[SNMP4J] Could I "trust" to the SysDescr

[PHIL BERGSTRESSER]

Alfredo,

There is NO standard about what sysDescr will actually contain. It is simply a description that the product vendor thinks useful. Firmware versions and copyright notices are examples of the variety of not so useful data you may get from that OID. Often there are vendor specific OIDs that contain that kind of information, as well as model numbers of the IP addressed device and sub components it proxies for. Even then, you have to know the meaning of the product numbers of each vendor to determine what you have located. 

You are out of luck hoping for such a unified world. By experimentation, you may perceive that the product number is embedded in the sysDescr string as in your Cisco example, along with other potentially useful or useless info. But it won't ever report what you want: like I'm a switch; I'm a PC; I'm a printer; in a consistent machine readable code.

SNMP is simple, but not the application of it. Network management is complex because of this simplicity which allows for diversity by vendors. This freedom promotes competitive products with unique qualities that are for the customer's benefit. It was always intended to be this way. The standards provide a methodology for interoperability, not a limited straightjacket which would hinder imaginative development of new technology. 

The IF-MIB (RFC2863) has an ifType field that was defined to describe interfaces on a product. This has been standardized into a textual convention that is frequently updated as new interface technologies are invented. It is maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) in a separate MIB they are responsible for. There is no equivalent for a product type which is what you would like. After 15 years, it doesn't look like there is any move on to create one. Sorry.

I think you will have to use the sysObjectID to identify the vendor and unique product identifier, and build a management table (database?) that you use to define this product type as you learn it. Many vendors of SNMP products provide some form of Network Management software that does this implicitly for their own product line. They may or may not have any compatibility unless they share a common NMS platform like HP OpenView. And then they have done the work, and not you.

Phil
Phil Bergstresser
Design Engineer
SNMP Network Management
ADTRAN, Inc.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Alfredo Rico [mailto:alfredo_rico at yahoo.com] 
Sent:	Thursday, February 24, 2005 1:51 AM
To:	snmp4j at agentpp.org
Subject:	[SNMP4J] Could I "trust" to the SysDescr

Hello to everyone!

Suppose that I have a device running an SNMP agent (in
any of its versions) . This device could be a switch,
a router, a pc running O.S. Windows XP, a GNU/Linux
box runnig snmpd, etc.

I would like to determine which type of device is the
SNMP agent running on.

For example, I would like to get an answer like "This
device is a Switch" or, more detailed "This device is
a Cisco Switch Catalyst 2950". Or something like "This
device is a Sun SPARC Microsystem workstation"

The idea that I have now is get the value (using
SNMP4J, of course) of the SysDescr variable. But I'm
not sure if I can answers like the above ones taking
the value of SysDescr.

For example, in an Cisco Switch I get the following
data, but it doesn't say me that it is a switch:

OID: .1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0
Value: Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software 
IOS (tm) C2900XL Software (C2900XL-C3H2S-M), Version
12.0(5)XU, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Copyright (c) 1986-2000 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Mon 03-Apr-00 16:37 by swati

What could you suggest me ??

Thanks
Alfredo E. Rico M.





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