[SNMP4J] Syntax-type 3 (BITS) not supported by default. Needs to call setExtensibilityEnabled(true)

[Iker Almandoz]

Hi Frank, 

 

Today I have run into an interesting problem with one of the equipments our
system manages.

We have encountered an equipment that returns certain OIDs as type BITS (or
syntax type 3).

 

When we collect using snmp4j, I am getting "Unsupported variable syntax: 3".
I have looked at the code and realized I can get this syntax type supported
by calling: 

        SNMP4JSettings.setExtensibilityEnabled(true);

Because the snmisyntaxes.properties does contain the definition for that
type:

# The BIT STRING type is obsolete since RFC 1902 but provided here for

# backward compatibility:

3=org.snmp4j.smi.BitString

 

However, the AbstractVariable.createVariable() does not seem to support the
bits type. Is this intentional ?  Do you envision putting a default handling
for this data type even though it's an obsolete type ?

If I enable 'setExtensibilityEnabled(true)', is there any other differences
I should expect ?. 

 

The log I get from snmp4j is:

 

2009-08-06 17:44:17,355 [pool-Snmp4j-SnmpProxy-Timer-thread-4] DEBUG
snmp4j.Snmp  - Running pending sync request with handle
PduHandle[1039715258] and retry count left 0

2009-08-06 17:44:17,355 [pool-Snmp4j-SnmpProxy-Timer-thread-4] DEBUG
transport.DefaultUdpTransportMapping  - Sending message to 172.16.0.3/161
with length 97:
30:5f:02:01:00:04:04:72:65:61:64:a0:54:02:04:3d:f8:cb:ba:02:01:00:02:01:00:3
0:46:30:0e:06:0a:2b:06:01:02:01:02:02:01:08:19:05:00:30:0e:06:0a:2b:06:01:02
:01:02:02:01:07:19:05:00:30:11:06:0d:2b:06:01:02:01:0a:5e:01:01:02:01:06:19:
05:00:30:11:06:0d:2b:06:01:02:01:0a:5e:01:01:03:01:06:19:05:00

2009-08-06 17:44:17,355 [DefaultUDPTransportMapping_172.17.1.125/0] DEBUG
transport.DefaultUdpTransportMapping  - Received message from
/172.16.0.3/161 with length 101:
30:63:02:01:00:04:04:72:65:61:64:a2:58:02:04:3d:f8:cb:ba:02:01:00:02:01:00:3
0:4a:30:0f:06:0a:2b:06:01:02:01:02:02:01:08:19:02:01:01:30:0f:06:0a:2b:06:01
:02:01:02:02:01:07:19:02:01:01:30:12:06:0d:2b:06:01:02:01:0a:5e:01:01:02:01:
06:19:03:01:80:30:12:06:0d:2b:06:01:02:01:0a:5e:01:01:03:01:06:19:03:01:80

2009-08-06 17:44:17,355 [pool-SNMP4j-MessageDispatcher-thread-5] ERROR
snmp4j.MessageDispatcherImpl  - java.lang.IllegalArgumentException:
Unsupported variable syntax: 3

 

Thanks for your help, 

Iker