Subject: RE: [Adslmib] Profile indexing

From: "Michael Sneed" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 13:29:09 -0500

> >Just to make sure my point was clear, I don't think the main issue is 
>human
> >readability.  The issue is having two independent ways to reference the
>same
> >thing: one (an integer) by which the agent knows the profile, and one (a
> >string) by which everyone else does. This is usually a bad thing.  And
> >compensating for this is more of a burden than may be clear at first
>blush.
> >
> >The fact that there is an application which can translate does not help.
>
>I think computers are just wonderful things for translating numbers
>to strings and back again.  I use them every day.
>
>Why, just now, I used one of these wonderful inventions to tell me that
>1.3.6.1.2.1.10.9999.1.1.6.1.9.1.1.1 meant vdslIntervalInits...
>

But that ONLY worked because you are the draft editor.  If I was the draft 
editor, I might have changed either the OID or the object name without your 
knowledge, and the operation you were attempting would have failed because 
of a faulty translation.

You could improve the situation by retrieving a fresh copy of the draft from 
the repository every time you needed to do a translation.  But that would be 
a lot of trouble, and would likely slow you down quite a bit.  Or maybe 
assume there is a magical process that keeps your version up to date, but 
that would be an unstated assumption.

In the case of, say, ifIndex and ifName, this wouldn't be such a problem, 
since they aren't readily alterable.  Neither would it be if the VDSL MIB 
were at Proposed, since I would not be at liberty to alter the OID or name.  
But I think there are assumptions about the administrative (or possibly 
system) context in your example that are not part of the standard.

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From: "Bob Ray" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 14:56:35 -0600

>system) context in your example that are not part of the standard.

Sorry.  I made the assumption that if anyone attempted to implement the
internet draft, they would have to substitute some number for 'xxxx' in

    ::= { transmission xxxx }

to build a test case.  I further assumed that a reader of this list would
understand that until (if) the IANA assigned a branch in the transmission
tree
to the VDSL MIB, any number that appears in place of 'xxxx' would be solely
for purposes of example.  I shall refrain from such in the future.  Readers:
Please do not substitute arbitrary numbers for 'xxxx' unless you know what
you
are doing and understand that the number has no significance other than on
your
own computer.

Consider, instead, in the context of the previous email:

	1.3.6.1.4.1.13674.1.1.13.1.3    pesaPresetMemberSyncSource

which is from an enterprise MIB I just finished.  Used solely as a
rhetorical
device, this example should be considered to have no significance outside
this
discussion.

:)

Bob Ray