Subject: RE: Totals are counters

From: "Sharon Chisholm" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 09:58:33 -0400

hi

The Definitions:

          -- this wraps
          Counter32 ::=
              [APPLICATION 1]
                  IMPLICIT INTEGER (0..4294967295)

          -- this doesn't wrap
          Gauge32 ::=
              [APPLICATION 2]
                  IMPLICIT INTEGER (0..4294967295)

Our Statistics:

    ituAlarmActiveStatsIndeterminateCurrent Gauge32,
    ituAlarmActiveStatsCriticalCurrent      Gauge32,
    ituAlarmActiveStatsMajorCurrent         Gauge32,
    ituAlarmActiveStatsMinorCurrent         Gauge32,
    ituAlarmActiveStatsWarningCurrent       Gauge32,	
    ituAlarmActiveStatsIndeterminateTotal   Counter32,
    ituAlarmActiveStatsCriticalTotal        Counter32,
    ituAlarmActiveStatsMajorTotal           Counter32,
    ituAlarmActiveStatsMinorTotal           Counter32,
    ituAlarmActiveStatsWarningTotal         Counter32

Do I really want my current counts to wrap?  Is it better 
falsely show my current major alarm count to be 4294967295
or 3?

Sharon

-----Original Message-----
From: David T. Perkins [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2002 2:34 AM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Totals are counters

Hi,

The object alarmActiveStatsTotalActive should be a counter and
not a Gauge32. Note that the following objects are correctly
specified as counters:
    ituAlarmActiveStatsIndeterminateTotal
    ituAlarmActiveStatsCriticalTotal     
    ituAlarmActiveStatsMajorTotal        
    ituAlarmActiveStatsMinorTotal        
    ituAlarmActiveStatsWarningTotal      

Regards,
/david t. perkins

---

From: Juergen Schoenwaelder <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 16:40:22 +0200

>>>>> Sharon Chisholm writes:

Sharon> The Definitions:

Sharon> -- this wraps Counter32 ::= [APPLICATION 1] IMPLICIT
Sharon> INTEGER (0..4294967295)

Sharon> -- this doesn't wrap Gauge32 ::= [APPLICATION 2]
Sharon> IMPLICIT INTEGER (0..4294967295)

Sharon> Our Statistics:

[...]

Sharon> Do I really want my current counts to wrap?  Is it better
Sharon> falsely show my current major alarm count to be 4294967295 or
Sharon> 3?

I think it is important to discuss what these numbers really
model. Let me pick an example:

   ituAlarmActiveStatsIndeterminateCurrent OBJECT-TYPE
      SYNTAX      Gauge32
      MAX-ACCESS  read-only
      STATUS      current
      DESCRIPTION
          "A count of the current number of active alarms with a
           ituAlarmPerceivedSeverity of indeterminate."
      ::= { ituAlarmActiveStatsEntry 1 }

   ituAlarmActiveStatsIndeterminateTotal OBJECT-TYPE
      SYNTAX      Counter32
      MAX-ACCESS  read-only
      STATUS      current
      DESCRIPTION
          "A count of the total number of active alarms with a
           ituAlarmPerceivedSeverity of indeterminate since system
           restart."
      ::= { ituAlarmActiveStatsEntry 6 }

I am not 100% sure I understand the descriptions correctly. Perhaps
you mean:

   ituAlarmActiveStatsIndeterminateCurrent OBJECT-TYPE
      SYNTAX      Gauge32
      MAX-ACCESS  read-only
      STATUS      current
      DESCRIPTION
          "A current number of active alarms with a
           ituAlarmPerceivedSeverity of indeterminate."
      ::= { ituAlarmActiveStatsEntry 1 }

   ituAlarmActiveStatsIndeterminateTotal OBJECT-TYPE
      SYNTAX      Counter32
      MAX-ACCESS  read-only
      STATUS      current
      DESCRIPTION
          "A count of active alarms with a ituAlarmPerceivedSeverity 
           of indeterminate since system restart."
      ::= { ituAlarmActiveStatsEntry 6 }

These descritions would be clearer to me and with them, I would agree
that Gauge32 and Counter32 are used properly.

/js

-- 
Juergen Schoenwaelder    <http://www.informatik.uni-osnabrueck.de/schoenw/>

---

From: "David T. Perkins" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 08:23:54 -0700

HI,

Yes, it all depends on the semantics. Also note that if you read the MIB
module further, there are other objects with similar descriptions that
are counters.

Regards,
/david t. perkins