CISCO-DATA-COLLECTION-MIB

Organization:

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Module:

CISCO-DATA-COLLECTION-MIB

Version:

2002-10-30

File:

CISCO-DATA-COLLECTION-MIB.yang

Abstract:

The MIB module allows a management application to select a set of MIB object instances whose values need to be collected on a pe...

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Description:

The MIB module allows a management application to
select a set of MIB object instances whose values need
to be collected on a periodic basis. The term 'data' in
the context of this MIB is used to generically refer to
the values of the selected set of object instances.

Once the required setup is done, the MIB implementation
carries out the following periodic tasks:
- collects the required object values into local
file-like entities called VFiles (virtual files).
- transfers the VFiles to specified locations.
- carries out VFile management operations.

Some of the key features of this MIB are:
a) Allows grouping of MIB objects into groups called
data groups. The constraint is that the MIB objects
grouped into a data group, need to have the same
semantic MIB index. So it is possible to group MIB
objects belonging to different MIB tables into a
single data group as long as the above constraint is
met.
For e.g. it is possible to group ifInOctets from
ifTable, ifHCInOctets from ifXTable,
dot3StatsExcessiveCollisions from dot3StatsTable
into a single data group.

b) Allows the application to specify a set of instances
(of the MIB objects in a data group) whose values
need to be collected.

c) The required data can be collected for each such
data group on a periodic basis into a virtual file
(VFile). A VFile is an abstraction of a file.

d) The format of the contents of the VFile, can be
specified by the application.

e) An application can also specify a collection period.
A collection period is an interval of time during
which data is collected into a VFile. After the
collection period ends, the VFile is frozen, and a
new VFile is created for storing data. The frozen
VFile is then transferred to a specified destination.
An application can choose to retain such frozen
VFiles on the device for a certain period of time,
called the retention period.

Data Collection MIB vs Bulkfile MIB
***********************************
The data collection MIB can pretty much do what the
CISCO-BULK-FILE-MIB (Bulkfile MIB) can do. The 'manual'
mode of the Data collection MIB is similar to the way
in which the Bulkfile MIB operates.

However the data collection MIB is mainly targetted
for medium to high-end platforms which have sufficient
local storage (volatile or permanent) to store VFiles.
Locally storing VFiles, helps minimize loss of data
during temporary network outages. If the local store
is permament, then the collected data is also available
across agent restarts.

The data collection MIB has more powerful data
selection features than the Bulkfile MIB. It allows
grouping of MIB objects from different tables into
data groups. It also incorporates a more flexible
instance selection mechanism, where the application
is not restricted to fetching an entire MIB table.

Definitions:
************
Base objects:
*************
MIB objects whose values an application needs to
collect.

Data group:
***********
A group of base objects. Can be of 2 types: 'object'
and 'table'. An 'object' type data group can consist
of only one fully instantiated base object. A 'table'
type data group can consist of more than one base
objects, each a columnar object in a conceptual
table. In addition a 'table' type data group can
specify the instances of the base objects whose
values need to be collected. In the context of this
MIB, collecting data for a data group means fetching
the values of the associated base object instances
and storing them into VFiles.

Virtual File (VFile):
*********************
A VFile is a file like entity used to collect data.
An agent might choose to implement a VFile as a
simple in-memory buffer, or it might choose to
use a file in it's filesystem. An application does
not really need to know the location of a VFile
- the MIB provides mechanisms to transfer the
VFile to application specified locations. However
if the implementation supports it, the application
can specify the location of the VFiles.

Current VFile:
**************
The VFile into which data is currently being
collected.

Frozen VFile:
*************
A VFile which is no longer used for collecting
data. Only frozen VFiles can be transferred to
specified destinations.

Collection interval:
********************
A collection interval is associated with a VFile.
It is the interval of time over which a VFile
is used to collect data.
This interval of time can be specified by the
application. However there are conditions under
which a collection interval can be shorter than
the specified time. For e.g. a collection
interval is prematurely terminated when the
maximum size of a VFile is exceeded, or when
there is an error condition.

Polling period:
***************
A polling period is associated with a data
group. It determines the frequency at which
the base objects of a data group should
be fetched and stored into a VFile.

Data collection operations:
**************************
A generic term used to refer to operations
that are carried out while collecting data.
These include:
- Periodically creating new VFiles for
collecting data.
- Transferring frozen VFiles either
automatically or on demand.
- Fetching base object values and storing
them into current VFiles, either periodically
or on demand.
- Deleting frozen VFiles, either periodically
or on demand.