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rfc:rfc1298

Network Working Group R. Wormley Request for Comments: 1298 S. Bostock

                                                          Novell, Inc.
                                                         February 1992
                           SNMP over IPX

Status of this Memo

 This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
 not specify an Internet standard.  Distribution of this memo is
 unlimited.

Abstract

 This memo defines a convention for encapsulating Simple Network
 Management Protocol (SNMP) [1] packets over the transport mechanism
 provided via the Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) protocol [2].

Editor's Note

 As stated below and in reference [5], it is strongly advised that for
 interoperability, SNMP be implemented over UDP/IP and not directly on
 media or other protocols (such as IPX).

1. Introduction

 The SNMP protocol has been specified as the official network
 management protocol of the Internet.  Its widespread acceptance and
 implementation by developers, both inside and outside the Internet
 community, is fostering synergetic growth to a variety of protocols
 and platforms.
 This memo addresses the use of SNMP over the IPX protocol, which has
 become quite widespread principally due to the popularity of Novell
 NetWare.  Roughly equivalent to UDP in function, IPX provides
 connectionless, unacknowledged datagram service over a variety of
 physical media and protocols.
 Although modifications have been made elsewhere in the NetWare
 protocol suite, IPX is identical to the Xerox Internet Datagram
 Protocol (IDP) [3].  The socket address space authority is
 administered by Novell.
 The use of SNMP over the UDP transport [4] is today the common mode
 of operation in the Internet. This specification may be appropriate
 for some environments in which UDP transport services are not

Wormley & Bostock [Page 1] RFC 1298 SNMP over IPX February 1992

 available.  SNMP implementors should be aware that the choice of
 underlying transport may have a significant impact on the
 interoperability and ubiquity of the management capability in the
 Internet.  Considerations relevant to choosing a transport for use
 with SNMP are described in [5].

2. Specification

 SNMP packets will always set the Packet Type field in the IPX header
 to 4 (i.e., Packet Exchange Packet).

2.1 Socket Assignments

 SNMP protocol entities will receive GetRequest-PDU, GetNextRequest-
 PDU, and SetRequest-PDU messages on socket 36879 (Destination Socket
 field set to hexadecimal 900F), and Trap-PDU messages on socket 36880
 (Destination Socket field set to hexadecimal 9010).
 GetResponse-PDU messages will be addressed to the IPX address and
 socket from which the corresponding GetRequest-PDU, GetNextRequest-
 PDU, or SetRequest-PDU originated.

2.2 Maximum Packet Length

 Although SNMP does not require conformant implementations to accept
 messages whose length exceed 484 bytes, it is recommended that
 implementations support a maximum SNMP message size of 546 bytes (the
 maximum size allowed under IPX).  Furthermore, this limit is the
 maximum packet length guaranteed to traverse IPX routers which do not
 provide fragmentation.  Implementors may choose to use longer packet
 lengths if the maximum is known, which depends on the intermediate
 routers and/or intermediate datalink layer protocols.

2.3 The agent-addr Field for the Trap-PDU

 The agent-addr field in a Trap-PDU emitted by an SNMP agent should
 contain the IpAddress 0.0.0.0.  An SNMP manager may ascertain the
 source of the trap by querying the transport layer.

2.4 IPX Transport Address Representation

 There are occasions when it is necessary to represent a transport
 service address in a MIB.  For instance, the SNMP party MIB [6] uses
 an OBJECT IDENTIFIER to define the transport domain (IP, IPX, etc.)
 and an OCTET STRING to represent an address within that domain.  The
 following definitions are provided for use in such a scheme.

Wormley & Bostock [Page 2] RFC 1298 SNMP over IPX February 1992

RFC1298-MIB DEFINITIONS ::= BEGIN

  IMPORTS
    enterprises         FROM RFC1155-SMI;
    novell              OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { enterprises 23 }
    transportDomains    OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { novell 7 }
    ipxTransportDomain  OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { transportDomains 1 }
  1. - Authoritatively names the IPX Transport Domain
  IpxTransportAddress ::= OCTET STRING (SIZE (12))
  1. - A textual convention denoting a transport service address in
  2. - the ipxTransportDomain. An IpxTransportAddress is 12 octets
  3. - long and comprises 3 fields, each in network-byte (high-low)
  4. - order.
  1. - The first field is 4 octets long and contains the network
  2. - number.
  1. - The next field is 6 octets long and contains the physical
  2. - address of the node. Since IPX can run over a variety of
  3. - subnet architectures, the physical node address may not
  4. - require all 6 octets. As specified in [2], the physical
  5. - node address will occupy the least significant portion of
  6. - the field and the most significant octets should be set
  7. - to zero.
  1. - The last field is 2 octets long and contains the socket
  2. - number.

END

3. Document Procurement

 This section provides contact points for procurement of selected
 documents.
 A complete description of IPX may be secured at the following
 address:
     Novell, Inc.
     122 East 1700 South
     P. O. Box 5900
     Provo, Utah 84601 USA
     800 526 5463

Wormley & Bostock [Page 3] RFC 1298 SNMP over IPX February 1992

     Novell Part # 883-000780-001
 The specification for IDP (part of XNS) may be ordered from:
     Xerox System Institute
     475 Oakmead Parkway
     Sunnyvale, CA 94086
     Attn: Fonda Pallone
     (415) 813-7164

4. References

 [1] Case J., Fedor M., Schoffstall M., and J. Davin, "A Simple
     Network Management Protocol (SNMP)", RFC 1157, SNMP Research,
     Performance Systems International, Performance Systems
     International, and MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, May 1990.
 [2] Novell, Inc., "NetWare System Technical Interface Overview", June
     1989.
 [3] Xerox System Integration Standard, "Internet Transport
     Protocols", XSIS 028112, Xerox Corporation, December 1981.
 [4] Postel, J., "User Datagram Protocol," RFC 768, USC/Information
     Sciences Institute, 28 August 1980.
 [5] Kastenholz, F., "SNMP Communications Services," RFC 1270,
     Clearpoint Research Corporation, October 1991.
 [6] McCloghrie, K., Davin, J., and J. Galvin, "Definitions of Managed
     Objects for Administration of SNMP Parties", RFC in preparation.

5. Security Considerations

 Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Wormley & Bostock [Page 4] RFC 1298 SNMP over IPX February 1992

6. Authors' Addresses

 Raymond Brett Wormley
 Novell, Inc.
 2180 Fortune Drive
 Mail Stop F5-91-2
 San Jose, CA 95131
 Phone: 408 473 8208
 EMail: bwormley@novell.com
 Steve Bostock
 Novell, Inc.
 2180 Fortune Drive
 Mail Stop F5-91-2
 San Jose, CA 95131
 Phone: 408 473 8203
 EMail: steveb@novell.com

Wormley & Bostock [Page 5]

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