RFC 2576
Coexistence between Version 1, Version 2, and Version 3 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework
Coexistence between Version 1, Version 2, and Version 3 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework โจ
Okay bestie, this is RFC 2576 ๐ It's a Standards Track doc from March 2000, written by R. Frye (CoSine Communications), D. Levi (Nortel Networks), S. Routhier (Integrated Systems Inc.), and B. Wijnen (Lucent Technologies). It obsoletes RFC 1908 [13] and RFC2089 [14], so those older versions are out of the picture ๐ซถ The whole point is getting SNMPv1, SNMPv2, and SNMPv3 to play nicely together in one network. Coexistence is the whole vibe ๐
Status of this Memo ๐
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and it's asking for discussion and suggestions for improvements. For the current standardization state and status of this protocol, check the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) ๐ Distribution of this memo is unlimited, so share away ๐
Copyright Notice ยฉ๏ธ
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract ๐ธ
The purpose of this document is to describe coexistence between version 3 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework, (SNMPv3), version 2 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework (SNMPv2), and the original Internet-standard Network Management Framework (SNMPv1). This document obsoletes RFC 1908 [13] and RFC2089 [14].
Table Of Contents ๐
1 Overview ..................................................... 2
1.1 SNMPv1 ..................................................... 3
1.2 SNMPv2 ..................................................... 4
1.3 SNMPv3 ..................................................... 4
1.4 SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 Access to MIB Data ....................... 5
2 SMI and Management Information Mappings ...................... 5
2.1 MIB Modules ................................................ 6
2.1.1 Object Definitions ....................................... 6
2.1.2 Trap and Notification Definitions ........................ 9
2.2 Compliance Statements ...................................... 9
2.3 Capabilities Statements .................................... 10
3 Translating Notifications Parameters ......................... 10
3.1 Translating SNMPv1 Notification Parameters to SNMPv2
Notification Parameters ................................... 12
3.2 Translating SNMPv2 Notification Parameters to SNMPv1
Notification Parameters ................................... 13
4 Approaches to Coexistence in a Multi-lingual Network ......... 14
4.1 Multi-lingual implementations .............................. 15
4.1.1 Command Generator ........................................ 15
4.1.2 Command Responder ........................................ 15
4.1.2.1 Handling Counter64 ..................................... 16
4.1.2.2 Mapping SNMPv2 Exceptions .............................. 16
4.1.2.2.1 Mapping noSuchObject and noSuchInstance .............. 17
4.1.2.2.2 Mapping endOfMibView ................................. 17
4.1.2.3 Processing An SNMPv1 GetRequest ........................ 18
4.1.2.4 Processing An SNMPv1 GetNextRequest .................... 19
4.1.2.5 Processing An SNMPv1 SetRequest ........................ 20
4.1.3 Notification Originator .................................. 20
4.1.4 Notification Receiver .................................... 21
4.2 Proxy Implementations ...................................... 21
4.2.1 Upstream Version Greater Than Downstream Version ......... 21
4.2.2 Upstream Version Less Than Downstream Version ............ 22
4.3 Error Status Mappings ...................................... 24
5 Message Processing Models and Security Models ................ 25
5.1 Mappings ................................................... 25
5.2 The SNMPv1 MP Model and SNMPv1 Community-based Security
Model ..................................................... 26
5.2.1 Processing An Incoming Request ........................... 26
5.2.2 Generating An Outgoing Response .......................... 28
5.2.3 Generating An Outgoing Notification ...................... 28
5.3 The SNMP Community MIB Module .............................. 29
6 Intellectual Property ........................................ 39
7 Acknowledgments .............................................. 39
8 Security Considerations ...................................... 40
9 References ................................................... 40
10 Editor's Addresses .......................................... 42
A. Changes From RFC1908 ........................................ 43
Full Copyright Statement ....................................... 44
1. Overview ๐ฆ
The purpose of this document is to describe coexistence between version 3 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework, termed the SNMP version 3 framework (SNMPv3), version 2 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework, termed the SNMP version 2 framework (SNMPv2), and the original Internet-standard Network Management Framework (SNMPv1).
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119 [15].
There are four general aspects of coexistence in here, and each one gets its own section ๐ซถ
- Conversion of MIB documents between SMIv1 and SMIv2 formats is documented in section 2.
- Mapping of notification parameters is documented in section 3.
- Approaches to coexistence between entities which support the various versions of SNMP in a multi-lingual network is documented in section 4. This section addresses the processing of protocol operations in multi-lingual implementations, as well as behaviour of proxy implementations.
- The SNMPv1 Message Processing Model and Community-Based Security Model, which provides mechanisms for adapting SNMPv1 into the View-Based Access Control Model (VACM) [20], is documented in section 5 (this section also addresses the SNMPv2c Message Processing Model and Community-Based Security Model).
1.1. SNMPv1 ๐
SNMPv1 is defined by these documents:
- STD 15, RFC 1157 [2] which defines the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv1), the protocol used for network access to managed objects.
- STD 16, RFC 1155 [1] which defines the Structure of Management Information (SMIv1), the mechanisms used for describing and naming objects for the purpose of management.
- STD 16, RFC 1212 [3] which defines a more concise description mechanism, which is wholly consistent with the SMIv1.
- RFC 1215 [4] which defines a convention for defining Traps for use with the SMIv1.
Note that throughout this document, the term 'SMIv1' is used. This term generally refers to the information presented in RFC 1155, RFC 1212, and RFC 1215.
1.2. SNMPv2 ๐ธ
SNMPv2 is defined by these documents:
- STD 58, RFC 2578 which defines Version 2 of the Structure of Management Information (SMIv2) [7].
- STD 58, RFC 2579 which defines common MIB "Textual Conventions" [8].
- STD 58, RFC 2580 which defines Conformance Statements and requirements for defining agent and manager capabilities [9].
- RFC 1905 which defines the Protocol Operations used in processing [10].
- RFC 1906 which defines the Transport Mappings used "on the wire" [11].
- RFC 1907 which defines the basic Management Information Base for monitoring and controlling some basic common functions of SNMP entities [12].
Note that SMIv2 as used throughout this document refers to the first three documents listed above (RFCs 2578, 2579, and 2580).
The following document augments the definition of SNMPv2:
- RFC 1901 [6] is an Experimental definition for using SNMPv2 PDUs within a community-based message wrapper. This is referred to throughout this document as SNMPv2c.
1.3. SNMPv3 ๐ง
SNMPv3 is defined by these documents:
- RFC 2571 which defines an Architecture for Describing SNMP Management Frameworks [16].
- RFC 2572 which defines Message Processing and Dispatching [17].
- RFC 2573 which defines various SNMP Applications [18].
- RFC 2574 which defines the User-based Security Model (USM), providing for both Authenticated and Private (encrypted) SNMP messages [19].
- RFC 2575 which defines the View-based Access Control Model (VACM), providing the ability to limit access to different MIB objects on a per-user basis [20].
SNMPv3 also uses the SNMPv2 definitions of RFCs 1905 through 1907 and the SMIv2 definitions of 2578 through 2580 described above.
1.4. SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 Access to MIB Data ๐ฅ
In several places, this document refers to 'SNMPv1 Access to MIB Data' and 'SNMPv2 Access to MIB Data'. These terms refer to the part of an SNMP agent which actually accesses instances of MIB objects, and which actually initiates generation of notifications. The differences between the two types of access to MIB data are:
- Error-status values generated.
- Generation of exception codes.
- Use of the Counter64 data type.
- The format of parameters provided when a notification is generated.
SNMPv1 access to MIB data may generate SNMPv1 error-status values, will never generate exception codes nor use the Counter64 data type, and will provide SNMPv1 format parameters for generating notifications. Note also that SNMPv1 access to MIB data will actually never generate a readOnly error (a noSuchName error would always occur in the situation where one would expect a readOnly error).
SNMPv2 access to MIB data may generate SNMPv2 error-status values, may generate exception codes, may use the Counter64 data type, and will provide SNMPv2 format parameters for generating notifications. Note that SNMPv2 access to MIB data will never generate readOnly, noSuchName, or badValue errors.
Heads up: a particular multi-lingual implementation may choose to implement all access to MIB data as SNMPv2 access to MIB data, and perform the translations described herein for SNMPv1-based transactions.
2. SMI and Management Information Mappings ๐
The SMIv2 approach towards describing collections of managed objects is nearly a proper superset of the approach defined in the SMIv1. For example, both approaches use an adapted subset of ASN.1 (1988) [11] as the basis for a formal descriptive notation. Indeed, one might note that the SMIv2 approach largely codifies the existing practice for defining MIB modules, based on extensive experience with the SMIv1.
The following sections consider the three areas: MIB modules, compliance statements, and capabilities statements.
