Talk:Management information base

atTable

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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atTable is deprecated in RFC1213, so it doesn't make a very good example of a mandatory MIB object.

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Long Introduction

I've shortened the introduction as requested. I moved some content to a new section and remove other content that didn't seem to relevant. I think this issue can now be removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.129.118.132 (talk) 19:03, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Add an understandable summary of exactly what an MIB file is?

I've been trying to figure out snmp, and particular the role of MIBs. So, of course I came to this article, but was dismayed to find that it omits the most basic information about MIBs. For instance, how is an MIB stored? Is it a dynamic item that responds to queries for values, or a static item that is used to add information to an snmp database? Do you have one per box, one per product, or what?

The lead sentence is no help: "A management information base (MIB) is a virtual database used for managing the entities in a communications network". Huh????

My understanding, scraped together from many web searches and much head-scratching, is that an MIB is a file which maps a set of OIDs to names and descriptions. In other words, you can use snmp without MIBs as long as you know exactly what you're looking for, but if you want to browse a tree of objects and understand what you're seeing you need to combine the information fetched over snmp with a (probably local) MIB file.

For example, here is an MIB: ftp://ftp.cisco.com/pub/mibs/v2/CISCO-RHINO-MIB.my . It is a static item, specific to the Cisco Rhino ATM switch. You don't need it to access a Rhino's snmp capabilities, but you do need it to explore or find out what a specific OID refers to.

Do I have all this right? If so, would an snmp expert please rewrite the lead to this article so that it's clearer.

... thanks! -- Dan Griscom (talk) 13:48, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

A MIB is both the database and a description of the database structure. A MIB file (like the example you've given above) is a formatted text description of the structure. MIB files are published by standards organizations and creators of SNMP agents. They are used by managers to know what kind of information is available from an agent and how it is presented/formatted. The MIB itself lives on the agent and constitutes both the structure of information and the information itself. The information is retrieved from or modified in an agent by the manager through the use of SNMP Get and Set messages. Again, managers typically use a MIB file as their map to know how to find and interpret information they're interested in.

I agree that the article has accessibility problems. Please feel free to WP:BEBOLD and improve it. I'll keep an eye on progress and pitch in and help when I have time. --Kvng (talk) 12:37, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Vague incomprehensible article

This article is very badly written. I'm a reasonably technical person and I can't say I managed to glean anything from this. To be honest, I think most people will give up after the first sentence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A455:1903:1:EC8C:C3EE:110F:F254 (talk) 03:38, 6 December 2019 (UTC)

What do you suggest? --Wrev (talk) 08:38, 27 October 2020 (UTC)