Network Working Group R. Natale Internet-Draft MITRE Intended status: Standards Track February 26, 2007 Expires: August 30, 2007 Converting SNMP MIBs to SOA/Web Services Management Artifacts draft-natale-snmp-mibs-to-ontology-00 Status of this Memo By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on August 30, 2007. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007). Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 Abstract This memo provides an overview of the rationale, objectives, and technical alternatives associated with a proposal to develop a standard methodology for converting SNMP MIBs to one or more artifacts more readily usable by SOA/Web Services management tools. Table of Contents 1. Requirements notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1. Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2. Expected Product(s)/Impacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.3. To Do (as of -00) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3. Technical Approach/Methodology/Activities . . . . . . . . . . 8 4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 6. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 13 Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 1. Requirements notation The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 2. Introduction This document proposes an industry effort, via an IETF Working Group in the Operations & Management Area, to define a standard methodology for the conversion (and post-conversion validation) of SNMP MIBs into a format more naturally usable by emergent SOA/Web Services management tools. This document uses the term "ontology" a bit loosely at this time to refer to the output(s) of the target conversion process. Using the OASIS Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) specifications (v1.1 approved as an OASIS Standard as of August 2006), the DMTF-led WS-Management specifications (still in "Preliminary Release" state), and the on-going industry effort to evolve those two into a single harmonized specification set, it is likely that the necessary output artifacts will consist of some set of the following (and possibly others yet to be identified): o XML (eXtensible Markup Language) o RDF (Resource Description Framework) o WSDL (Web Services Description Language) o WS-Policy (Web Services set of policy specifications) o SML(Service Modeling Language) o CML (Common Model Library) o OWL-S (Ontology Web Language - Services) A key objective of the proposed WG will be to define the necessary output artifacts, taking into consideration the state of the industry with respect to SOA/Web Services management tools and standards. The underlying predicates of this proposal are that: o The body of SNMP MIBs comprises management knowledge and artifacts of incalculable value to the industry, irrespective of instrumentation mechanisms, access methods, and protocol(s) used to manipulate MIB data. o The nascent "SOA Management" industry could be relatively quickly enriched, even if via WS-"whatever"-to/from-SNMP proxies, via more SOA-friendly management data models. The expectation here is that ontology-based management data models will be more accessible to and usable by "SOA Management" tools than ASN.1 MIBs are. Problem: A paucity of managed element data models (and associated Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 4] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 management instrumentation) exists in a form that can be used directly by SOA/Web Services management tools. Opportunity: A large body of SNMP MIBs (and associated management instrumentation) exists - particularly in the system and network realms -- and can be made more directly accessible to SOA/Web Services management tools if industry agrees on a standard conversion and validation methodology, including standardized output formats. Explanation: A substantial body of management data models exists in the marketplace, in the form of SNMP MIBs, with concrete realization in the form of managed object instrumentation which is used by numerous independently developed SNMP management frameworks and applications (HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli, CiscoWorks, etc.). As SNMP MIBs, these data models are written using an adapted subset of ANS.1, in accordance with the rules and guidelines published in RFC 2578 , Structure of Management Information Version 2 (SMIv2), and associated RFCs , and with de facto industry conventions best documented in RFC 4181, Guidelines for Authors and Reviewers of MIB Documents . It is highly unlikely that modern/future SOA-based service management applications will directly support ASN.1; and SNMP is not a natural fit for the current breed of nascent "SOA Management" products on the market. Bringing this body of data models and the instrumentation behind them into native SOA operational environments will yield substantial benefits to numerous industry stakeholders by: o Reducing the number of management protocol instances to be supported. o Reducing the number of management applications required. o Reducing the number of and normalizing management interfaces (UIs, APIs, M2Ms, etc.) required to provide integrated management of services, networks, and systems. o Enabling the use of native "SOA Management" tools for the above- mentioned converged management activities. Numerous IETF standard and vendor proprietary ("enterprise") MIBs are instrumented at the application, network, and device (node) level. Making these entities manageable via modern SOA-based service management applications will serve to extend the useful life of those investments, benefiting suppliers, customers, and users. Likewise, such a development could be an accelerant for the new breed of "SOA Management" developers and vendors who might not be well-versed in IETF network management protocols, mechanisms, and tools, and might Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 5] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 not be able to make the learning curve and development investments in that pre-SOA technology. 