2.1. MIB Modules ๐ง
MIB modules defined using the SMIv1 may continue to be used with protocol versions which use SNMPv2 PDUs. However, for the MIB modules to conform to the SMIv2, the following changes SHALL be made:
2.1.1. Object Definitions โจ
Okay bestie, so here's the tea: converting a MIB module doesn't automatically mean you have to deprecate everything inside it ๐ If an object's definition is truly inadequate for what it's supposed to do, then it SHALL be deprecated or obsoleted. Otherwise, deprecation is not required ๐
Now for the main checklist. Each of these is a must ๐
- The
IMPORTSstatement MUST referenceSNMPv2-SMI, instead ofRFC1155-SMIandRFC-1212. - The
MODULE-IDENTITYmacro MUST be invoked immediately after anyIMPORTSstatement. - For any object with an integer-valued
SYNTAXclause where the correspondingINTEGERhas no range restriction (so it has neither a defined set of named-number enumerations nor an assignment of lower- and upper-bounds on its value), the object MUST have itsSYNTAXclause value changed toInteger32, or have an appropriate range specified ๐ - For any object with a
SYNTAXclause value ofCounter, the object MUST have itsSYNTAXclause value changed toCounter32๐ฅ - For any object with a
SYNTAXclause value ofGauge, the object MUST have itsSYNTAXclause value changed toGauge32, or toUnsigned32where appropriate. - For all objects, the
ACCESSclause MUST be replaced by aMAX-ACCESSclause. The value of theMAX-ACCESSclause SHALL be the same as that of theACCESSclause, unless some other value makes "protocol sense" as the maximal level of access for the object. Specifically, object types whose instances can be explicitly created by a protocol set operation SHALL have aMAX-ACCESSclause ofread-create๐ฆ If the value of theACCESSclause iswrite-only, then the value of theMAX-ACCESSclause MUST beread-write, and theDESCRIPTIONclause SHALL note that reading this object will result in implementation-specific results. Also, in SMIv1 theACCESSclause specifies the minimal required access, while in SMIv2 theMAX-ACCESSclause specifies the maximum allowed access. This should be considered when converting anACCESSclause to aMAX-ACCESSclause ๐ง - For all objects, if the value of the
STATUSclause ismandatoryoroptional, the value MUST be replaced withcurrent,deprecated, orobsolete, depending on the current usage of such objects. - For any object not containing a
DESCRIPTIONclause, the object MUST have aDESCRIPTIONclause defined. - For any object corresponding to a conceptual row that doesn't have an
INDEXclause, the object MUST have either anINDEXclause or anAUGMENTSclause defined. - If any
INDEXclause contains a reference to an object with a syntax ofNetworkAddress, then a new object MUST be created and placed in thisINDEXclause immediately preceding the object whose syntax isNetworkAddress. This new object MUST have a syntax ofINTEGER, it MUST benot-accessible, and its value MUST always be1. This approach lets you convert a SMIv1-format MIB module to SMIv2 format, and then use it with the SNMPv1 protocol with no impact to existing SNMPv1 agents and managers ๐ - For any object with a
SYNTAXofNetworkAddress, theSYNTAXMUST be changed toIpAddress. Heads up: usingNetworkAddressin new MIB documents is strongly discouraged (in fact, new MIB documents should be written using SMIv2, which doesn't defineNetworkAddress) ๐ - For any object containing a
DEFVALclause with anOBJECT IDENTIFIERvalue that's expressed as a collection of sub-identifiers, the value MUST be changed to reference a single ASN.1 identifier. This may require defining a series of new administrative assignments (OBJECT IDENTIFIERs) in order to define that single ASN.1 identifier. - One or more
OBJECT-GROUPs MUST be defined, and related objects SHOULD be collected into appropriate groups. Note that SMIv2 requires allOBJECT-TYPEs to be a member of at least oneOBJECT-GROUP๐
Other changes are desirable, but not necessary ๐ธ
- Creation and deletion of conceptual rows is inconsistent using SMIv1, and SMIv2 fixes that ๐
So if the MIB module goes through review early in its lifetime, and it contains conceptual tables that allow creation and deletion of conceptual rows, then the objects relating to those tables MAY be deprecated and replaced with objects defined using the new approach. The SMIv2-based approach can be found in section 7 of RFC2578 [7], and the
RowStatusandStorageTypeTEXTUAL-CONVENTIONs are described in section 2 of RFC2579 [8] โจ - For any object with a string-valued
SYNTAXclause where the correspondingOCTET STRINGhas no size restriction (so it has no assignment of lower- and upper-bounds on its length), the bounds for the size of the object SHOULD be defined. - All textual conventions informally defined in the MIB module SHOULD be redefined using the
TEXTUAL-CONVENTIONmacro. Such a change would not necessitate deprecating objects that were previously defined using an informal textual convention ๐ฆ - For any object that represents a measurement in some kind of units, a
UNITSclause SHOULD be added to the definition of that object. - For any conceptual row that is an extension of another conceptual row (that is, subordinate columnar objects both exist and are identified via the same semantics as the other conceptual row), an
AUGMENTSclause SHOULD be used in place of theINDEXclause for the object corresponding to the conceptual row that's an extension ๐ง
Finally, to avoid common errors in SMIv1 MIB modules ๐
- For any non-columnar object that is instanced as if it were immediately subordinate to a conceptual row, the value of the
STATUSclause of that object MUST be changed toobsolete. - For any conceptual row object that is not contained immediately subordinate to a conceptual table, the value of the
STATUSclause of that object (and all subordinate objects) MUST be changed toobsolete. ๐
2.1.2. Trap and Notification Definitions ๐
If a MIB module is changed to conform to SMIv2, then each occurrence of the TRAP-TYPE macro MUST be changed to a corresponding invocation of the NOTIFICATION-TYPE macro:
- The
IMPORTSstatement MUST NOT reference RFC-1215 [4], and MUST referenceSNMPv2-SMIinstead. - The
ENTERPRISEclause MUST be removed. - The
VARIABLESclause MUST be renamed to theOBJECTSclause. - A
STATUSclause MUST be added, with an appropriate value. Normally the value should becurrent, althoughdeprecatedorobsoletemay be used as needed ๐ - The value of an invocation of the
NOTIFICATION-TYPEmacro is anOBJECT IDENTIFIER, not anINTEGER, and MUST be changed accordingly. Specifically, if the value of theENTERPRISEclause is notsnmp, then the value of the invocation SHALL be the value of theENTERPRISEclause extended with two sub-identifiers: the first has the value0, and the second has the value of the invocation of theTRAP-TYPE. If the value of theENTERPRISEclause issnmp, then the value of the invocation of theNOTIFICATION-TYPEmacro SHALL be mapped in the same manner as described in section 3.1 in this document ๐ - A
DESCRIPTIONclause MUST be added, if not already present. - One or more
NOTIFICATION-GROUPs MUST be defined, and related notifications MUST be collected into those groups. Note that SMIv2 requires that allNOTIFICATION-TYPEs be a member of at least oneNOTIFICATION-GROUP๐
2.2. Compliance Statements ๐
For those information modules that are "standards track", a corresponding invocation of the MODULE-COMPLIANCE macro and related OBJECT-GROUP and/or NOTIFICATION-GROUP macros MUST be included within the information module (or in a companion information module), and any commentary text in the information module that relates to compliance SHOULD be removed. Typically, this editing can happen when the information module undergoes review ๐ซถ
Note that a MODULE-COMPLIANCE statement is not required for a MIB document that isn't on the standards track (for example, an enterprise MIB). Though, it may be useful in some circumstances to define a MODULE-COMPLIANCE statement for such a MIB document ๐
2.3. Capabilities Statements ๐
RFC1303 [5] uses the MODULE-CONFORMANCE macro to describe an agent's capabilities with respect to one or more MIB modules. To convert such a description for use with SMIv2, these changes are needed:
- The macro name
AGENT-CAPABILITIESSHOULD be used instead ofMODULE-CONFORMANCE. - The
STATUSclause SHOULD be added, with a value ofcurrent. - All occurrences of the
CREATION-REQUIRESclause MUST either be omitted if appropriate, or be changed so that the semantics are consistent with RFC2580 [9] ๐
To ease coexistence, object groups defined in an SMIv1-compliant MIB module may be referenced by the INCLUDES clause of an invocation of the AGENT-CAPABILITIES macro. Upon encountering a reference to an OBJECT IDENTIFIER subtree defined in an SMIv1 MIB module, all leaf objects that are subordinate to the subtree and have a STATUS clause value of mandatory are deemed to be INCLUDED. (Note that this method is ambiguous when different revisions of an SMIv1 MIB have different sets of mandatory objects under the same subtree. In such cases, the only solution is to rewrite the MIB using SMIv2 so the object groups can be defined unambiguously ๐ญ)
3. Translating Notifications Parameters โจ
okay so this section is all about how notification parameters get translated between the SNMPv1 notification protocol operations and the SNMPv2 notification protocol operations ๐ฆ the parameters used to generate a notification are called 'notification parameters', bestie. the SNMPv1 flavour is called 'SNMPv1 notification parameters', and the SNMPv2 flavour is called 'SNMPv2 notification parameters' ๐
the situations where notification parameters MUST be translated are:
- When an entity generates a set of notification parameters in a particular format, and the configuration of the entity indicates that the notification must be sent using an SNMP message version that requires the other format for notification parameters.
