Muonics Blog

MIB Smithy 4.6 is now available for download. In addition to some bug fixes and new features brought in from the MIB Smithy SDK 4.5 and MIB Views 1.9 releases, there are a few cool new features in this release I’d like to highlight that are designed to simplify your MIB editing workflow a bit:

First, MIB Smithy has always had a single “Preview” tab. Whenever you “Preview” a file, or a module, or any other record within a module, whatever was in the Preview was replaced. You could show and hide the tab, but you could not preview more than one thing or in more than one format at a time. You could not preview two different modules at the same time. You could not see how your changes look before and after. That’s no longer the case! Now a new tab is opened whenever you tell MIB Smithy to generate a preview of an item, and there’s an [X] button in the upper right corner to close the tab:

Second (and third) are two new features for the Tasks tab, where compiler/MIB validation messages appear to inform you of errors and warnings in your MIB/PIB modules. There’s now a check box next to each entry in the Tasks list, and two below the list indicating the number of errors and warnings detected:

In past versions, after you’d made changes to your module to address the issues, you needed to re-validate to get rid of any messages that were no longer pertinent. You might have to re-sort and re-find your place to continue working. Now, once you’ve addressed an item (or believe so, or simply want to hide it temporarily), you can click the check box next to the item. After a short delay (in case you clicked the wrong item or changed your mind) it will be deleted from the list, and will only return when you re-validate if the issue still remains.

Second, in addition to now having a clear count of the number of errors and warnings (previously only available from the Log tab), you can check or uncheck the boxes next to the error and warning counts to choose to show or hide errors or warnings separately. If you have a handful of errors and many warnings, for example, you may choose to hide the warnings while you focus on first making sure your modules are error-free.

Release Notes

The following changes are in this release:

5027: Options to filter compiler/validation results for errors/warnings

New checkbuttons were added below the Tasks tab where validation errors and warnings appear. The checkbuttons show the current error and warning count and can be checked/unchecked to show/hide errors or warnings (for example, hiding warnings to focus on fixing errors first).

674: Add checkbutton to Tasks list entries

Each validation error or warning message in the Tasks tab now has a checkbutton associated with it. Checking a task off removes the message after a short delay so that you can mark an item as resolved without having to re-validate to clear it. If the issue has not been corrected it will reappear the next time the module is validated.

1233: Support for multiple preview windows

Previous versions of MIB Smithy used a single Preview tab in the Workspace that was updated each time a preview was requested. Now, each time a preview is requested, a new tab is opened (and can be closed with the X button in the upper right corner). This allows you to preview multiple records, in multiple formats, or visually compare previews.

2381: Rename File->Open to File->Open Project

The File->Open and File->Open Project menu entries performed the same task (namely, closing the current project and opening a new one). File->Open is now File->Open Project, and the redundant entry removed.

493: Auto-hide Workspace panel when no tabs visible

When no tabs are open in the Workspace panel for previewing or editing records, the panel is now automatically hidden, allowing the Project panel/tree to expand into the unoccupied space.

5006: Add format for TimeTicks values

TimeTicks values (such as sysUpTime) in the SNMP Tools are now rendered in “Nd HH:MM:SS.ss” format (days, hours, minutes, seconds, deciseconds) rather than leaving them as an integer value, by default, unless there’s an associated TEXTUAL-CONVENTION with a different DISPLAY-HINT.

5046: More reliable methods to get Host IDs on Unix

Another/new method is used to determine Host IDs on FreeBSD, Linux and Mac OS X. This method should be able to see interfaces that are disconnected or unconfigured. In some cases, these were previously not seen, which could be a hassle for multi-homing or laptop use with no active network connection.

4806: Warning for tables with only accessible-for-notify columns

It is now a warning rather than an error if at least one column of a table is accessible-for-notify and all others not-accessible, rather than an error as it is for all columns to be not-accessible. There is one IETF standard MIB (RAQMON-RDS-MIB) where this is used, so accessible-for-notify should be sufficient to satisfy RFC2578 section 7.7 requirement that at least one column be accessible.