2.1. Objectives This proposed effort has three major objectives: o To make the existing (and future) body of SNMP management data models (MIBs) more readily accessible to SOA-based management applications. o To facilitate the development and use of converged and "end-to- end" SOA-based management applications. o To achieve published industry consensus on how to achieve the foregoing objectives, in the form of one or more industry standard specifications and/or informational "best practices" documents. 2.2. Expected Product(s)/Impacts The intended primary outputs of this effort include: o Standard SNMP MIB to ontology conversion tool(s). o Standard validation tools corresponding to those conversion tools. Secondary outputs might include extensions to existing IETF management protocols that already have an XML orientation (e.g., NETCONF, XCAP). The expected major impacts of this effort include: o Extension of the enormous industry investment in existing SNMP MIB data models and management instrumentation to the nascent "SOA Management" industry (suppliers, customers, and users). o Extension of the useful life-span and service scope of existing SNMP-managed network entities into SOA-based/web services operational environments. o Facilitation of the development of converged "next-generation" management applications, reducing complexity and operational expenses for network operators and other service providers. Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 6] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 2.3. To Do (as of -00) Add references in numerous places. Consider possible Security section content. Change document perspective from one of BOF socialization to WG foundation. Identify any MUST, SHOULD, OPTIONAL type requirements. Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 7] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 3. Technical Approach/Methodology/Activities The intent is to conduct the bulk of this work via formation of an IETF Working Group (WG) in the Operations & Management (O&M) Area to define standard methods for converting the body of existing SNMP MIBs to ontologies and associated artifacts more readily usable by SOA- based service management applications, and standard methods for validating the results of such conversions. While additional constraints might be placed on the WG during its formal chartering process, it is anticipated that the following will be among them: o IETF standard MIBs are the prime target; compliant vendor-specific enterprise MIBs would naturally follow. o This WG would examine the viability of starting from or building off the existing (but non-standard) methods of converting SNMP MIBs to XML schema and documents. o This WG would examine the viability of extending the NETCONF protocol to work with such ontologies. o This WG would examine the viability of build-time extensibility and run-time composability mechanisms associated with compliant ontologies. o At the end of this process, compliant ontologies developed independently of pre-existing SNMP MIBs would be indistinguishable from those developed from such MIBs, enabling a more modern and SOA-aware method (e.g., OWL-S) of managed object data model construction. o At the end of this process, compliant ontologies might be extensible in ways that are incompatible with reverse translation back into SNMP MIBs. However, such reverse translation is not a goal of this effort. o Nothing that is inconsistent with management entity support for SNMPv3 security and access control mechanisms will be introduced into the solution(s) standardized by this effort. Given the prior MIB-to-XML work that has been done in the IETF and the IRTF, and which this proposed effect will reuse and extend as much as feasible, it is anticipated that the above work plan can be completed between the Spring 2007 and Spring 2008 IETF meetings, inclusive. Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 8] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 4. Security Considerations None (at this time). Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 9] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 5. IANA Considerations This document has no actions for IANA (as of -00). Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 10] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 6. Normative References [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 11] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 Author's Address Bob Natale The MITRE Corporation 7515 Colshire Dr MS H405 McLean, VA 22102 Phone: +1 703-983-2505 Email: rnatale@mitre.org URI: www.mitre.org Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 12] Internet-Draft Converting SNMP MIBS February 2007 Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007). This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. 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Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79. Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org. Acknowledgment Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA). Natale Expires August 30, 2007 [Page 13]