- When a proxy receives a notification that was sent using an SNMP message version that requires one format of notification parameters, and must forward the notification using an SNMP message version that requires the other format of notification parameters.
in addition, it MAY be desirable to translate notification parameters in a notification receiver application in order to present notifications to the end user in a consistent format ๐ธ it's giving tidy UI energy, no cap.
note that for the purposes of this section, the set of notification parameters is independent of whether the notification is to be sent as a trap or an inform. so it doesn't matter which one you pick, the parameter set is the same ๐ซถ
SNMPv1 notification parameters consist of:
- An enterprise parameter (OBJECT IDENTIFIER).
- An agent-addr parameter (NetworkAddress).
- A generic-trap parameter (INTEGER).
- A specific-trap parameter (INTEGER).
- A time-stamp parameter (TimeTicks).
- A list of variable-bindings (VarBindList).
SNMPv2 notification parameters consist of:
- A sysUpTime parameter (TimeTicks). This appears in the first variable-binding in an SNMPv2-Trap-PDU or InformRequest-PDU.
- An snmpTrapOID parameter (OBJECT IDENTIFIER). This appears in the second variable-binding in an SNMPv2-Trap-PDU or InformRequest-PDU.
- A list of variable-bindings (VarBindList). This refers to all but the first two variable-bindings in an SNMPv2-Trap-PDU or InformRequest-PDU.
3.1. Translating SNMPv1 Notification Parameters to SNMPv2 Notification Parameters
okay this one is the SNMPv1 โ SNMPv2 glow-up arc ๐ฆ here's the procedure for turning SNMPv1 notification parameters into SNMPv2 ones:
(1) The SNMPv2 sysUpTime parameter SHALL be taken directly from the SNMPv1 time-stamp parameter. ๐
(2) If the SNMPv1 generic-trap parameter is 'enterpriseSpecific(6)', the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID parameter SHALL be the concatentation of the SNMPv1 enterprise parameter and two additional sub-identifiers, '0', and the SNMPv1 specific-trap parameter. ๐
(3) If the SNMPv1 generic-trap parameter is not 'enterpriseSpecific(6)', the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID parameter SHALL be the corresponding trap as defined in section 2 of RFC1907 [12]:
generic-trap parameter snmpTrapOID.0
====================== =============
0 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.1 (coldStart)
1 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.2 (warmStart)
2 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.3 (linkDown)
3 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.4 (linkUp)
4 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.5 (authenticationFailure)
5 1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.6 (egpNeighborLoss)
(4) The SNMPv2 variable-bindings SHALL be the SNMPv1 variable-bindings. In addition, if the translation is being performed by a proxy in order to forward a received trap, three additional variable-bindings will be appended, if these three additional variable-bindings do not already exist in the SNMPv1 variable-bindings. The name portion of the first additional variable binding SHALL contain snmpTrapAddress.0, and the value SHALL contain the SNMPv1 agent-addr parameter. The name portion of the second additional variable binding SHALL contain snmpTrapCommunity.0, and the value SHALL contain the value of the community-string field from the received SNMPv1 message which contained the SNMPv1 Trap-PDU. The name portion of the third additional variable binding SHALL contain snmpTrapEnterprise.0 [12], and the value SHALL be the SNMPv1 enterprise parameter. ๐
3.2. Translating SNMPv2 Notification Parameters to SNMPv1 Notification Parameters
and now the way back ๐ this is the SNMPv2 โ SNMPv1 procedure:
(1) The SNMPv1 enterprise parameter SHALL be determined as follows:
- If the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID parameter is one of the standard traps as defined in RFC1907 [12], then the SNMPv1 enterprise parameter SHALL be set to the value of the variable-binding in the SNMPv2 variable-bindings whose name is snmpTrapEnterprise.0 if that variable-binding exists. If it does not exist, the SNMPv1 enterprise parameter SHALL be set to the value 'snmpTraps' as defined in RFC1907 [12].
- If the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID parameter is not one of the standard traps as defined in RFC1907 [12], then the SNMPv1 enterprise parameter SHALL be determined from the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID parameter as follows:
- If the next-to-last sub-identifier of the snmpTrapOID is zero, then the SNMPv1 enterprise SHALL be the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID with the last 2 sub-identifiers removed, otherwise
- If the next-to-last sub-identifier of the snmpTrapOID is non-zero, then the SNMPv1 enterprise SHALL be the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID with the last sub-identifier removed.
(2) The SNMPv1 agent-addr parameter SHALL be determined based on the situation in which the translation occurs.
- If the translation occurs within a notification originator application, and the notification is to be sent over IP, the SNMPv1 agent-addr parameter SHALL be set to the IP address of the SNMP entity in which the notification originator resides. If the notification is to be sent over some other transport, the SNMPv1 agent-addr parameter SHALL be set to 0.0.0.0.
- If the translation occurs within a proxy application, the proxy must attempt to extract the original source of the notification from the variable-bindings. If the SNMPv2 variable-bindings contains a variable binding whose name is snmpTrapAddress.0, the agent-addr parameter SHALL be set to the value of that variable binding. Otherwise, the SNMPv1 agent-addr parameter SHALL be set to 0.0.0.0.
(3) If the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID parameter is one of the standard traps as defined in RFC1907 [12], the SNMPv1 generic-trap parameter SHALL be set as follows:
snmpTrapOID.0 parameter generic-trap
=============================== ============
1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.1 (coldStart) 0
1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.2 (warmStart) 1
1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.3 (linkDown) 2
1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.4 (linkUp) 3
1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.5 (authenticationFailure) 4
1.3.6.1.6.3.1.1.5.6 (egpNeighborLoss) 5
Otherwise, the SNMPv1 generic-trap parameter SHALL be set to 6.
(4) If the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID parameter is one of the standard traps as defined in RFC1907 [12], the SNMPv1 specific-trap parameter SHALL be set to zero. Otherwise, the SNMPv1 specific-trap parameter SHALL be set to the last sub-identifier of the SNMPv2 snmpTrapOID parameter. ๐
(5) The SNMPv1 time-stamp parameter SHALL be taken directly from the SNMPv2 sysUpTime parameter.
(6) The SNMPv1 variable-bindings SHALL be the SNMPv2 variable-bindings. Note, however, that if the SNMPv2 variable-bindings contain any objects whose type is Counter64, the translation to SNMPv1 notification parameters cannot be performed. In this case, the notification cannot be encoded in an SNMPv1 packet (and so the notification cannot be sent using SNMPv1, see section 4.1.3 and section 4.2). ๐ ngl this one is a hard no for SNMPv1, periodt.
4. Approaches to Coexistence in a Multi-lingual Network ๐
there are two basic approaches to coexistence in a multi-lingual network: multi-lingual implementations and proxy implementations ๐
multi-lingual implementations allow elements in a network to communicate with each other using an SNMP version which both elements support. this allows a multi-lingual implementation to communicate with any mono-lingual implementation, regardless of the SNMP version supported by the mono-lingual implementation. main character energy ๐
proxy implementations provide a mechanism for translating between SNMP versions using a third party network element. this allows network elements which support only a single, but different, SNMP version to communicate with each other. proxy implementations are also useful for securing communications over an insecure link between two locally secure networks. ๐
4.1. Multi-lingual implementations
this approach requires an entity to support multiple SNMP message versions. typically this means supporting SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3 message versions. the behaviour of various types of SNMP applications which support multiple message versions is described in the following sections. this approach allows entities which support multiple SNMP message versions to coexist with and communicate with entities which support only a single SNMP message version. ๐ง
4.1.1. Command Generator
a command generator must select an appropriate message version when sending requests to another entity. one way to achieve this is to consult a local database to select the appropriate message version. ๐
in addition, a command generator MUST 'downgrade' GetBulk requests to GetNext requests when selecting SNMPv1 as the message version for an outgoing request. this is done by simply changing the operation type to GetNext, ignoring any non-repeaters and max-repetitions values, and setting error-status and error-index to zero. literally the whole downgrade is just swapping the operation type and zeroing two fields, so simple ๐ญโจ
Part 3 of 9 done, bestie ๐ more RFC coming up next!
4.1.2. Command Responder โจ
Okay bestie, a command responder has to be able to handle both SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 access to MIB data ๐ . There are three things it must deal with:
- Deal correctly with SNMPv2 access to MIB data that returns a Counter64 value while processing an SNMPv1 message,
- Deal correctly with SNMPv2 access to MIB data that returns one of the three exception values while processing an SNMPv1 message, and
- Map SNMPv2 error codes returned from SNMPv2 access to MIB data into SNMPv1 error codes when processing an SNMPv1 message.