5095: Improve handling of MIB ambiguities in SNMP Tools

Several improvements were made in handling of issues with looking up MIB definitions (such as “search string is ambiguous” errors). The Tree View in particular previously would report the ambiguity and not allow further expansion, but now will ignore it and continue, and (for all tools) message dialogs reporting a problem looking up the entered OID will provide more/better details about what the issue is.

393: Add option to show additional columns in tools

You can now show additional columns in most tools, either through the View menu or by right-clicking on the table header. For example, for the Table View you can opt to show the instance identifiers, which previously only appeared if the index values could not be parsed. For other tools, you can opt to show the OID and module name.

4210: Invalid type reference ” setting object with unimported type

An “Invalid type reference ”” error could occur in the SNMP Query tool when setting object with an undefined/unimported type.

3916: When Tcl error occurs, stop button no longer works

In some cases, an error that occurred during an SNMP operation in a tool that caused the tool to cancel the operation would leave other parts of the GUI (such as the stop button) in a state thinking the operation was still in progress. Typically this required having to open a new window to make the tool usable again.

3915: Error: Don’t know how to encode objects of type ‘SEQUENCE’

The SNMP Query tool will no longer allow entering an ASN.1 type (such as SEQUENCE) that is not legal for an accessible OBJECT-TYPE. Doing so would result in a “Don’t know how to encode …” error (which, while correct, would leave the tool in an unusable state).

338: Hide EXPORTS property in SMIv2 modules

The EXPORTS tab will no longer appear in the SMIv2 or COPS-PR-SPPI module workspaces, unless the loaded modules already specify EXPORTS. This property is only legal in SMIv1 and true ASN.1 modules, so should not otherwise be available.

341: Hide SMIv2 data types in SMIv1 modules

The data type/filter comboboxes in the Syntax/Write-Syntax tabs for object/typedef/variation records now only shows base types that are appropriate for the module’s SMI version (e.g. Counter for SMIv1 vs Counter32 for SMIv2), rather than making all base types available for direct selection. Such incorrect usage would be caught during validation, but better to not make the wrong type selectable in the first place.

5062: Add COPS-PR-SPPI types to Syntax tab’s class filter

The data type/filter comboboxes in the Syntax/Write-Syntax tabs for object/typedef/variation records now lists COPS-PR-SPPI base types when editing PIB modules.

3967: “Root identifier doesn’t exist” error with IMPORTS auto-update

A “Root identifier doesn’t exist” error could occur when editing a record’s OID property if the OID used an imported symbol and the module imported from was not loaded into the project, or other changes in similar conditions where a module’s IMPORTS are being updated automatically.

5031: No such variable error removing MIB files from project

A “no such variable” error would occur when removing certain records without OID properties from a project (such as removing a file). The record would actually be removed, but the error would cause the Project tree to not update, so a subsequent attempt would otherwise appear successful without error.

340: Do not allow structured types in variations

The data type/filter comboboxes in the Syntax/Write-Syntax tabs for variations no longer allow selecting data types that aren’t appropriate for variations (such as SEQUENCE).

1657: Wrong PIB-MIN-ACCESS values for COPS MODULE-COMPLIANCE

The PIB-MIN-ACCESS property for COPS-PR-SPPI (PIB) MODULE-COMPLIANCE OBJECTs listed SMIv2 access values for selection rather than the legal/proper COPS access values (install, install-notify, etc).

4822: MIB Smithy should not bind port at startup

Earlier versions of MIB Smithy SDK would bind port to a socket upon doing any SNMP session configuration that would be used for subsequent SNMP messaging. The introduction of SNMPv3 inform support in MIB Smithy 4.5 stores and configures an snmpEngineID value at startup, which would cause the socket to be created, even if the user was not intending to use the SNMP Tools. MIB Smithy will no longer open/configure a socket unless/until the SNMP Tools are used.

