Editor's Note:  Minutes received 12/20

CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_


Reported by Steve Waldbusser/CMU

Minutes of the Host Resources MIB Working Group (HOSTMIB)

Agenda


   o Administration
   o Identify New Issues
   o Resolve Issues

      -  Queues
      -  Networked printers
      -  In hrPrinterPrintPages, what is a page?

   o Plan/Conclusion


New Issues


   o swRunCPU
   o Parent ID
   o User ID
   o Terminal ID
   o International character set
   o Remote file systems (size, use, etc.)
   o Chassis MIB (as it relates to HostMIB)
   o Processor speed
   o Remote FS


Discussion and Resolution of Issues


  1. Queues (Three Choices Proposed):

       o Don't do queues.
       o Overload hrStorage to include queues.
       o Add a new table.

     The question was posed as to whether the host resources MIB was the
     appropriate place for queue management?  One point in favor was
     that queues are a good metric of system performance.  Against,
     queues are very specific to their use.  In other words, a print
     queue is different from a mail queue.  We can't do a decent job of
     representing queue specifics here in the host MIB. In conclusion
     the Group unanimously agreed that we should not manage queues in
     the host MIB.

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2. Network Printers
   Currently printer support is for local printers.  Remote FS is
   good.  Remote printer could be useful but is very different.
   PRO: Connecting to remote FS is the same (from a users perspective)
   as connecting to a remote printer, especially on a PC.
   CON: Remote FS is knowledge that is integral to the host OS.
   Printing is stateless and unknown by the host OS. Can we do a
   reasonable job of monitoring a network printer.  Is this a PC
   specific problem?  Should networked printers be handled in a
   printer MIB?
   Conclusion:  Do not support networked printers as a part of this
   MIB effort.  This discussion uncovered that we should add wording
   to MIB to indicate that we show all FS's that are system wide
   resources (as opposed to FS's which are specific to a user).

3. What is a Page?
   Proposal Number One is to drop hrPrinterPagesPrinted, and count
   octets instead.  An observation was made that 80% to 90% of the
   printers can not count octets.
   Proposal Number Two is to drop pagecount and add ``printer needs
   service'' bit in printer status.  This bit is an OR of the other
   need service bits AND any other service the printer knows it needs.
   Conclusion:  The Group agreed to support proposal Number Two and
   add the definition of BIT STRINGs from the snmpV2 effort to this
   MIB, encoded as an OCTET STRING.

4. swRunPerfCPU
   Conclusion:  A proposal was made to change this to count
   centi-seconds run rather than percentage.  The advantage to this
   scheme is that agent can look to process table (in typical OS
   environment) rather than have to maintain count at each interval
   (or task switch).
   In multiprocessor environments, this count is the sum of this
   process across all processors.  (Parent Process ID, user ID,
   terminal ID)
   Conclusion:  These are very OS specific and not appropriate in this
   MIB effort.

5. International Character Sets
   Discussion:  Should we tackle this complex problem in this MIB
   effort?  Is NLS support an SNMP problem and outside of our scope?
   Proposal:  Create a textual convention (TC) called ``characters''
   which is an octet string.  NMS should parse this to decide if it is
   printable ascii.
   Conclusion:  Modify the MIB to add the characters TC.

6. Size of Remote FS

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     Conclusion:  This is OS specific, so the Group agreed to withdraw
     this.

  7. Chassis MIB relationship to host MIB
     Discussion:  The chassisMIB is facing some interesting similarities
     to the hostMIB.
     Conclusion:  Interested individuals can work with the chassisMIB
     Working Group.  However, we won't do this as a function of the
     HOSTMIB Working Group.

  8. Processor Speed
     Conclusion:  Delete this as it is covered by ProductID.


Planning/Conclusion

Where do we go from here?

The Group reached consensus that all appropriate substantive issues had
been addressed and that the MIB should be submitted to the IESG for
publication as an RFC at the Proposed Standard level.  In particular,
this consensus was that the appropriate amount of effort had been placed
in identifying issues, and that each of these issues had been resolved.
Any further issues that might be identified after the meeting would be
addressed when the MIB is to go to Draft Standard.  Bug fixes and
clarifications during the final editing process would be agreed upon on
the mailing list.

The plan for the document is that Grillo and Waldbusser will make
changes based on the results of the meeting and make that document
available via FTP and a notification on the mailing list.  A week or two
of discussion would occur on issues of bug fixes and clarifications.
This would result in editing instructions that would be applied to the
MIB and the MIB would then be submitted to the internet-drafts directory
and to the IESG.

Attendees

Bill Bowman              bill@hpprsd.mayfield.hp.com
Stephen Bush             sfb@ncoast.org
Chris Chiotasso          chris@andr.ub.com
James Davin              davin@bellcore.com
Michael Davison          davison@fibercom.com
Manuel Diaz              diaz@davidsys.com
Jon Dreyer               Jon.Dreyer@east.sun.com
Raymond Edgerton         bellmf.edgerton@uwm.edu
Daniel Fauvarque         dfauvarq@france.sun.com
Pete Grillo              pl0143@mail.psi.net
Gerd Holzhauer           holzhauer1@applelink.apple.com
Kevin Jackson            kmj@concord.com
Ronald Jacoby            rj@sgi.com


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Mark Kepke               mak@cnd.hp.com
Zbigniew Kielczewski     zbig@eicon.qc.ca
Dwain Kinghorn           microsoft!dwaink@uunet.uu.net
Andrew Knutsen           andrewk@sco.com
David Lin                lind@janus-ccm.zenith.com
William McKenzie         mckenzie@ralvma.vnet.ibm.com
Patrick Mullaney         mullaney@ctron.com
David Orelowitz          david@c1st.microcom.com
Gaige Paulsen            gaige@intercon.com
Ed Reeder                ereeder@vnet.ibm.com
Bradley Rhoades          bdrhoades@mail.mmmg.com
Dan Romascanu            dan@lannet.com
Assaf Rubissa            asaf@fibhaifa.com
Jon Saperia              saperia@lkg.dec.com
Michael Sapich           sapich@conware.de
Timon Sloane             timon@rahul.net
Dean Throop              throop@dg-rtp.dg.com
Panos-Gavriil Tsigaridas Tsigaridas@fokus.berlin.gmd.dbp.de
Steven Waldbusser        waldbusser@andrew.cmu.edu



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