Note that SNMPv1 error codes SHOULD NOT be used without any change when processing SNMPv2c or SNMPv3 messages, except in the case of proxy forwarding. In the case of proxy forwarding, for backwards compatibility, SNMPv1 error codes may be used without any change in a forwarded SNMPv2c or SNMPv3 message. ๐
The next sections walk through how a command responder application that supports multiple SNMP message versions behaves when it uses some mix of SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 access to MIB data. It's giving careful, it's giving detailed ๐ง
4.1.2.1. Handling Counter64 ๐ข
Okay so SMIv2 [7] adds exactly one new syntax that is incompatible with SMIv1, and that's Counter64. Every other SMIv2 syntax is compatible with SMIv1 ๐
For multi-lingual command responders, this means they MUST NOT ever return a variable binding containing a Counter64 value in a response to a request that was received using the SNMPv1 message version. Not ever, periodt ๐ โโ๏ธ
Multi-lingual command responders SHALL take the approach that object instances whose type is Counter64 are implicitly excluded from view when processing an SNMPv1 message. So:
- On receipt of an SNMPv1 GetRequest-PDU containing a variable binding whose name field points to an object instance of type Counter64, a GetResponsePDU SHALL be returned, with an error-status of
noSuchNameand the error-index set to the variable binding that caused this error. ๐ - On an SNMPv1 GetNextRequest-PDU, any object instance which contains a syntax of Counter64 SHALL be skipped, and the next accessible object instance that does not have the syntax of Counter64 SHALL be retrieved. If no such object instance exists, then an error-status of
noSuchNameSHALL be returned, and the error-index SHALL be set to the variable binding that caused this error. - Any SNMPv1 request which contains a variable binding with a Counter64 value is ill-formed, so the foregoing rules do not apply. If that error is detected, a response SHALL NOT be returned, since it would contain a copy of the ill-formed variable binding. Instead, the offending PDU SHALL be discarded and the counter
snmpInASNParseErrsSHALL be incremented. ๐
4.1.2.2. Mapping SNMPv2 Exceptions ๐ญ
SNMPv2 has a feature called exceptions, which lets an SNMPv2 Response PDU return as much management information as possible, even when something goes wrong. SNMPv1 doesn't do exceptions though ๐ญ So an SNMPv1 Response PDU can't return any management information at all, and can only return an error-status and error-index value.
When an SNMPv1 request is received, a command responder MUST check any variable bindings returned using SNMPv2 access to MIB data for exception values, and convert these exception values into SNMPv1 error codes. This part is non-negotiable ๐
The exception that can come back from MIB data, and what happens next, depends on the type of SNMP request:
- For a GetRequest, a noSuchObject or noSuchInstance exception may be returned.
- For a GetNextRequest, an endOfMibView exception may be returned.
- No exceptions will be returned for a SetRequest, and a GetBulkRequest should only be received in an SNMPv2c or SNMPv3 message, so these request types may be ignored when mapping exceptions.
Note that when a response contains multiple exceptions, it's an implementation choice which variable binding the error-index should reference. Your call, implementer ๐ซถ
4.1.2.2.1. Mapping noSuchObject and noSuchInstance ๐
A noSuchObject or noSuchInstance exception from an SNMPv2 access to MIB data means the requested object instance can not be returned. The SNMPv1 error code for this is noSuchName, so the error-status field of the response PDU SHALL be set to noSuchName. The error-index field SHALL be set to the index of the variable binding that hit the exception (there may be more than one, and it's an implementation decision which one gets used), and the variable binding list from the original request SHALL be returned with the response PDU.
4.1.2.2.2. Mapping endOfMibView ๐ธ
When an SNMPv2 access to MIB data returns a variable binding containing an endOfMibView exception, it means there are no object instances available which lexicographically follow the object in the request. In an SNMPv1 agent this normally shows up as a noSuchName error, so the error-status field of the response PDU SHALL be set to noSuchName. The error-index field SHALL be set to the index of the variable binding that hit the exception (there may be more than one, and it's an implementation decision which one gets used), and the variable binding list from the original request SHALL be returned with the response PDU.
4.1.2.3. Processing An SNMPv1 GetRequest ๐
When processing an SNMPv1 GetRequest, the following procedures MUST be followed when using an SNMPv2 access to MIB data.
When that access returns response data using SNMPv2 syntax and error-status values, then:
- If the error-status is anything other than noError,
- The error status SHALL be translated to an SNMPv1 error-status using the table in section 4.3, "Error Status Mappings".
- The error-index SHALL be set to the position (in the original request) of the variable binding that caused the error-status.
- The variable binding list of the response PDU SHALL be made exactly the same as the variable binding list that was received in the original request.
- If the error-status is noError, the variable bindings SHALL be checked for any SNMPv2 exception (noSuchObject or noSuchInstance) or an SNMPv2 syntax that is unknown to SNMPv1 (Counter64). If there are any such variable bindings, one of those variable bindings SHALL be selected (it's an implementation choice which one), and:
- The error-status SHALL be set to noSuchName,
- The error-index SHALL be set to the position (in the variable binding list of the original request) of the selected variable binding, and
- The variable binding list of the response PDU SHALL be exactly the same as the variable binding list that was received in the original request.
- If there are no such variable bindings, then:
- The error-status SHALL be set to noError,
- The error-index SHALL be set to zero, and
- The variable binding list of the response SHALL be composed from the data as it is returned by the access to MIB data.
4.1.2.4. Processing An SNMPv1 GetNextRequest ๐ฆ
When processing an SNMPv1 GetNextRequest, the following procedures MUST be followed when an SNMPv2 access to MIB data is called as part of processing the request. There may be repetitive accesses to MIB data while trying to find the first object which lexicographically follows each of the objects in the request. This is implementation specific. These procedures only apply to data returned when using SNMPv2 access to MIB data. Data returned using SNMPv1 access to MIB data may be treated in the normal manner for an SNMPv1 request. ๐
First, if the access to MIB data returns an error-status of anything other than noError:
- The error status SHALL be translated to an SNMPv1 error-status using the table in section 4.3, "Error Status Mappings".
- The error-index SHALL be set to the position (in the original request) of the variable binding that caused the error-status.
- The variable binding list of the response PDU SHALL be exactly the same as the variable binding list that was received in the original request.
Otherwise, if the access to MIB data returns an error-status of noError:
- Any variable bindings containing an SNMPv2 syntax of Counter64 SHALL be considered to be not in view, and MIB data SHALL be accessed as many times as is required until either a value other than Counter64 is returned, or an error occurs.
- If there is any variable binding that contains an SNMPv2 exception endOfMibView (there may be more than one, and it's an implementation decision which is chosen):
- The error-status SHALL be set to noSuchName,
- The error-index SHALL be set to the position (in the variable binding list of the original request) of the variable binding that returned such an SNMPv2 exception, and
- The variable binding list of the response PDU SHALL be exactly the same as the variable binding list that was received in the original request.
- If there are no such variable bindings, then:
- The error-status SHALL be set to noError,
- The error-index SHALL be set to zero, and
- The variable binding list of the response SHALL be composed from the data as it is returned by the access to MIB data.
4.1.2.5. Processing An SNMPv1 SetRequest โ๏ธ
When processing an SNMPv1 SetRequest, the following procedures MUST be followed when calling SNMPv2 MIB access routines.
When those routines return response data using SNMPv2 syntax and error-status values, and the error-status is anything other than noError, then:
- The error status SHALL be translated to an SNMPv1 error-status using the table in section 4.3, "Error Status Mappings".
- The error-index SHALL be set to the position (in the original request) of the variable binding that caused the error-status.
