Network Management Area Directorate Open Meeting

Reported by Marshall Rose/Dover Beach Consulting


First Session

The 29 March meeting was divided into two hours of presentation and
discussion on SNMP multiplexing.  Three people had prepared
presentations, with 40 minutes allocated to each:  to speak and answer
questions.  The time remaining was spent on presentations and
discussions on topics other than SNMP security.

Bert Wijnen and Glenn Waters discussed DPI version 2.0 (defined in RFC
1592).  Both enhancements and fixes to DPI v 1.0 were discussed.
Although the original DPI specification (RFC 1228) contained a
description of an API and protocol, the current specification discusses
only the protocol; however, an API implementation is available via
anonymous FTP on software.watson.ibm.com in /public/dpi.  There is a
mailing list for discussion:  snmpdpi@watson.ibm.com.

Bert also made a brief presentation of a MIB module for extensible
agents, which is independent of the extensibility technology.

Aleksey Romanov discussed the Open Agent Architecture version 0.2.  The
specification (which is available via anonymous FTP on ftp.uu.net in
tmp/openagent.txt) describes an API used between a master agent and one
or more MIB-servers which are implemented as shared libraries within a
single process.

Jeff Case discussed EMANATE, which has a system-independent/dependent
architecture.  The system-independent API will be published in a
forthcoming document, whilst publication of the system-dependent APIs is
left to the individual platform vendors.  The EMANATE architecture is
based on an asynchronous message passing paradigm.

There was considerable interest in some sort of IETF standardization of
either an agent extensibility protocol or API or both.  The area
director re-iterated a policy that this was inappropriate for the IETF,
and suggested that members of the community who felt otherwise should
either appeal to the IESG or find some other vendor-neutral forum.

Next, Chris Wellens described the first SNMP Testing Summit held earlier
this year and outlined plans for the second Summit to be held between 27
June and 1 July in San Jose.  At this second summit, new tests will be
added for SNMPv2, MIB-II instrumentation testing, RMON instrumentation
testing, and more manager testing.  A test specification will be
available on 18 April.  Interested parties should send a note to
snmp-test-request@netcom.com to be added to the general discussion list.

Bill Norton suggested that an Informational RFC be published to
illuminate the most commonly discussed SNMP technical issues.


Second Session

The 30 March meeting was divided into two hours of presentation and
discussion on SNMP security.  One person had prepared a presentation.
The time remaining was spent on presentations and discussions on any
topic.

Steve Waldbusser discussed a proposal (described in three
Internet-Drafts) for simplifying the deployment of products which
implement SNMPv2 security by allowing a network operator to provide a
user/secret pair to a management application which then automatically
derives the SNMPv2 knowledge necessary for secure communications.  No
changes to SNMPv2 security are required, rather the proposal defines a
deployment convention layered on top of the existing SNMPv2 mechanisms.
The Security area will be asked to perform a review of the proposal to
ensure that SNMPv2 security is not weakened.  In the interim,
interoperability experience will be gained and reported.

Finally, Aleksey Romanov suggested that future work in the area might
focus on a protocol for communication between intra-NMS components.


