The MPLS WG Archive

["Thomas D. Nadeau" <tnadeau@cisco.com>]

> > 1) I don't understand why the 'interesting' objects in Kireeti's MIB cannot
> > be folded into the TE-MIB.
>
>there are two kinds of designs, union and intersection.  the former is the
>union of everyone's laundry lists, the latter the minimal intersection.
>conversations between the two tend to go like
>   user: the X is far too complex, we only need F
>   union: you want F, we will add F
>   user: but we don't want the weight of A, B, C, D, E, and G through Z
>   union: what do you think X is missing?
>   user: it's not so much what it's missing, its all that other stuff it has
>   ...

         There are several flaws with this argument.

         0) This can be accomplished by adjusting the conformance
                 statement of the existing MIBs. The MPLS-TE-MIB authors
                 are perfectly willing to work with you guys to define
                 how this should be done.

         1) There will be a duplication of work. The so-called minimalist
                 MIB will still have to support generic TE functionallity,
                 which is already defined by the MPLS-TE-MIB. Why re-invent
                 the wheel?

         2) Because it is a so-called minimalist design, it only incorporates
                 the minimalist design of one particular implementation.
                 This is because it is essentially a proprietary MIB.

         3) When does one stop using the so-called minimal one and start
                 using the MPLS-TE-MIB? When one wants to inter-operate? If
                 you are really concerned with operational functionality,
                 then this reason alone would tell you to NOT have 2 MIBs.

> > 2) What is the real 'purpose' of Kireeti's MIB.
>
>finding out where router R will send traffic T in a nice simple way that
>operational people tend to use.

         That is very subjective. The MPLS-TE-MIB does this in a nice
         and simple way too and works for all implementations, not just
         the ones which have currently implemented Kireeti's products. 
There
         are several folks who have or who are implementing the MPLS-TE-MIB,
         and these folks have not found it to be overly cumbersome to
         implement or to use.

         --Tom