- The variable binding list of the response PDU SHALL be made exactly the same as the variable binding list that was received in the original request. ๐ฅ
4.1.3. Notification Originator ๐ฌ
okay so the notification originator has to be able to translate between SNMPv1 notification parameters and SNMPv2 notification parameters ๐ so it can send a notification using a particular SNMP message version. If a notification is generated with SNMPv1 notification parameters, and the configuration says to send it with SNMPv2c or SNMPv3, the notification parameters must be translated to SNMPv2 notification parameters. Likewise, if a notification is generated with SNMPv2 notification parameters, and the configuration says to send it with SNMPv1, the notification parameters must be translated to SNMPv1 notification parameters. ๐ฆ In this case, if the notification can't be translated (because of a Counter64 type), it will not be sent using SNMPv1. ๐
When a notification originator generates a notification using parameters from the SNMP-TARGET-MIB and SNMP-NOTIFICATION-MIB ๐, and the SNMP version used is SNMPv1, the PDU type will always be a TrapPDU. This is true no matter whether snmpNotifyType is trap(1) or inform(2). iykyk ๐ญ
Also, access control and notification filtering work the usual way for notifications, no matter which SNMP message version is used to send them ๐ซถ. The parameters for access control are found the usual way too (so, by checking the SNMP-TARGET-MIB and SNMP-NOTIFICATION-MIB). The main thing here is that when you generate an SNMPv1 Trap, to do the access check from [18], section 3.3, bullet (3), the notification originator may need to generate a value for snmpTrapOID.0 as described in section 3.1, bullets (2) and (3) of this document. โจ If the SNMPv1 notification parameters were previously translated from a set of SNMPv2 notification parameters, that value may already be known, in which case it doesn't need to be generated again. Main character energy ๐
4.1.4. Notification Receiver ๐ง
there are no special requirements for a notification receiver ๐ธ. That said, an implementation might find it useful to let a higher level application ask whether notifications should be delivered to it using SNMPv1 notification parameters or SNMPv2 notification parameters ๐. The notification receiver would then translate the notification parameters when needed, so the notification shows up in the set of parameters the app wants. It's giving flexible ๐
4.2. Proxy Implementations ๐ฅ
a proxy implementation can be used to let entities that support different SNMP message versions talk to each other ๐. This happens in a proxy forwarder application, which does translations on PDUs. These translations depend on the PDU type, the SNMP version of the packet that carried the received PDU, and the SNMP version used to forward the received PDU. The next sections go through these translations. In every case other than the ones described below, the proxy SHALL forward a received PDU without change, subject to size constraints as defined in section 5.3 (Community MIB) of this document. Also, in the following sections, the 'Upstream Version' means the version used between the command generator and the proxy, and the 'Downstream Version' means the version used between the proxy and the command responder. This applies regardless of the PDU type or direction. ๐ซง
4.2.1. Upstream Version Greater Than Downstream Version โฌ๏ธ
- If a GetBulkRequest-PDU is received and must be forwarded using the SNMPv1 message version, the proxy forwarder SHALL set the
non-repeatersandmax-repetitionsfields to0, and SHALL set the tag of the PDU to GetNextRequest-PDU. ๐ญ - If a GetResponse-PDU is received whose
error-statusfield has a value of 'tooBig', the message will be forwarded using the SNMPv2c or SNMPv3 message version, and the original request received by the proxy was not a GetBulkRequest-PDU, the proxy forwarder SHALL remove the contents of thevariable-bindingsfield before forwarding the response. ๐งน - If a GetResponse-PDU is received whose
error-statusfield has a value of 'tooBig,' and the message will be forwarded using the SNMPv2c or SNMPv3 message version, and the original request received by the proxy was a GetBulkRequest-PDU, the proxy forwarder SHALL re-send the forwarded request (which would have been altered to be a GetNextRequest-PDU) with all but the first variable-binding removed. The proxy forwarder SHALL only re-send such a request a single time. If the resulting GetResponse-PDU also contains anerror-statusfield with a value of 'tooBig,' then the proxy forwarder SHALL remove the contents of thevariable-bindingsfield, and change theerror-statusfield to 'noError' before forwarding the response. Note that if the original request only contained a single variable-binding, the proxy may skip re-sending the request and simply remove thevariable-bindingsand change theerror-statusto 'noError.' ๐ this part is a whole thing, bestie ๐ญ - If a Trap-PDU is received, and will be forwarded using the SNMPv2c or SNMPv3 message version, the proxy SHALL apply the translation rules described in section 3, and SHALL forward the notification as an SNMPv2-Trap-PDU. ๐
Note that when an SNMPv1 agent generates a message containing a Trap-PDU, and one or more proxy forwarders then forward it using SNMP versions other than SNMPv1, the community string and agent-addr fields from the original message (the one the SNMPv1 agent generated) are preserved through the use of the snmpTrapAddress and snmpTrapCommunity nobjects. ๐
4.2.2. Upstream Version Less Than Downstream Version โฌ๏ธ
- If a GetResponse-PDU is received in response to a GetRequest-PDU (previously generated by the proxy) which contains variable-bindings of type Counter64, or which contains an SNMPv2 exception code, and the message would be forwarded using the SNMPv1 message version, the proxy MUST generate an alternate response PDU. That alternate PDU consists of the
request-idand variable bindings from the original SNMPv1 request, contains anoSuchNameerror-status value, and contains anerror-indexvalue indicating the position of the variable-binding with the Counter64 type or exception code. ๐ซ - If a GetResponse-PDU is received in response to a GetNextRequest-PDU (previously generated by the proxy) which contains variable-bindings that contain an SNMPv2 exception code, and the message would be forwarded using the SNMPv1 message version, the proxy MUST generate an alternate response PDU. That alternate PDU consists of the
request-idand variable bindings from the original SNMPv1 request, contains anoSuchNameerror-status value, and contains anerror-indexvalue indicating the position of the variable-binding containing the exception code. ๐ โโ๏ธ - If a GetResponse-PDU is received in response to a GetNextRequest-PDU (previously generated by the proxy) which contains variable-bindings of type Counter64, the proxy MUST re-send the entire GetNextRequest-PDU, with the following modifications. For any variable bindings in the received GetResponse which contained Counter64 types, the proxy substitutes the object names of those variable bindings for the corresponding object names in the previously-sent GetNextRequest. The proxy MUST repeat this process until no Counter64 objects are returned. ๐
Note that an implementation may attempt to optimize this process of skipping Counter64 objects. One approach would be to replace the last sub-identifier of the object names of varbinds containing a Counter64 type with 65535 if that sub-identifier is less than 65535, or with 4294967295 if that sub-identifier is greater than 65535. This approach should skip multiple instances of the same Counter64 object, while staying compatible with some broken agent implementations (which only use 16-bit integers for sub-identifiers). ๐ง
Deployment Hint: The process of repeated GetNext requests that a proxy uses when Counter64 types are returned can be expensive ๐ธ. When deploying a proxy, you can avoid this by configuring the target agents the proxy forwards requests to, so that any objects of type Counter64 are in fact not-in-view for the principal the proxy uses when communicating with those agents. ๐ ๏ธ
- If a GetResponse-PDU is received which contains an SNMPv2
error-statusvalue of wrongValue, wrongEncoding, wrongType, wrongLength, inconsistentValue, noAccess, notWritable, noCreation, inconsistentName, resourceUnavailable, commitFailed, undoFailed, or authorizationError, theerror-statusvalue is modified using the mappings in section 4.3. ๐ช - If an SNMPv2-Trap-PDU is received, and will be forwarded using the SNMPv1 message version, the proxy SHALL apply the translation rules described in section 3, and SHALL forward the notification as a Trap-PDU. Note that if the translation fails because of a Counter64 data-type in the received SNMPv2-Trap-PDU, the trap cannot be forwarded using SNMPv1. ๐ง
- If an InformRequest-PDU is received, any configuration information indicating that it would be forwarded using the SNMPv1 message version SHALL be ignored. An InformRequest-PDU can only be forwarded using the SNMPv2c or SNMPv3 message version. The InformRequest-PDU may still be forwarded if there is other configuration information indicating that it should be forwarded using SNMPv2c or SNMPv3. ๐
4.3. Error Status Mappings ๐บ๏ธ
the following tables show the mappings of SNMPv1 error-status values into SNMPv2 error-status values, and the mappings of SNMPv2 error-status values into SNMPv1 error-status values ๐. Here they are, in code blocks because they're very serious:
SNMPv1 error-status SNMPv2 error-status
=================== ===================
noError noError
tooBig tooBig
noSuchName noSuchName
badValue badValue
genErr genErr
SNMPv2 error-status SNMPv1 error-status
=================== ===================
noError noError
tooBig tooBig
genErr genErr
wrongValue badValue
wrongEncoding badValue
wrongType badValue
wrongLength badValue
inconsistentValue badValue
noAccess noSuchName
notWritable noSuchName
noCreation noSuchName
inconsistentName noSuchName
resourceUnavailable genErr
commitFailed genErr
undoFailed genErr
authorizationError noSuchName
Whenever the SNMPv2 error-status value of authorizationError is translated to an SNMPv1 error-status value of noSuchName, the value of snmpInBadCommunityUses MUST be incremented. ๐จ This one's a must-do, no exceptions, periodt ๐
5. Message Processing Models and Security Models โจ
okay bestie, section 5 is where the SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c stuff actually gets its outfit on ๐ to fit into the SNMP architecture, this doc defines these models:
- The SNMPv1 Message Processing Model
- The SNMPv1 Community-Based Security Model
it also describes these ones:
- The SNMPv2c Message Processing Model
- The SNMPv2c Community-Based Security Model
In most respects, the SNMPv1 Message Processing Model and the SNMPv2c Message Processing Model are identical ๐ฏโโ๏ธ, so the doc doesn't talk about them separately. Differences between the two get called out whenever they come up ๐ซถ
Same deal for the SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c Community-Based Security Models. They're nearly twins, so they're not covered separately either, and any differences get mentioned as needed ๐
5.1. Mappings ๐บ๏ธ
okay so the SNMPv1 (and SNMPv2c) Message Processing Model and Security Model need to translate between SNMPv1/v2c message parameters and the version-independent parameters the SNMP architecture [16] uses ๐ The parameters that MUST be mapped are the SNMPv1 (and SNMPv2c) community name, plus the SNMP securityName and the contextEngineID/contextName pair โจ A MIB module called the SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB shows up in this doc to make those mappings happen ๐ And it goes both ways!! A community name can be mapped to a securityName, contextEngineID, and contextName, OR that combo of securityName, contextEngineID, and contextName can be mapped back to a community name ๐ฆ
5.2. The SNMPv1 MP Model and SNMPv1 Community-based Security Model ๐
the SNMPv1 Message Processing Model is the one that handles SNMPv1 messages ๐จ It mostly works the same way as RFC1157 [2] does, with a few extra differences and clarifications spelled out in the sections below ๐
The SnmpMessageProcessingModel value for SNMPv1 is 0, and it's 1 for SNMPv2c ๐ธ
5.2.1. Processing An Incoming Request ๐ฅ
so in RFC1157 [2], section 4.1, item (3), an entity that gets a message passes various parameters to the 'desired authentication scheme.' ๐ For SNMPv1, that scheme is the SNMPv1 Community-Based Security Model, and it gets called through the processIncomingMsg ASI ๐ These are the parameters that get passed in:
- The
messageProcessingModel, which will be0(or1for SNMPv2c). - The
maxMessageSize, which should be the maximum size of a message the receiving entity can generate (since there's no such value in the received message) ๐ - The
securityParameters, which consist of the community string and the message's source and destination transport domains and addresses. - The
securityModel, which will be1(or2for SNMPv2c). - The
securityLevel, which will benoAuthNoPriv. - The
wholeMsgandwholeMsgLength.
