Definitions of Managed Objects for the Ethernet WAN Interface Sublayer
Extracted elements (29)
All four tables in this MIB are sparse augmentations of SONET-MIB tables, requiring the same ifIndex value in both; this approach avoids duplicating SONET-MIB objects and requires no hardware beyond that mandated by 802.3ae subclause 50.3.11.
Rather than defining new objects exactly matching 802.3ae oWIS counters and thresholds, the MIB reuses SONET-MIB objects. This avoided a separate management scheme for 10 Gb/s WAN Ethernet from ATM-over-SONET and PPP-over-SONET deployments already using those objects.
The path-layer CV count (aPathCVs) is based on block errors rather than BIP-8 errors as in SONET-MIB: it is incremented once per B3 byte with incorrect parity. ANSI T1.231 permits either convention, so this difference is tolerated.
The textual description of etherWisPathCurrentStatus in Section 4 labels the PLM-P flag as etherWisPathPLM(1), but the authoritative BITS syntax definition assigns it bit position (2). The BITS declaration is correct; the parenthetical in the description text is a typographic error.
802.3ae mandates ERDI-P (Enhanced RDI-Path) which signals both server defects (path AIS, LOP) and payload defects (PLM-P, LCD-P); RFC 3592 defines only one-bit RDI-P for server defects. Only ERDI-P server defects map to sonetPathSTSRDI; payload defects are exclusively reported in etherWisFarEndPathCurrentStatus.
Loss of Codegroup Delineation (LCD-P), a WIS/PCS defect indicating inability to locate 64B/66B codegroup boundaries, has no analogue in the SONET-MIB and is reported only via etherWisPathLCD(3) in etherWisPathCurrentStatus.
SONET-MIB counter objects (e.g., sonetPathCurrentSESs) are 15-minute interval counters subject to inhibiting during unavailable or severely errored seconds, whereas 802.3ae defines generalized non-resetable counters with no inhibiting; the SONET-MIB objects are only approximate representations.
The SONET-MIB sonetSESthresholdSet is a single per-network-element enumerated value controlling thresholds for all layers simultaneously, while 802.3ae defines per-interface integer thresholds for each layer separately; these objects are semantically non-equivalent.
An agent implementing the Ethernet WIS objects MUST implement the objects required by the dot3Compliance2 compliance statement in the EtherLike-MIB, since an interface with the WIS is by definition an Ethernet-like interface.
An implementation MUST set the sonetPathSTSRDI bit in the appropriate instance of sonetPathCurrentStatus when it receives an ERDI-P server defect indication from the remote end.
Any attempt to set etherWisDeviceTxTestPatternMode or etherWisDeviceRxTestPatternMode to a value other than none(1) when ifAdminStatus is up(1) MUST be rejected with inconsistentValue; likewise, setting ifAdminStatus to up(1) while a test pattern is active MUST be rejected.
Deployment of SNMP versions prior to SNMPv3 is NOT RECOMMENDED; SNMPv3 with full cryptographic mechanisms for authentication and privacy is RECOMMENDED.
etherWisPathCurrentJ1Transmitted SHOULD be '89'h followed by fifteen octets of '00'h (or a cyclic shift) when path trace is not used, and implementations SHOULD use that value as the default.
etherWisSectionCurrentJ0Transmitted SHOULD be '89'h followed by fifteen octets of '00'h (or a cyclic shift) when section trace is not used, and implementations SHOULD use that value as the default.
Support for the mauModIfCompl3 compliance statement of the MAU-MIB is REQUIRED for all Ethernet-like interfaces, to allow applications to control and determine the media type (10GBASE-R vs. 10GBASE-W) in use.
The ifTable MUST be used as specified in RFC 3592 for the SONET/SDH Medium/Section/Line Layer; ifHighSpeed MUST be set to 9953 and ifSpeed reports 4294967295.
Ethernet WIS interfaces are layered into three ifTable entries: one ethernetCsmacd(6) entry for LLC/MAC/RS/PCS, one sonetPath(50) entry for the Path Layer, and one sonet(39) entry for the Medium/Section/Line Layer.
etherWisDeviceTable is a sparse augmentation of sonetMediumTable providing etherWisDeviceTxTestPatternMode (none, squareWave, prbs31, mixedFrequency), etherWisDeviceRxTestPatternMode (none, prbs31, mixedFrequency), and etherWisDeviceRxTestPatternErrors for WIS test pattern control.
etherWisFarEndPathCurrentTable is a sparse augmentation of sonetFarEndPathCurrentTable, providing etherWisFarEndPathCurrentStatus (BITS: etherWisFarEndPayloadDefect, etherWisFarEndServerDefect) signaled via ERDI-P in G1 bits 5-7.
etherWisPathCurrentTable is a sparse augmentation of sonetPathCurrentTable, providing etherWisPathCurrentStatus (BITS: LOP, AIS, PLM, LCD), etherWisPathCurrentJ1Transmitted (read-write), and etherWisPathCurrentJ1Received (read-only).
etherWisSectionCurrentTable is a sparse augmentation of sonetSectionCurrentTable, providing etherWisSectionCurrentJ0Transmitted (read-write) and etherWisSectionCurrentJ0Received (read-only) for the 16-octet section trace J0 byte.
The ETHER-WIS MIB module is registered at OID { transmission 134 }, with sub-identifiers etherWisObjects (1), etherWisObjectsPath (2), and etherWisConformance (3) beneath it.
Readable objects expose interface performance and configuration data that may be sensitive; even GET and NOTIFY access should be controlled, and values SHOULD be encrypted in transit. SET operations in non-secure environments without proper protection MUST be avoided.
The five read-write objects (etherWisDeviceTxTestPatternMode, etherWisDeviceRxTestPatternMode, etherWisDeviceRxTestPatternErrors, etherWisSectionCurrentJ0Transmitted, etherWisPathCurrentJ1Transmitted) can disrupt network operation: modifying test patterns can corrupt in-progress tests, and altering trace messages on active links can trigger remote connectivity alarms.
etherWisDeviceRxTestPatternErrors is a Gauge32 constrained to range 0..65535; it saturates at 65535 rather than rolling over, and is writeable to allow reset without disabling PRBS31 mode.
etherWisFarEndPathCurrentStatus is a BITS object with two flags: etherWisFarEndPayloadDefect(0) for far-end PLM-P or LCD-P, and etherWisFarEndServerDefect(1) for far-end LOP-P or AIS-P, both signaled in G1 bits 5-7.
etherWisPathCurrentJ1Transmitted and etherWisPathCurrentJ1Received are each OCTET STRING of SIZE 16, encoding the path trace message carried in the SONET J1 overhead byte.
etherWisPathCurrentStatus is a BITS object with four named flags: etherWisPathLOP(0), etherWisPathAIS(1), etherWisPathPLM(2), and etherWisPathLCD(3), allowing multiple simultaneous near-end path defects to be indicated.
etherWisSectionCurrentJ0Transmitted and etherWisSectionCurrentJ0Received are each OCTET STRING of SIZE 16, encoding the section trace message carried in the SONET J0 overhead byte.