Subject: schedule mib last call comment

From: Juergen Schoenwaelder <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 11:19:43 +0100

Here is last call command with a proposed fix for the
<draft-ietf-disman-schedule-mib-v2-02.txt> document.

ISSUE:

The schedRowStatus description says (among other things):

            The miminum number of objects that need to be set during
            row creation before a row can be set to `active' are
            schedContextName, schedVariable and schedValue.

It is unclear what this text means. Is it just some sort of advice for
management application implementors? In this case, the text is not
really helpful since you need to set additional variables in order to
do anything useful. Or does the text imply that an implementation must
generate an SNMP error if someone tries to activate the row and the
listed variables have not been set? In this case, the text should be
much clearer and I am personally not able to come up with a good
reason why you want to put that burdon on the agent.

PROPOSAL:

The proposal is to do the following changes:

(a) Remove the quoted text from the schedRowStatus description.

(b) Instead, add a DEFVAL for schedContextName (""), schedVariable
    (zeroDotZero) and schedValue (0) as guideance what implementors
    should choose when a row is created and no value is assigned.

Furthermore, I think we need to add the following statement to the
schedRowStatus in order to comply with RFC 2579:

    The value of this object has no effect on whether other objects in
    this conceptual row can be modified.

/js

-- 
Juergen Schoenwaelder      Technical University Braunschweig
<[email-masked]>  Dept. Operating Systems & Computer Networks
Phone: +49 531 391 3289    Bueltenweg 74/75, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Fax:   +49 531 391 5936    <URL:http://www.ibr.cs.tu-bs.de/~schoenw/>

---

From: Frank Strauss <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Jan 2001 21:50:47 +0100

Hi!

Juergen Schoenwaelder writes:

Juergen> Here is last call command with a proposed fix for the
Juergen> <draft-ietf-disman-schedule-mib-v2-02.txt> document.

Juergen> ISSUE:

Juergen> The schedRowStatus description says (among other things):

Juergen>             The miminum number of objects that need to be set during
Juergen>             row creation before a row can be set to `active' are
Juergen>             schedContextName, schedVariable and schedValue.

Juergen> It is unclear what this text means. Is it just some sort of advice for
Juergen> management application implementors? In this case, the text is not
Juergen> really helpful since you need to set additional variables in order to
Juergen> do anything useful. Or does the text imply that an implementation must
Juergen> generate an SNMP error if someone tries to activate the row and the
Juergen> listed variables have not been set? In this case, the text should be
Juergen> much clearer and I am personally not able to come up with a good
Juergen> reason why you want to put that burdon on the agent.

Juergen> PROPOSAL:

Juergen> The proposal is to do the following changes:

Juergen> (a) Remove the quoted text from the schedRowStatus description.

Juergen> (b) Instead, add a DEFVAL for schedContextName (""), schedVariable
Juergen>     (zeroDotZero) and schedValue (0) as guideance what implementors
Juergen>     should choose when a row is created and no value is assigned.

I propose to apply both of these changes, (a) and (b). A manager
should asure the intended behaviour, however it can be
achieved. That's why the quoted text should be removed. Reasonable
default values may help to reduce the number of required actions. A
reasonable default value for the schedVariable object cannot be given,
however, a fixed `obviously useless' ;-) value is probably better than
an undefined value.

Juergen> Furthermore, I think we need to add the following statement to the
Juergen> schedRowStatus in order to comply with RFC 2579:

Juergen>     The value of this object has no effect on whether other objects in
Juergen>     this conceptual row can be modified.

I agree.

 -frank