the Community-Based Security Model will try to pick a row in the snmpCommunityTable ๐ It does this by searching the table in lexicographic order, and the first entry that meets all of these matching criteria gets selected:
- The community string is equal to the
snmpCommunityNamevalue. - If the
snmpCommunityTransportTagis an empty string, it gets ignored for matching purposes. If thesnmpCommunityTransportTagis not an empty string, thetransportDomainandtransportAddressthe message came from must match one of the entries in thesnmpTargetAddrTableselected by thesnmpCommunityTransportTagvalue. ThesnmpTargetAddrTMaskobject is used as described in section 5.3 when checking whether thetransportDomainandtransportAddressmatch an entry in thesnmpTargetAddrTable.
if no entry can be found, an authentication failure happens as described in RFC1157 [2], and the snmpInBadCommunityNames counter goes up ๐ yikes
The parameters returned from the Community-Based Security Model are:
- The
securityEngineID, which will always be the local value ofsnmpEngineID.0. - The
securityName. - The
scopedPDU. Note that this one actually has three values inside it: thecontextSnmpEngineID, thecontextName, and the PDU. They have to stay separate values, since the first two don't actually show up in the message ๐งฉ - The
maxSizeResponseScopedPDU. - The
securityStateReference.
next, the right SNMP application gets called through the processPdu ASI (depending on the contextEngineID and the request type in the PDU) ๐ The parameters passed to this ASI are:
- The
messageProcessingModel, which will be0(or1for SNMPv2c). - The
securityModel, which will be1(or2for SNMPv2c). - The
securityName, which was returned from the call toprocessIncomingMsg. - The
securityLevel, which isnoAuthNoPriv. - The
contextEngineID, which was returned as part of the ScopedPDU from the call toprocessIncomingMsg. - The
contextName, which was returned as part of the ScopedPDU from the call toprocessIncomingMsg. - The
pduVersion, which should indicate an SNMPv1 version PDU (if the message version was SNMPv2c, this would be an SNMPv2 version PDU). - The PDU, which was returned as part of the ScopedPDU from the call to
processIncomingMsg. - The
maxSizeResponseScopedPDU, which was returned from the call toprocessIncomingMsg. - The
stateReference, which was returned from the call toprocessIncomingMsg.
the SNMP application should process the request the way this doc described earlier ๐
Access control still happens the usual way, through an SNMPv3 command responder application ๐ก๏ธ and the parameters passed to processPdu are what gets used in calls to the isAccessAllowed ASI ๐ซถ
5.2.2. Generating An Outgoing Response ๐ค
good news, there's no special processing needed for generating an outgoing response โจ The one thing to remember is that the community string in an outgoing response must be the same as the community string from the original request. The original community string MUST be present in the stateReference information of the original request ๐
5.2.3. Generating An Outgoing Notification ๐
in a multi-lingual SNMP entity, the parameters for generating notifications get pulled from the SNMP-TARGET-MIB and SNMP-NOTIFICATION-MIB ๐ Those parameters then get passed to the SNMPv1 Message Processing Model through the sendPdu ASI ๐ The SNMPv1 Message Processing Model will try to find a matching community string in the snmpCommunityTable based on the parameters passed to sendPdu. It searches the table in lexicographic order, and the first entry that meets these matching criteria gets selected:
- The
securityNamemust be equal to thesnmpCommunitySecurityNamevalue. - The
contextEngineIDmust be equal to thesnmpCommunityContextEngineIDvalue. - The
contextNamemust be equal to thesnmpCommunityContextNamevalue. - If the
snmpCommunityTransportTagis an empty string, it gets ignored for matching purposes. If thesnmpCommunityTransportTagis not an empty string, thetransportDomainandtransportAddressmust match one of the entries in thesnmpTargetAddrTableselected by thesnmpCommunityTransportTagvalue.
if no entry turns up, the notification just doesn't get sent ๐ญ Otherwise, the community string used in the outgoing notification is the value of the snmpCommunityName column of the selected row ๐
5.3. The SNMP Community MIB Module ๐ง
the SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB has objects for mapping between community strings and version-independent SNMP message parameters ๐บ๏ธ It also gives you a way to do source address validation on incoming requests, and to pick community strings based on target addresses for outgoing notifications ๐ฏ Both of those features work through a tag in the snmpCommunityTable that selects sets of entries in the snmpTargetAddrTable [18] ๐ท๏ธ On top of that, the SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB augments the snmpTargetAddrTable with a transport address mask value and a maximum message size value ๐ These augmenting values are only used where the doc explicitly says so. Anywhere the snmpTargetAddrTable gets used without mentioning them, the augmenting values should be ignored ๐
the mask value, snmpTargetAddrTMask, lets selected entries in the snmpTargetAddrTable cover multiple addresses instead of just one per entry ๐ This would usually be used to specify a subnet in the snmpTargetAddrTable, rather than a single address. The mask decides which bits of a transport address must match the bits of the corresponding instance of snmpTargetAddrTAddress for the transport address to match a particular entry in the snmpTargetAddrTable. The value of an instance of snmpTargetAddrTMask must always be an OCTET STRING whose length is either zero or the same as that of the corresponding instance of snmpTargetAddrTAddress ๐งฎ
the snmpTargetAddrTMask object only gets used where it's explicitly stated. It's especially NOT used when generating notifications, so for notifications the entries in the snmpTargetAddrTable only specify individual addresses ๐
โโ๏ธ
when checking whether a transport address matches an entry in the snmpTargetAddrTable, here's how the math goes ๐ค If the snmpTargetAddrTMask value is a zero-length OCTET STRING, the mask gets ignored, and the snmpTargetAddrTAddress value must exactly match a transport address. Otherwise, each bit of each octet in the snmpTargetAddrTMask value lines up with the same bit of the same octet in the snmpTargetAddrTAddress value. For bits that are set in the snmpTargetAddrTMask value (i.e., bits equal to 1), the matching bits in the snmpTargetAddrTAddress value must match the bits in a transport address. If all of those bits match, the transport address is matched by that snmpTargetAddrTable entry. Otherwise, it's not matched ๐ซ
last but not least, the maximum message size value, snmpTargetAddrMMS, is used to figure out the maximum message size another SNMP entity will accept when that size can't be determined from the protocol ๐ฆ
SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB DEFINITIONS ::= BEGIN
IMPORTS
IpAddress,
MODULE-IDENTITY,
OBJECT-TYPE,
Integer32,
snmpModules
FROM SNMPv2-SMI
RowStatus,
StorageType
FROM SNMPv2-TC
SnmpAdminString,
SnmpEngineID
FROM SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB
SnmpTagValue,
snmpTargetAddrEntry
FROM SNMP-TARGET-MIB
MODULE-COMPLIANCE,
OBJECT-GROUP
FROM SNMPv2-CONF;
Okay bestie, the MIB module is the star of this part ๐ Let's keep going with the table for community strings, the extension table, and the trap address object ๐ฆ
snmpCommunityMIB MODULE-IDENTITY
LAST-UPDATED "200003060000Z" -- 6 Mar 2000, midnight
ORGANIZATION "SNMPv3 Working Group"
CONTACT-INFO "WG-email: snmpv3@lists.tislabs.com
Subscribe: majordomo@lists.tislabs.com
In msg body: subscribe snmpv3
Chair: Russ Mundy
TIS Labs at Network Associates
Postal: 3060 Washington Rd
Glenwood MD 21738
USA
Email: mundy@tislabs.com
Phone: +1-301-854-6889
Co-editor: Rob Frye
CoSine Communications
Postal: 1200 Bridge Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065
USA
E-mail: rfrye@cosinecom.com
Phone: +1 703 725 1130
Co-editor: David B. Levi
Nortel Networks
Postal: 3505 Kesterwood Drive
Knoxville, TN 37918
E-mail: dlevi@nortelnetworks.com
Phone: +1 423 686 0432
Co-editor: Shawn A. Routhier
Integrated Systems Inc.