Attendees

Nashwa Abdel-Baki        nashwa@frcu.eun.eg
Edward Alcoff            oldera@nat.com
Steve Alexander          stevea@lachman.com
Michael Allen            moallen@vnet.ibm.com
David Arneson            arneson@ctron.com
Bashir Ashrafi           bashraf@chipcom.com
Karl Auerbach            auerbach@ssds.com
Fred Baker               fbaker@acc.com
Jim Barnes               barnes@xylogics.com
Virinder Batra           batra@vnet.ibm.com
Gerard Berthet           gerard@indetech.com
Andy Bierman             abierman@synoptics.com
Uri Blumenthal           uri@watson.ibm.com
Tony Bogovic             tjb@bellcore.com
Michael Brescia          brescia@bbn.com
David Bridgham           dab@epilogue.com
David Brower             daveb@ingres.com
J. Nevil Brownlee        nevil@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz
Theodore Brunner         ted.brunner@tek.com
Carter Bullard           wcb@cert.org
Jeff Case                case@snmp.com
Paul Chang               pchangmac@asante.com
David Chen               dchen@vnet.ibm.com
Chris Chiotasso          chris@lightstream.com
Paul Ciarfella           ciarfella@took.lkg.dec.com
Frank Ciotti             frankc@telxon.com
Bobby Clay               clay@pscni.nasa.gov
Charles Combs            0003647213@mcimail.com
Richard Cornetti         cornetti@wg.com
Hugo da Cruz             hac@3com.com
Glen Daniels             gub@elf.com
Russell Dietz            Russell_Dietz@mcimail.com
Bob Downs                bdowns@combinet.com
David Engel              david@ods.com
Michael Erlinger         mike@jarthur.claremont.edu
Louis Fernandez          lff@sequent.com
Robert Fink              rlfink@lbl.gov
John Flick               johnf@hprnljf.rose.hp.com
James Galvin             galvin@tis.com
Christine Gressley       gressley@uiuc.edu
Walter Guilarte          guilarte@wg.com
Stuart Hale              stu_hale@vnet.ibm.com
Daniel Hansen            danh@ngc.com
Duane Harkness           duaneh@atc.boeing.com
Rebecca Higgins          rebeccah@wrq.com
Jeff Hodges              hodges@jessica.stanford.edu
Mike Holloway            mikeh@newbridge.com
John Hopprich            hopprich@davidsys.com
Jeff Hughes              jeff@col.hp.com
Jeff Johnson             jjohnson@cisco.com
Merike Kaeo              mkaeo@cisco.com
Hiroshi Kawazoe          kawazoe@trl.ibm.co.jp
Manu Kaycee              kaycee_m@timeplex.com
Mark Kepke               mak@aiinet.com
Paul Kingsley            pmk@hpcsos.col.hp.com
Andrew Knutsen           andrewk@sco.com
Richard Kooijman         r.kooijman@et.tudelft.nl
Deirdre Kostick          dck2@mail.bellcore.com
Cheryl Krupczak          cheryl@empiretech.com
William Kwan             kwan@crosscomm.com
Welson Lin               welsonl@nat.com
Faye Ly                  fly@synoptics.com
Carl Madison             carl@zeus.st.3com.com
Glenn Mansfield          glenn@aic.co.jp
J. Scott Marcus          smarcus@bbn.com
Marilyn Martin           martin@netcom.ubc.ca
Keith McCloghrie         kzm@cisco.com
Evan McGinnis            bem@3com.com
Dwayne McIntosh          mcintosh@sleepy.ns.us.boeing.com
Jim McQuaid              mcquaid@wg.com
Daniel McRobb            dwm@noc.ans.net
David Meldrum            meldrum@sybase.com
Scott Mordock            mordock@cisco.com
Bob Morgan               morgan@networking.stanford.edu
Kim Morla                kmorla@pucp.edu.pe
Robert Natale            natale@acec.com
Rina Nathaniel           rina@rnd-gate.rad.co.il
Ngoc-Lan Nguyen          lnguyen@icp.net
Bill Norton              wbn@merit.edu
Brian O'Keefe            bok@cnd.hp.com
Donald Pace              pace@cntfl.com
Andrew Pearson           pearson@snmp.com
Les Pennington           les@cac.washington.edu
David Perkins            dperkins@synoptics.com
Jason Perreault          jason@synoptics.com
Randy Presuhn            randy@peer.com
Robert Purvy             bpurvy@us.oracle.com
Venkat Rangan            venkat.rangan@nashua.hp.com
James Reeves             jreeves@synoptics.com
Kenneth Rehbehn          kjr@netrix.com
Daniel Richard           daniele@icon.qc.ca
Kenneth Rodemann         krr@qsun.att.com
Aleksey Romanov          ralex@world.std.com
Dan Romascanu            dan@lannet.com
Marshall T. Rose         mrose.iesg@dbc.mtview.ca.us
Shawn Routhier           sar@epilogue.com
Michal Rozenthal         michal@fibronics.co.il
William Salkewicz        bsalkewi@wellfleet.com
Blair Sanders            bbs@sanders.itg.ti.com
Jon Saperia              saperia@zko.dec.com
Michael Scanlon          scanlon@ftp.com
Timon Sloane             timon@timonware.com
Jay Smith                jaysmith@us.oracle.com
Robert Snyder            snyder@cisco.com
Michael Sorsen           c02420MS@wuvmd.wustl.edu
Ira Steckler             isteckle@chipcom.com
Bob Stewart              rlstewart@eng.xyplex.com
Mark Swanson             marks@ngc.com
Richard Sweatt           rsweatt@synoptics.com
Kaj Tesink               kaj@cc.bellcore.com
Maurice Turcotte         mturc@atlanta.nsc.com
Willem van der Scheun    scheun@sara.nl
Gregory Vaudreuil        g.vaudreuil@octel.com
Raymond Vega             rvega@cicese.mx
William Wagner           dpi@world.std.com
Steven Waldbusser        swol@andrew.cmu.edu
David Walters            walters@wg.com
Glenn Waters             gwaters@bnr.ca
Chris Wellens            chrisw@netcom.com
Bert Wijnen              wijnen@vnet.ibm.com
Peter Wilson             peter_wilson@3mail.3com.com
Stan Wong                swong@vnet.ibm.com
Jeff Yarnell             jeffya@protools.com
Kiho Yum                 kxy@nsd.3com.com