Update: The initial build had a bug introduced with 5027 (error/warning filters) that caused double-clicking the Tasks list to open the associated record’s properties to generate a Tcl error, and I accidentally forgot to include a handful of items in the release notes. I’ve re-built the 4.6 releases to correct these issues.

For MIB Smithy Professional users, also refer to the MIB Smithy SDK 4.5 Release Notes for additional changes.

MIB Views 1.9 is now available for download. The following changes are in this release:

393: Add option to show additional columns in tools

You can now show additional columns in most tools, either through the View menu or by right-clicking on the table header. For example, for the Table View you can opt to show the instance identifiers, which previously only appeared if the index values could not be parsed. For other tools, you can opt to show the OID and module name.

5006: Add format for TimeTicks values

TimeTicks values (such as sysUpTime) are now rendered in “Nd HH:MM:SS.ss” format (days, hours, minutes, seconds, deciseconds) rather than leaving them as an integer value, by default, unless there’s an associated TEXTUAL-CONVENTION with a different DISPLAY-HINT.

5095: Improve handling of MIB ambiguities in SNMP Tools

Several improvements were made in handling of issues with looking up MIB definitions (such as “search string is ambiguous” errors). The Tree View in particular previously would report the ambiguity and not allow further expansion, but now will ignore it and continue, and (for all tools) message dialogs reporting a problem looking up the entered OID will provide more/better details about what the issue is.

4210: Invalid type reference ” setting object with unimported type

An “Invalid type reference ”” error could occur in the SNMP Query tool when setting object with an undefined/unimported type.

3916: When Tcl error occurs, stop button no longer works

In some cases, an error that occurred during an SNMP operation in a tool that caused the tool to cancel the operation would leave other parts of the GUI (such as the stop button) in a state thinking the operation was still in progress. Typically this required having to open a new window to make the tool usable again.

3915: Error: Don’t know how to encode objects of type ‘SEQUENCE’

The SNMP Query tool will no longer allow entering an ASN.1 type (such as SEQUENCE) that is not legal for an accessible OBJECT-TYPE. Doing so would result in a “Don’t know how to encode …” error (which, while correct, would leave the tool in an unusable state).

5046: More reliable methods to get Host IDs on Unix

Another/new method is used to determine Host IDs on FreeBSD, Linux and Mac OS X. This method should be able to see interfaces that are disconnected or unconfigured. In some cases, these were previously not seen, which could be a hassle for multi-homing or laptop use with no active network connection.

MIB Smithy SDK 4.5 is now available for download. This release brings a number of new features, improvements to the Scotty/TNM compatibility wrapper, and bug fixes. The following changes are in this release:

372: Add support for decoding KeyChange values

The [$session usm authKeyChange] and [$session usm privKeyChange] commands now accept a -direction encode|decode argument allowing KeyChange values to be decoded. If unspecified, the default is encode, which was the previous behavior.

273: oidcmp should allow record search specs

The [$db oidcmp] function no longer requires strict OIDs for comparison, but can instead take a normal record search specification, such as SNMPv2-MIB!sysDescr (where previously only sysDescr would be allowed).

5008: Return proper key/value pair on SNMP timeout/cancel

When issuing an SNMP request without a callback, a timeout or cancel would result in “timeout” or “cancelled” being returned as the result, rather than a proper key/value pair like a normal result, which required a check before using the result as a dictionary or list for [array set]. It will now return “-status timeout” or “-status cancelled” as it would with a callback.

5006: Add format for TimeTicks values

The [$db format] command now has a default format for TimeTicks values to render them as “Nd HH:MM:SS.ss” (days, hours, minutes, seconds, deciseconds) rather than leaving them as an integer value. This can be disabled with the -ticksformat option specified either to the format command or configured globally for the database.

5007: Add support for session config aliases

Support for session config aliases has been added both for Scotty/TNM compatibility and natively. Aliases allow defining a named set of options (through the [$session alias] command) that can be assigned to a session by specifying the alias (e.g. [$session configure -alias $aliasname]). Additionally, the native version allows using aliases for overriding session configuration for individual SNMP requests (e.g. [$session next -alias $aliasname 0.0]).