Postal: 333 North Ave 4th Floor
Wakefield, MA 01880
E-mail: sar@epilogue.com
Phone: +1 781 245 0804
Co-editor: Bert Wijnen
Lucent Technologies
Postal: Schagen 33
3461 GL Linschoten
Netherlands
Email: bwijnen@lucent.com
Phone: +31-348-407-775
"
DESCRIPTION
"This MIB module defines objects to help support coexistence
between SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3."
REVISION "200003060000Z" -- 6 Mar 2000
DESCRIPTION "This version published as RFC 2576."
REVISION "199905130000Z" -- 13 May 1999
DESCRIPTION "The Initial Revision"
::= { snmpModules 18 }
-- Administrative assignments ****************************************
snmpCommunityMIBObjects OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpCommunityMIB 1 }
snmpCommunityMIBConformance OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpCommunityMIB 2 }
--
-- The snmpCommunityTable contains a database of community strings.
-- This table provides mappings between community strings, and the
-- parameters required for View-based Access Control.
--
snmpCommunityTable OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SEQUENCE OF SnmpCommunityEntry
MAX-ACCESS not-accessible
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The table of community strings configured in the SNMP
engine's Local Configuration Datastore (LCD)."
::= { snmpCommunityMIBObjects 1 }
snmpCommunityEntry OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SnmpCommunityEntry
MAX-ACCESS not-accessible
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"Information about a particular community string."
INDEX { IMPLIED snmpCommunityIndex }
::= { snmpCommunityTable 1 }
SnmpCommunityEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
snmpCommunityIndex SnmpAdminString,
snmpCommunityName OCTET STRING,
snmpCommunitySecurityName SnmpAdminString,
snmpCommunityContextEngineID SnmpEngineID,
snmpCommunityContextName SnmpAdminString,
snmpCommunityTransportTag SnmpTagValue,
snmpCommunityStorageType StorageType,
snmpCommunityStatus RowStatus
}
snmpCommunityIndex OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SnmpAdminString (SIZE(1..32))
MAX-ACCESS not-accessible
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The unique index value of a row in this table."
::= { snmpCommunityEntry 1 }
snmpCommunityName OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX OCTET STRING
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The community string for which a row in this table
represents a configuration."
::= { snmpCommunityEntry 2 }
snmpCommunitySecurityName OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SnmpAdminString (SIZE(1..32))
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"A human readable string representing the corresponding
value of snmpCommunityName in a Security Model
independent format."
::= { snmpCommunityEntry 3 }
snmpCommunityContextEngineID OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SnmpEngineID
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The contextEngineID indicating the location of the
context in which management information is accessed
when using the community string specified by the
corresponding instance of snmpCommunityName.
The default value is the snmpEngineID of the entity in
which this object is instantiated."
::= { snmpCommunityEntry 4 }
snmpCommunityContextName OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SnmpAdminString (SIZE(0..32))
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The context in which management information is accessed
when using the community string specified by the corresponding
instance of snmpCommunityName."
DEFVAL { ''H } -- the empty string
::= { snmpCommunityEntry 5 }
snmpCommunityTransportTag OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SnmpTagValue
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"This object specifies a set of transport endpoints
from which a command responder application will accept
management requests. If a management request containing
this community is received on a transport endpoint other
than the transport endpoints identified by this object,
the request is deemed unauthentic.
The transports identified by this object are specified
in the snmpTargetAddrTable. Entries in that table
whose snmpTargetAddrTagList contains this tag value
are identified.
If the value of this object has zero-length, transport
endpoints are not checked when authenticating messages
containing this community string."
DEFVAL { ''H } -- the empty string
::= { snmpCommunityEntry 6 }
snmpCommunityStorageType OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX StorageType
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The storage type for this conceptual row in the
snmpCommunityTable. Conceptual rows having the value
'permanent' need not allow write-access to any
columnar object in the row."
::= { snmpCommunityEntry 7 }
snmpCommunityStatus OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX RowStatus
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The status of this conceptual row in the snmpCommunityTable.
An entry in this table is not qualified for activation
until instances of all corresponding columns have been
initialized, either through default values, or through
Set operations. The snmpCommunityName and
snmpCommunitySecurityName objects must be explicitly set.
There is no restriction on setting columns in this table
when the value of snmpCommunityStatus is active(1)."
::= { snmpCommunityEntry 8 }
--
-- The snmpTargetAddrExtTable
--
snmpTargetAddrExtTable OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SEQUENCE OF SnmpTargetAddrExtEntry
MAX-ACCESS not-accessible
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The table of mask and mms values associated with the
snmpTargetAddrTable.
The snmpTargetAddrExtTable augments the
snmpTargetAddrTable with a transport address mask value
and a maximum message size value. The transport address
mask allows entries in the snmpTargetAddrTable to define
a set of addresses instead of just a single address.
The maximum message size value allows the maximum
message size of another SNMP entity to be configured for
use in SNMPv1 (and SNMPv2c) transactions, where the
message format does not specify a maximum message size."
::= { snmpCommunityMIBObjects 2 }
snmpTargetAddrExtEntry OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SnmpTargetAddrExtEntry
MAX-ACCESS not-accessible
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"Information about a particular mask and mms value."
AUGMENTS { snmpTargetAddrEntry }
::= { snmpTargetAddrExtTable 1 }
SnmpTargetAddrExtEntry ::= SEQUENCE {
snmpTargetAddrTMask OCTET STRING,
snmpTargetAddrMMS Integer32
}
snmpTargetAddrTMask OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX OCTET STRING (SIZE (0..255))
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The mask value associated with an entry in the
snmpTargetAddrTable. The value of this object must
have the same length as the corresponding instance of
snmpTargetAddrTAddress, or must have length 0. An
attempt to set it to any other value will result in
an inconsistentValue error.
The value of this object allows an entry in the
snmpTargetAddrTable to specify multiple addresses.
The mask value is used to select which bits of
a transport address must match bits of the corresponding
instance of snmpTargetAddrTAddress, in order for the
transport address to match a particular entry in the
snmpTargetAddrTable. Bits which are 1 in the mask
value indicate bits in the transport address which
must match bits in the snmpTargetAddrTAddress value.
Bits which are 0 in the mask indicate bits in the
transport address which need not match. If the
length of the mask is 0, the mask should be treated
as if all its bits were 1 and its length were equal
to the length of the corresponding value of
snmpTargetAddrTable.
This object may not be modified while the value of the
corresponding instance of snmpTargetAddrRowStatus is
active(1). An attempt to set this object in this case
will result in an inconsistentValue error."
DEFVAL { ''H }
::= { snmpTargetAddrExtEntry 1 }
snmpTargetAddrMMS OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX Integer32 (0|484..2147483647)
MAX-ACCESS read-create
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The maximum message size value associated with an entry
in the snmpTargetAddrTable."
DEFVAL { 484 }
::= { snmpTargetAddrExtEntry 2 }
--
-- The snmpTrapAddress and snmpTrapCommunity objects are included
-- in notifications that are forwarded by a proxy, which were
-- originally received as SNMPv1 Trap messages.
--
snmpTrapAddress OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX IpAddress
MAX-ACCESS accessible-for-notify
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The value of the agent-addr field of a Trap PDU which
is forwarded by a proxy forwarder application using
an SNMP version other than SNMPv1. The value of this
object SHOULD contain the value of the agent-addr field
from the original Trap PDU as generated by an SNMPv1
agent."
::= { snmpCommunityMIBObjects 3 }
snmpTrapCommunity OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX OCTET STRING
MAX-ACCESS accessible-for-notify
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The value of the community string field of an SNMPv1
message containing a Trap PDU which is forwarded by a
a proxy forwarder application using an SNMP version
other than SNMPv1. The value of this object SHOULD
contain the value of the community string field from
the original SNMPv1 message containing a Trap PDU as
generated by an SNMPv1 agent."
::= { snmpCommunityMIBObjects 4 }
-- Conformance Information *******************************************
snmpCommunityMIBCompliances OBJECT IDENTIFIER
::= { snmpCommunityMIBConformance 1 }
snmpCommunityMIBGroups OBJECT IDENTIFIER
::= { snmpCommunityMIBConformance 2 }
-- Compliance statements
snmpCommunityMIBCompliance MODULE-COMPLIANCE
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The compliance statement for SNMP engines which
implement the SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB."
MODULE -- this module
MANDATORY-GROUPS { snmpCommunityGroup }
OBJECT snmpCommunityName
MIN-ACCESS read-only
DESCRIPTION "Write access is not required."
OBJECT snmpCommunitySecurityName
MIN-ACCESS read-only
DESCRIPTION "Write access is not required."
OBJECT snmpCommunityContextEngineID
MIN-ACCESS read-only
DESCRIPTION "Write access is not required."
OBJECT snmpCommunityContextName
MIN-ACCESS read-only
DESCRIPTION "Write access is not required."
OBJECT snmpCommunityTransportTag
MIN-ACCESS read-only
DESCRIPTION "Write access is not required."
OBJECT snmpCommunityStorageType
MIN-ACCESS read-only
DESCRIPTION "Write access is not required."
OBJECT snmpCommunityStatus
MIN-ACCESS read-only
DESCRIPTION "Write access is not required."
