NAME

Net::SNMP::Interfaces::Details - Object methods to obtain interface data.

SYNOPSIS

$in_octets = $interface->ifInOctets();

DESCRIPTION

This class represents an individual interface as discovered by Net::SNMP::Interfaces. Although it is possible to call the contructor directly it is primarily intended that these objects should be returned by methods of Net::SNMP::Interfaces.

METHODS

new HASH $args

The constructor for the class. User code should probably never need to call the constructor directly as Net::SNMP::Interface::Details objects are returned by the Net::SNMP::Interfaces methods all_interfaces() and interface().

There are three mandatory arguments:

Session

A valid Net::SNMP object which will be used to make the requests for the interface information. This Net::SNMP object should currently only be of the blocking variety as no provision has been made for non-blocking requests at present.

Index

The SNMP ifTable index for this interface.

Name

The name of this interface (e.g. 'eth0' ).

The Name and Index arguments should have previously been obtained by SNMP requests to the same host as the Session object has been created for.

name

Returns the name of this interface.

index

Returns the index of this interface.

session

Returns the Net::SNMP session object that is being used to make requests for this interface. This probably is not needed but is here for completeness' sake.

error

Returns the text of the last error returned from SNMP session - will only be meaningful if the last method call returned undef to indicate that an error had occurred.

IANAifType

Converts from an IANAifType integer value as will be returned by ifType to its text equivalent.

The remainder of the methods are named after the literal names for the SNMP entries for network interfaces. The following descriptions are taken from the IF-MIB with some additional comment from the author where necessary. If an error occurs in the SNMP session these methods will return undef and the text of the error message can be determined by calling the error() method.

ifIndex

A unique value, greater than zero, for each interface. It is recommended that values are assigned contiguously starting from 1. The value for each interface sub-layer must remain constant at least from one re-initialization of the entity's network management system to the next re-initialization.

ifDescr

A textual string containing information about the interface. This string should include the name of the manufacturer, the product name and the version of the interface hardware/software.

(In practice this will be name of the interface e.g. 'eth0')

ifType

The type of interface. Additional values for ifType are assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), through updating the syntax of the IANAifType textual convention.

ifMtu

The size of the largest packet which can be sent/received on the interface, specified in octets. For interfaces that are used for transmitting network datagrams, this is the size of the largest network datagram that can be sent on the interface.

ifSpeed

An estimate of the interface's current bandwidth in bits per second. For interfaces which do not vary in bandwidth or for those where no accurate estimation can be made, this object should contain the nominal bandwidth. If the bandwidth of the interface is greater than the maximum value reportable by this object then this object should report its maximum value (4,294,967,295) and ifHighSpeed must be used to report the interace's speed. For a sub-layer which has no concept of bandwidth, this object should be zero.

ifPhysAddress

The interface's address at its protocol sub-layer. For example, for an 802.x interface, this object normally contains a MAC address. The interface's media-specific MIB must define the bit and byte ordering and the format of the value of this object. For interfaces which do not have such an address (e.g., a serial line), this object should contain an octet string of zero length.

ifAdminStatus

The desired state of the interface. The testing(3) state indicates that no operational packets can be passed. When a managed system initializes, all interfaces start with ifAdminStatus in the down(2) state. As a result of either explicit management action or per configuration information retained by the managed system, ifAdminStatus is then changed to either the up(1) or testing(3) states (or remains in the down(2) state).

ifOperStatus

The current operational state of the interface. The testing(3) state indicates that no operational packets can be passed. If ifAdminStatus is down(2) then ifOperStatus should be down(2). If ifAdminStatus is changed to up(1) then ifOperStatus should change to up(1) if the interface is ready to transmit and receive network traffic; it should change to dormant(5) if the interface is waiting for external actions (such as a serial line waiting for an incoming connection); it should remain in the down(2) state if and only if there is a fault that prevents it from going to the up(1) state; it should remain in the notPresent(6) state if the interface has missing (typically, hardware) components.

ifLastChange

The value of sysUpTime at the time the interface entered its current operational state. If the current state was entered prior to the last re-initialization of the local network management subsystem, then this object contains a zero value.

ifInOctets

The total number of octets received on the interface, including framing characters. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifInUcastPkts

The number of packets, delivered by this sub-layer to a higher (sub-)layer, which were not addressed to a multicast or broadcast address at this sub-layer. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifInNUcastPkts

The number of packets, delivered by this sub-layer to a higher (sub-)layer, which were addressed to a multicast or broadcast address at this sub-layer. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime. This object is deprecated in favour of ifInMulticastPkts and ifInBroadcastPkts.

ifInDiscards

The number of inbound packets which were chosen to be discarded even though no errors had been detected to prevent their being deliverable to a higher-layer protocol. One possible reason for discarding such a packet could be to free up buffer space. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifInErrors

For packet-oriented interfaces, the number of inbound packets that contained errors preventing them from being deliverable to a higher-layer protocol. For character-oriented or fixed-length interfaces, the number of inbound transmission units that contained errors preventing them from being deliverable to a higher-layer protocol. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifInUnknownProtos

For packet-oriented interfaces, the number of packets received via the interface which were discarded because of an unknown or unsupported protocol. For character-oriented or fixed-length interfaces that support protocol multiplexing the number of transmission units received via the interface which were discarded because of an unknown or unsupported protocol. For any interface that does not support protocol multiplexing, this counter will always be 0. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifOutOctets

The total number of octets transmitted out of the interface, including framing characters. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifOutUcastPkts

The total number of packets that higher-level protocols requested be transmitted, and which were not addressed to a multicast or broadcast address at this sub-layer, including those that were discarded or not sent. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifOutNUcastPkts

The total number of packets that higher-level protocols requested be transmitted, and which were addressed to a multicast or broadcast address at this sub-layer, including those that were discarded or not sent. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime. This object is deprecated in favour of ifOutMulticastPkts and ifOutBroadcastPkts.

ifOutDiscards

The number of outbound packets which were chosen to be discarded even though no errors had been detected to prevent their being transmitted. One possible reason for discarding such a packet could be to free up buffer space. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifOutErrors

For packet-oriented interfaces, the number of outbound packets that could not be transmitted because of errors. For character-oriented or fixed-length interfaces, the number of outbound transmission units that could not be transmitted because of errors. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifOutQLen

The length of the output packet queue (in packets). This object has been deprecated as of rfc2863.

ifSpecific

A reference to MIB definitions specific to the particular media being used to realize the interface. It is recommended that this value point to an instance of a MIB object in the media-specific MIB, i.e., that this object have the semantics associated with the InstancePointer textual convention defined in RFC 1903. In fact, it is recommended that the media- specific MIB specify what value ifSpecific should/can take for values of ifType. If no MIB definitions specific to the particular media are available, the value should be set to the OBJECT IDENTIFIER { 0 0 }.

These next methods are from the ifXTable as described in rfc2863:

This table contains objects that have been added to the Interface
MIB as a result of the Interface Evolution effort, or replacements
for objects of the original (MIB-II) ifTable that were deprecated
because the semantics of said objects have significantly changed.
This table also contains objects that were previously in the
ifExtnsTable.

These methods may not be available from all network elements and in those cases they will return undef.

ifName

The textual name of the interface. The value of this object should be the name of the interface as assigned by the local device and should be suitable for use in commands entered at the device's `console'. This might be a text name, such as `le0' or a simple port number, such as `1', depending on the interface naming syntax of the device. If several entries in the ifTable together represent a single interface as named by the device, then each will have the same value of ifName. Note that for an agent which responds to SNMP queries concerning an interface on some other (proxied) device, then the value of ifName for such an interface is the proxied device's local name for it. If there is no local name, or this object is otherwise not applicable, then this object contains a zero-length string.

ifInMulticastPkts

The number of packets, delivered by this sub-layer to a higher (sub-)layer, which were addressed to a multicast address at this sub-layer. For a MAC layer protocol, this includes both Group and Functional addresses. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifInBroadcastPkts

The number of packets, delivered by this sub-layer to a higher (sub-)layer, which were addressed to a broadcast address at this sub-layer. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifOutMulticastPkts

The total number of packets that higher-level protocols requested be transmitted, and which were addressed to a multicast address at this sub-layer, including those that were discarded or not sent. For a MAC layer protocol, this includes both Group and Functional addresses. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifOutBroadcastPkts

The total number of packets that higher-level protocols requested be transmitted, and which were addressed to a broadcast address at this sub-layer, including those that were discarded or not sent. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifHCInOctets

The total number of octets received on the interface, including framing characters. This object is a 64-bit version of ifInOctets. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifHCInUcastPkts

The number of packets, delivered by this sub-layer to a higher (sub-)layer, which were not addressed to a multicast or broadcast address at this sub-layer. This object is a 64-bit version of ifInUcastPkts. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifHCInMulticastPkts

The number of packets, delivered by this sub-layer to a higher (sub-)layer, which were addressed to a multicast address at this sub-layer. For a MAC layer protocol, this includes both Group and Functional addresses. This object is a 64-bit version of ifInMulticastPkts. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifHCInBroadcastPkts

The number of packets, delivered by this sub-layer to a higher (sub-)layer, which were addressed to a broadcast address at this sub-layer. This object is a 64-bit version of ifInBroadcastPkts. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifHCOutOctets

The total number of octets transmitted out of the interface, including framing characters. This object is a 64-bit version of ifOutOctets. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifHCOutUcastPkts

The total number of packets that higher-level protocols requested be transmitted, and which were not addressed to a multicast or broadcast address at this sub-layer, including those that were discarded or not sent. This object is a 64-bit version of ifOutUcastPkts. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifHCOutMulticastPkts

The total number of packets that higher-level protocols requested be transmitted, and which were addressed to a multicast address at this sub-layer, including those that were discarded or not sent. For a MAC layer protocol, this includes both Group and Functional addresses. This object is a 64-bit version of ifOutMulticastPkts. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifHCOutBroadcastPkts

The total number of packets that higher-level protocols requested be transmitted, and which were addressed to a broadcast address at this sub-layer, including those that were discarded or not sent. This object is a 64-bit version of ifOutBroadcastPkts. Discontinuities in the value of this counter can occur at re-initialization of the management system, and at other times as indicated by the value of ifCounterDiscontinuityTime.

ifLinkUpDownTrapEnable

Indicates whether linkUp/linkDown traps should be generated for this interface. By default, this object should have the value enabled(1) for interfaces which do not operate on 'top' of any other interface (as defined in the ifStackTable), and disabled(2) otherwise.

ifHighSpeed

An estimate of the interface's current bandwidth in units of 1,000,000 bits per second. If this object reports a value of `n' then the speed of the interface is somewhere in the range of `n-500,000' to `n+499,999'. For interfaces which do not vary in bandwidth or for those where no accurate estimation can be made, this object should contain the nominal bandwidth. For a sub-layer which has no concept of bandwidth, this object should be zero.

ifPromiscuousMode

This object has a value of false(2) if this interface only accepts packets/frames that are addressed to this station. This object has a value of true(1) when the station accepts all packets/frames transmitted on the media. The value true(1) is only legal on certain types of media. If legal, setting this object to a value of true(1) may require the interface to be reset before becoming effective. The value of ifPromiscuousMode does not affect the reception of broadcast and multicast packets/frames by the interface.

ifConnectorPresent

This object has the value 'true(1)' if the interface sublayer has a physical connector and the value 'false(2)' otherwise.

ifAlias

This object is an 'alias' name for the interface as specified by a network manager, and provides a non-volatile 'handle' for the interface. On the first instantiation of an interface, the value of ifAlias associated with that interface is the zero-length string. As and when a value is written into an instance of ifAlias through a network management set operation, then the agent must retain the supplied value in the ifAlias instance associated with the same interface for as long as that interface remains instantiated, including across all re- initializations/reboots of the network management system, including those which result in a change of the interface's ifIndex value. An example of the value which a network manager might store in this object for a WAN interface is the (Telco's) circuit number/identifier of the interface. Some agents may support write-access only for interfaces having particular values of ifType. An agent which supports write access to this object is required to keep the value in non-volatile storage, but it may limit the length of new values depending on how much storage is already occupied by the current values for other interfaces.

ifCounterDiscontinuityTime

The value of sysUpTime on the most recent occasion at which any one or more of this interface's counters suffered a discontinuity. The relevant counters are the specific instances associated with this interface of any Counter32 or Counter64 object contained in the ifTable or ifXTable. If no such discontinuities have occurred since the last re- initialization of the local management subsystem, then this object contains a zero value.

AUTHOR

Jonathan Stowe >jns@gellyfish.com<

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) Jonathan Stowe 2000. All rights reserved. This is free software it can be distributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

perl(1), Net::SNMP, Net::SNMP::Interfaces.