pseudo-random index mechanism be used. Interaction 2: Creating the Conceptual Row Once an unused instance-identifier has been selected, the management station determines if it wishes to create and activate the conceptual row in one transaction or in a negotiated set of interactions. Interaction 2a: Creating and Activating the Conceptual Row The management station must first determine the column requirements, i.e., it must determine those columns for which it must or must not provide values. Depending on the complexity of the table and the management station's knowledge of the agent's capabilities, this determination can be made locally by the management station. Alternately, the management station issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the conceptual row that it wishes to create. In response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that some other management station has already created this conceptual row. We return to interaction 1. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it should supply a value for this column when the conceptual row is to be created. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. Once the column requirements have been determined, a management protocol set operation is accordingly issued. This operation also sets the new instance of the status column to `createAndGo'. When the agent processes the set operation, it verifies that it has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. The information available to the agent is provided by two sources: the management protocol set operation which creates the conceptual row, and, implementation-specific defaults supplied by the agent (note that an agent must provide implementation-specific defaults for at least those objects which it implements as read-only). If there is sufficient information available, then the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, the status column is set to `active', and no further interactions are necessary (i.e., interactions 3 and 4 are skipped). If there is insufficient information, then the conceptual row is not created, and the set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. On this error, the management station can issue a management protocol retrieval operation to determine if this was because it failed to specify a value for a required column, or, because the selected instance of the status column already existed. In the latter case, we return to interaction 1. In the former case, the management station can re-issue the set operation with the additional information, or begin interaction 2 again using `createAndWait' in order to negotiate creation of the conceptual row. NOTE WELL Regardless of the method used to determine the column requirements, it is possible that the management station might deem a column necessary when, in fact, the agent will not allow that particular columnar instance to be created or written. In this case, the management protocol set operation will fail with an error such as `noCreation' or `notWritable'. In this case, the management station decides whether it needs to be able to set a value for that particular columnar instance. If not, the management station re-issues the management protocol set operation, but without setting a value for that particular columnar instance; otherwise, the management station aborts the row creation algorithm. Interaction 2b: Negotiating the Creation of the Conceptual Row The management station issues a management protocol set operation which sets the desired instance of the status column to `createAndWait'. If the agent is unwilling to process a request of this sort, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue'. (As a consequence, such an agent must be prepared to accept a single management protocol set operation, i.e., interaction 2a above, containing all of the columns indicated by its column requirements.) Otherwise, the conceptual row is created, a `noError' response is returned, and the status column is immediately set to either `notInService' or `notReady', depending on whether it has sufficient information to (attempt to) make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device. If there is sufficient information available, then the status column is set to `notInService'; otherwise, if there is insufficient information, then the status column is set to `notReady'. Regardless, we proceed to interaction 3. Interaction 3: Initializing non-defaulted Objects The management station must now determine the column requirements. It issues a management protocol get operation to examine all columns in the created conceptual row. In the response, for each column, there are three possible outcomes: - a value is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column and had sufficient information to provide a value. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access (and for which the agent allows their values to be changed after their creation), a value return tells the management station that it may issue additional management protocol set operations, if it desires, in order to change the value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchInstance' is returned, indicating that the agent implements the object-type associated with this column, and that this column in at least one conceptual row would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval were it to exist. However, the agent does not have sufficient information to provide a value, and until a value is provided, the conceptual row may not be made available for use by the managed device. For those columns to which the agent provides read-create access, the `noSuchInstance' exception tells the management station that it must issue additional management protocol set operations, in order to provide a value associated with this column. - the exception `noSuchObject' is returned, indicating that the agent does not implement the object-type associated with this column or that there is no conceptual row for which this column would be accessible in the MIB view used by the retrieval. As such, the management station can not issue any management protocol set operations to create an instance of this column. If the value associated with the status column is `notReady', then the management station must first deal with all `noSuchInstance' columns, if any. Having done so, the value of the status column becomes `notInService', and we proceed to interaction 4. Interaction 4: Making the Conceptual Row Available Once the management station is satisfied with the values associated with the columns of the conceptual row, it issues a management protocol set operation to set the status column to `active'. If the agent has sufficient information to make the conceptual row available for use by the managed device, the management protocol set operation succeeds (a `noError' response is returned). Otherwise, the management protocol set operation fails with an error of `inconsistentValue'. NOTE WELL A conceptual row having a status column with value `notInService' or `notReady' is unavailable to the managed device. As such, it is possible for the managed device to create its own instances during the time between the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `createAndWait' and the management protocol set operation which sets the status column to `active'. In this case, when the management protocol set operation is issued to set the status column to `active', the values held in the agent supersede those used by the managed device. If the management station is prevented from setting the status column to `active' (e.g., due to management station or network failure) the conceptual row will be left in the `notInService' or `notReady' state, consuming resources indefinitely. The agent must detect conceptual rows that have been in either state for an abnormally long period of time and remove them. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate what an abnormally long period of time would be. This period of time should be long enough to allow for human response time (including `think time') between the creation of the conceptual row and the setting of the status to `active'. In the absence of such information in the DESCRIPTION clause, it is suggested that this period be approximately 5 minutes in length. This removal action applies not only to newly-created rows, but also to previously active rows which are set to, and left in, the notInService state for a prolonged period exceeding that which is considered normal for such a conceptual row. Conceptual Row Suspension When a conceptual row is `active', the management station may issue a management protocol set operation which sets the instance of the status column to `notInService'. If the agent is unwilling to do so, the set operation fails with an error of `wrongValue' or `inconsistentValue'. Otherwise, the conceptual row is taken out of service, and a `noError' response is returned. It is the responsibility of the DESCRIPTION clause of the status column to indicate under what circumstances the status column should be taken out of service (e.g., in order for the value of some other column of the same conceptual row to be modified). Conceptual Row Deletion For deletion of conceptual rows, a management protocol set operation is issued which sets the instance of the status column to `destroy'. This request may be made regardless of the current value of the status column (e.g., it is possible to delete conceptual rows which are either `notReady', `notInService' or `active'.) If the operation succeeds, then all instances associated with the conceptual row are immediately removed. · Integer32

The row status is used by a management station to create or delete the row entry in slbSaspMemberTable following the RowStatus textual convention.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Registration Requests transmitted from the load balancer to the SASP Agent. The registration message informs the Agent to start reporting the server weight for each member listed in the message.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Deregistration Requests transmitted from the load balancer to the SASP Agent. The deregistration message informs the Agent to stop reporting the server weight for each member listed in the message.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Get Weight Requests transmitted from the load balancer to the SASP Agent. The get weights message is only used when the load balancer is actively retrieving the weight for each member.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Set Load Balancer State Requests transmitted from the load balancer to the SASP Agent. The message is used to inform the SASP Agent of the load balancer's health and its current options.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Set Member State Requests transmitted from the load balancer to the SASP Agent. This message is used to inform the SASP Agent that a member has either been activated, or has dropped out of service.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Send Weight Messages received from the SASP Agent. This message is used to update the member weights when the load balancer is passively retrieving them.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Registration Replies received from the SASP Agent. This response indicates whether the transmitted registration request was successful, or had a failure.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Deregistration Replies received from the SASP Agent. This response indicates whether the transmitted request was successful, or had a failure.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Get Weight Replies received from the SASP Agent. This response contains the current weights for the requested members. This message is used when the load balancer is actively retrieving member weights.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Set Load Balancer State Replies received from the SASP Agent. The response indicates whether the transmitted request was successful, or had a failure.

Counter32

The total number of SASP Set Member State Replies received from the SASP Agent. The response indicates whether the transmitted request was successful, or had a failure.