::= { snmpCommunityMIBCompliances 1 }
snmpProxyTrapForwardCompliance MODULE-COMPLIANCE
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"The compliance statement for SNMP engines which
contain a proxy forwarding application which is
capable of forwarding SNMPv1 traps using SNMPv2c
or SNMPv3."
MODULE -- this module
MANDATORY-GROUPS { snmpProxyTrapForwardGroup }
::= { snmpCommunityMIBCompliances 2 }
snmpCommunityGroup OBJECT-GROUP
OBJECTS {
snmpCommunityName,
snmpCommunitySecurityName,
snmpCommunityContextEngineID,
snmpCommunityContextName,
snmpCommunityTransportTag,
snmpCommunityStorageType,
snmpCommunityStatus,
snmpTargetAddrTMask,
snmpTargetAddrMMS
}
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"A collection of objects providing for configuration
of community strings for SNMPv1 (and SNMPv2c) usage."
::= { snmpCommunityMIBGroups 1 }
snmpProxyTrapForwardGroup OBJECT-GROUP
OBJECTS {
snmpTrapAddress,
snmpTrapCommunity
}
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION
"Objects which are used by proxy forwarding applications
when translating traps between SNMP versions. These are
used to preserve SNMPv1-specific information when
translating to SNMPv2c or SNMPv3."
::= { snmpCommunityMIBGroups 3 }
END
6. Intellectual Property โจ
The IETF doesn't take a position on whether any intellectual property or other rights that someone might claim over this technology are valid or in scope, or whether a license to them is actually available. It also doesn't say it has tried to find any such rights. If you want to know how the IETF handles rights for standards-track and standards-related documents, check out BCP-11. Copies of rights claims that were submitted for publication, any licence assurances that are going to be made available, or the outcome of an attempt to get a general license or permission for implementers or users of these proprietary rights can all be requested from the IETF Secretariat. ๐ง
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights which may cover technology that may be required to practice this standard. ๐ Send that info to the IETF Executive Director.
7. Acknowledgments ๐
This document is the result of the efforts of the SNMPv3 Working Group. The design of the SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB incorporates work done by the authors of SNMPv2*:
- Jeff Case (SNMP Research, Inc.)
- David Harrington (Cabletron Systems Inc.)
- David Levi (SNMP Research, Inc.)
- Brian O'Keefe (Hewlett Packard)
- Jon Saperia (IronBridge Networks, Inc.)
- Steve Waldbusser (International Network Services)
8. Security Considerations ๐
Okay, this one is SERIOUS bestie, so read it carefully. Although SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 don't provide any security at all, mapping community names into securityName/contextName gives you the ability to use view-based access control to limit what unsecured SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 operations can reach. It is so important for network admins to use this ๐ฅ, because it's how they avoid unauthorized access to MIB data that would otherwise be secure.
Further, the SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB can expose community strings that unlock more info than the usual 'public' community string does. ๐ So a security admin may want to limit who can access the SNMP-COMMUNITY-MIB, and in particular make it inaccessible when someone is using the 'public' community string.
When a proxy translates messages between SNMPv1 (or SNMPv2c) and SNMPv3, there may be a loss of security. ๐ญ For example, an SNMPv3 message that was received using authentication and privacy and then forwarded using SNMPv1 loses the security benefits of authentication and privacy. Careful configuration of proxies is required to handle situations like this. One approach that might work is to use an encrypted tunnel. ๐ซถ
9. References ๐
- [1] Rose, M. and K. McCloghrie, "Structure and Identification of Management Information for TCP/IP-based internets", STD 16, RFC 1155, May 1990.
- [2] Case, J., Fedor, M., Schoffstall, M. and J. Davin, "Simple Network Management Protocol", STD 15, RFC 1157, May 1990.
- [3] McCloghrie, K. and M. Rose, Editors, "Concise MIB Definitions", STD 16, RFC 1212, March 1991.
- [4] Rose, M., "A Convention for Defining Traps for use with the SNMP", RFC 1215, March 1991.
- [5] McCloghrie, K. and M. Rose, "A Convention for Describing SNMP-based Agents", RFC 1303, February 1992.
- [6] Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M. and S.Waldbusser, "Introduction to Community-based SNMPv2", RFC 1901, January 1996.
- [7] McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., Schoenwaelder, J., Case, J., Rose, M. and S. Waldbusser, "Structure of Management Information Version 2 (SMIv2)", STD 58, RFC 2578, April 1999.
- [8] McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., Schoenwaelder, J., Case, J., Rose, M. and S. Waldbusser, "Textual Conventions for SMIv2", STD 58, RFC 2579, April 1999.
- [9] McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., Schoenwaelder, J., Case, J., Rose, M. and S. Waldbusser, "Conformance Statements for SMIv2", STD 58, RFC 2580, April 1999.
- [10] Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M. and S.Waldbusser, "Protocol Operations for Version 2 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv2)", RFC 1905, January 1996.
- [11] Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M. and S. Waldbusser, "Transport Mappings for Version 2 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv2)", RFC 1906, January 1996.
- [12] Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M. and S. Waldbusser, "Management Information Base for Version 2 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv2)", RFC 1907, January 1996.
- [13] Case, J., McCloghrie, K., Rose, M. and S. Waldbusser, "Coexistence between Version 1 and Version 2 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework", RFC 1908, January 1996.
- [14] Levi, D. and B. Wijnen, "Mapping SNMPv2 onto SNMPv1 within a bi-lingual SNMP agent", RFC 2089, January 1997.
- [15] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
- [16] Harrington, D. and B. Wijnen, "An Architecture for Describing SNMP Management Frameworks", RFC 2571, May 1999.
- [17] Case, J., Harrington, D. and B. Wijnen, "Message Processing and Dispatching for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)", RFC 2572, May 1999.
- [18] Levi, D., Meyer, P. and B. Stewart, "SNMP Applications", RFC 2573, May 1999.
- [19] Blumenthal, U. and Wijnen, B., "The User-Based Security Model for Version 3 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)", RFC 2574, May 1999.
- [20] Wijnen, B., Presuhn, R. and K. McCloghrie, "View-based Access Control Model for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)", RFC 2575, May 1999.
10. Editor's Addresses ๐
Rob Frye
CoSine Communications
1200 Bridge Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065
U.S.A.
Phone: +1 703 725 1130
EMail: rfrye@cosinecom.com
David B. Levi
Nortel Networks
3505 Kesterwood Drive
Knoxville, TN 37918
U.S.A.
Phone: +1 423 686 0432
EMail: dlevi@nortelnetworks.com
Shawn A. Routhier
Integrated Systems Inc.
333 North Ave 4th Floor
Wakefield MA 01880
U.S.A.
Phone: + 1 781 245 0804
EMail: sar@epilogue.com
Bert Wijnen
Lucent Technologies
Schagen 33
3461 GL Linschoten
Netherlands
Phone: +31 348 407-775
EMail: wijnen@lucent.com
A. Changes From RFC1908 ๐
- Editorial changes to comply with current RFC requirements.
- Added/updated copyright statements.
- Added Intellectual Property section.
- Replaced old introduction with complete new introduction/overview.
- Added content for the Security Considerations Section.
- Updated References to current documents.
- Updated text to use current SNMP terminology.
- Added coexistence for/with SNMPv3.
- Added description for SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c Message Processing Models and SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c Community-based Security Models.
- Added snmpCommunityMIB so that SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 community strings can be mapped into the SNMP Version Independent paramaters which can then be used for access control using the standard SNMPv3 View-based Access Control Model and the snmpVacmMIB.
- Added two MIB objects such that when an SNMPv1 notification (trap) must be converted into an SNMPv2 notification we add those two objects in order to preserve information about the address and community of the originating SNMPv1 agent.
- Included (and extended) from RFC2089 the SNMPv2 to SNMPv1 mapping within a multi-lingual SNMP Engine.
- Use keywords from RFC 2119 to describe requirements for compliance.
- Changed/added some rules for converting a MIB module from SMIv1 to SMIv2.
- Extended and improved the description of Proxy Forwarder behaviour when multiple SNMP versions are involved.
Full Copyright Statement ๐
Okay bestie, time for the legal bit, and it matters ๐ The Internet Society owns the copyright here (2000), and all rights are reserved ๐
You're allowed to copy this document and share it with others, and you can translate it too. You can also make derivative works that comment on it, explain it, or help people implement it. Those can be written, copied, published, and distributed, in whole or in part, with no restriction of any kind, as long as the copyright notice and this paragraph show up on every copy and every derivative work ๐
BUT the document itself can't be modified in any way. You can't remove the copyright notice or the references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations. The only exceptions are when you need it to develop Internet standards (then the copyright procedures in the Internet Standards process have to be followed ๐) or when you're translating it into a language other than English ๐
These permissions are perpetual, so the Internet Society and its successors or assigns can't take them back ๐ฆ
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Acknowledgement โจ
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society ๐ซถ
๐ฆ where this page comes from
- ietf: rfc2576 2000-03
- ๐ girlified by claude-haiku-5-5 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms