CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_


Reported by Dean Throop/Data General

X25MIB Minutes

The X25mib Working group met on Tuesday, July 30, 1991 at the Atlanta
IETF meeting.  The Working Group considered several aspects of the
documents.

The Working Group first discussed adding an object identifier to
identify the network to which a LAPB interface was connected.  While it
was agreed such an identifier could be provided, there wasn't enough
justification presented by any participant to warrant adding the object.
The Working Group was satisfied with the text stating that the ifdesc
field for the interface should name the network.  While this isn't very
useful for network management software, it does make the information
available in some form.  An explicit object identifier can be added in
the future if needed.

The Working Group then discussed the name of the
x25PktStatInProviderInitiatedClears object.  This is the only counter of
received clear packets and as such the name could be simplified to
x25PktStatInClears.  Alternatively other clear counters could be
defined.  The attendees felt that remotely initiated clears were enough
a part of normal operation that they need not be counted.  Provider
initiated clears however indicated a problem with the service from the
provider and did justify being counted.  The consensus of the attendees
was not to add other objects.  As for simplifying the name, the counter
name does reflect what the object counts.  The current name also sets
precedence for naming other clear counters should future experience
justify their existence.  The Working Group decided to leave the name of
the object as current defined.

The Working Group also discussed the differences indicated by the
different types defined for the ifType field of an X.25 packet layer
interface.  A type of ddn-x25(4) indicates a simple interface using an
algorithm for translating between X.25 address and IP addresses.  An
interface type of rfc877-x25(5) indicates a table is used for the
address translation.

The Working Group then discussed expanding the IP over X25 MIB to
include objects for X.25 call parameters.  This would allow a manager to
examine and change the X.25 parameters the IP over X.25 software would
use to initiate an X.25 call.  It was observed by the group that all
users of X.25 would need a similar table.  As an example, the IPX over
X.25 interface will have X.25 call parameters that may be part of a
future MIB. Rather than have each user of X.25 define their own objects,
a table will be added to the X.25 MIB for X.25 call parameters.  This
table will include call user data, packet size, window size, charging
information, and other parameters.  The table will not include the
destination X.25 address.  This will allow one set of parameters to
apply to several different destinations.

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Other discussions in Atlanta concerned broadening the use of the LAPB
MIB. Since LAPB and other Data Link protocols are very similar, the name
of the LAPB MIB will be changed to HDLC and it will be presented to
other Working Groups.  It maybe possible to use the HDLC MIB for more
than just LAPB.

The HDLC, X.25 Packet Layer, and IP over X.25 draft MIBs will be updated
and distributed to the x25mib@dg-rtp.dg.com mailing list for further
discussion.

Attendees

Steve Alexander          stevea@i88.isc.com
Steve Bostock            steveb@novell.com
James Davin              jrd@ptt.lcs.mit.edu
Mark Kepke               mak@.hpcndk.cnd.hp.com
Evan McGinnis            bem@3com.com
John Pickens             jrp@3com.com
Dean Throop              throop@dg-rtp.dg.com



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