5057: Allow single subid with oidcmp

The [$db oidcmp] function no longer requires a minimum of two subidentifiers in each OID to be compared. Allowing a single subidentifier makes it possible, for example, to check if a given OID is a subtree if iso(1).

5056: Suppress unnecessary lookups with oidcmp

The [$db oidcmp] function will no longer perform a database lookup for a given OID if it is not necessary because all subidentifiers are provided. This allows OIDs to be compared (without error) even if they are unknown or ambiguous due to multiple MIB definitions being loaded for the OID.

5010: Support for send/recv bind events

The [$session bind] command can now take a -send or -recv option to specify a callback to be invoked for all messages sent or received, respectively, including any reports and retries that are otherwise handled transparently at the Tcl level. A -dir key (value “send” or “recv”) is added to the callback arguments to indicate which, in case both are bound to call the same function. Support for the similar feature was added to the Scotty/TNM compatibility wrapper.

5046: More reliable methods to get Host IDs on Unix

Another/new method is used to determine Host IDs on FreeBSD, Linux and Mac OS X. This method should be able to see interfaces that are disconnected or unconfigured. In some cases, these were previously not seen, which could be a hassle for multi-homing or laptop use with no active network connection.

4767: Add environment variable for default MIB search path

The SMITHY_MIB_PATH environment variable can now be set to specify one or more directories that the [$db import] command should search when given a relative path for a MIB file to be imported that can not be found from the current directory (e.g. [$db import -filename "IF-MIB.mib"] would now work from anywhere provided the mibs/IETF directory is in SMITHY_MIB_PATH). Similarly, the $tnm(library)/site and $tnm(library)/mibs directories are now searched by the Scotty/TNM compatibility wrapper’s [mib load] command.

5009: Exceptions reversed in scotty-compat varbinds

The format for SNMPv2/v3 exceptions in varbinds returned by Scotty/TNM compatibility wrapper was using the native format, which uses NULL for the syntax and the exception for the value (e.g. {{2.0 NULL endOfMibView}}), whereas the proper Scotty/TNM format has the exception for syntax and 0 or empty string for value (e.g. {{2.0 endOfMibView 0}}). The wrapper now uses the proper format for proper compatibility. However, since many users may have adapted their code to use the SDK’s exception format but not yet native APIs, the global tnm(tnmexcept) variable can be set to false to continue using the SDK’s exception format and preserve compatibility with their code.

5061: smilib find command should not error with no matches

The [$db find] command will now return an empty list rather than generate an error if no matches are found for the given search specification.

5080: Disallow session binding trap port that’s already in use

The SO_REUSEADDR option will no longer be set on the a session’s trap receiver socket. The intent of adding it (in SDK 4.0) was to allow multiple sessions or processes to each receive traps on the same port, but it doesn’t work that way and behavior was inconsistent between platforms (typically the result was the first one to bind would quietly stop receiving traps when the second binding was made). As with pre-4.0 it will now generate an error if trying to bind to a port that’s already in use.

4806: Warning for tables with only accessible-for-notify columns

It is now a warning rather than an error if at least one column of a table is accessible-for-notify and all others not-accessible, rather than an error as it is for all columns to be not-accessible. There is one IETF standard MIB (RAQMON-RDS-MIB) where this is used, so accessible-for-notify should be sufficient to satisfy RFC2578 section 7.7 requirement that at least one column be accessible.

MIB Smithy 4.5 is now available for download. This release includes feature updates and bug fixes up through MIB Smithy SDK 4.4.3 and MIB Views 1.8.1.

4758: Recursive OID assignments can cause hang

In some cases, two OID assignments that were defined as subnodes of each other could cause an infinite loop during MIB validation. Measures were implemented to fix the cases where this could still occur.

4392: Startup crash when no physical interfaces are detectable

When no ethernet interfaces were detectable, a bad pointer when generating the message about needing a license key (that includes the list of Host IDs) could lead to a crash or corrupted error message at startup.

4393: Windows: Startup crash obtaining Host IDs under Windows 7

A buffer overrun could lead to a crash at startup when using using one of the fallback methods to obtain the list of available Host IDs (particularly, but not necessarily, under Windows 7).

4187: Duplicate sysUpTime or snmpTrapOID in translated v1 traps

The SDK translates received SNMPv1 traps into SNMPv2 format by converting the v1 trap fields into into snmpTrapOID and sysUpTime varbinds. However, if the sending agent included varbinds with these OIDs already (e.g. due to translation by proxy along the way) then multiples of these varbinds could appear. The received varbinds are now discarded in favor of the ones generated by the SDK’s translation.

4799: Trap Watch: Add support for SNMPv3 auth/priv informs

With support for receiving SNMPv3 auth/priv informs added in MIB Smithy SDK, the Trap Watch tool in MIB Smithy now supports these as well. The Trap Settings dialog that comes up to configure the listening port now has addition fields for specifying a user name, auth/priv passwords and protocols, and local snmpEngineID.

4800: Save agent settings for defaults between MIB Smithy sessions

As with MIB Views, MIB Smithy will now save SNMP agent settings (except passwords) so that they are remembered and used for defaults at the next run.

4797: TDomain/TAddress formatting in SNMP tools

Provided the appropriate MIBs are loaded, the various SNMP tools in MIB Smithy will now detect TDomain/TAddress object pairs and format the TAddress value according to the associated TDomain value (e.g. if the TDomain is snmpUDPDomain, then the TAddress will be formatted according to the SnmpUDPAddress DISPLAY-HINT). Previously the TAddress was displayed in hex, as with other unknown OCTET STRINGs.

4798: SNMP Query Tool: Adjustable panel size

The relative size of the Value entry area and the Variable List area of the SNMP Query tool can now be adjusted. At smaller window sizes, the Value entry area could become obscured and unusable, and this is an interim solution. (Longer-term plan is to redesign this tool to be more spread-sheet like, allowing data entry directly in the Variable List.)

1225: Add corner sizegrip to toplevels

The Windows and Unix versions now have size grips in the lower right corner of some windows if they’re resizable. The Mac version already displayed these.

640: Artifacts in Project Tree and MIB Browser

On Unix, expanding and collapsing branches in the Project Tree or MIB Browser could sometimes leave artifacts of what was previously displayed that would remain until the window was resized, forcing a full re-display. This was fixed with a newer version the control they’re built with.

4804: Update bundled MIBs

Bundled IETF MIBs have been updated or added from RFCs 4004 through 6672, and IANA MIBs as of 07/23/2012.

4805: parse error in hyphenated enumeration comments

In a rare corner case (one out of all the MIBs bundled), a multiply-hyphenated word in a comment following the comma after an enumeration value could cause a parse error.

4803: rfc2mib may generate wrong filename

When using the -s option to generate separate module files with rfc2mib tool (for extracting MIB/PIB modules from RFC documents), it could sometimes get confused by comments prior to the module header and use a word from the comment rather than the actual module name for the generated file name.

MIB Smithy SDK 4.4.3 is now available for Download. Changes in this release:

4804: Update bundled MIBs

Bundled IETF MIBs have been updated or added from RFCs 4004 through 6672, and IANA MIBs as of 07/23/2012.

4805: parse error in hyphenated enumeration comments

In a rare corner case (one out of all the MIBs bundled), a multiply-hyphenated word in a comment following the comma after an enumeration value could cause a parse error.

4802: Wrong contextEngineID in responses to SNMPv3 informs

The Response PDU returned to an SNMPv3 Inform Request sender was including the local Engine ID for contextEngineID, as with msgAuthoritativeEngineID, instead of the Inform sender’s. The contextName and contextEngineID in the response are now taken from the Inform Request.

4803: rfc2mib.tcl may generate wrong filename

When using the -s option to generate separate module files with rfc2mib tool (for extracting MIB/PIB modules from RFC documents), it could sometimes get confused by comments prior to the module header and use a word from the comment rather than the actual module name for the generated file name.