Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
11.1. Managed Object Mapping

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11.1. Managed Object Mapping

11.1. Managed Object Mapping

Next for each managed object class, determine whether there can exist multiple instances of that managed object class. If not, then for each of its attributes, use the OBJECT-TYPE macro to make an equivalent definition.

Otherwise, if multiple instances of the managed object class can exist, then define a conceptual table having conceptual rows each containing a columnar object for each of the managed object class's attributes. If the managed object class is contained within the containment tree of another managed object class, then the assignment of an object is normally required for each of the "distinguished attributes" of the containing managed object class. If they do not already exist within the MIB module, then they can be added via the definition of additional columnar objects in the conceptual row corresponding to the contained managed object class.

In defining a conceptual row, it is useful to consider the optimization of network management operations which will act upon its columnar objects. In particular, it is wisest to avoid defining more columnar objects within a conceptual row, than can fit in a single PDU. As a rule of thumb, a conceptual row should contain no more than approximately 20 objects. Similarly, or as a way to abide by the "20 object guideline", columnar objects should be grouped into tables according to the expected grouping of network management operations upon them. As such, the content of conceptual rows should reflect typical access scenarios, e.g., they should be organized along functional lines such as one row for statistics and another row for parameters, or along usage lines such as commonly-needed objects versus rarely-needed objects.

On the other hand, the definition of conceptual rows where the number of columnar objects used as indexes outnumbers the number used to hold information, should also be avoided. In particular, the splitting of a managed object class's attributes into many conceptual tables should not be used as a way to obtain the same degree of flexibility/complexity as is often found in MIBs with a myriad of optionals.


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Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
11.1. Managed Object Mapping