DSMON-MIB

MIB Reference — IPNetwork Monitor · Updated October 05, 2026

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Organization: IETF RMONMIB Working Group

Last Updated: 2002-05-31

Category: Network Monitoring (RMON)

Description: Defines RMON extensions for monitoring Differentiated Services codepoint usage in network traffic, collecting per-DSCP distribution statistics.

IPNetwork Monitor uses several OIDs from this MIB in network discovery and polling the applicable devices. Start monitoring DSMON-MIB with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor.

What Is DSMON-MIB?

DSMON-MIB is an IETF standards-track MIB published as RFC 3287 by the RMON Working Group, extending RMON to monitor Differentiated Services (DiffServ) codepoint (DSCP) usage in network traffic. It organizes its object space into distinct groups under dsmonObjects — dsmonAggObjects for counter aggregation-group configuration, dsmonStatsObjects for per-aggregation-group traffic statistics, dsmonPdistObjects for per-protocol-per-group distribution, dsmonHostObjects for per-group-per-host statistics, dsmonCapsObjects (holding the dsmonCapabilities BITS object that advertises which optional groups an agent implements), and dsmonMatrixObjects for host-pair matrices. Two textual conventions, DsmonCounterAggGroupIndex and DsmonCounterAggProfileIndex, define how DSCP values (0-63) are mapped into arbitrary counter aggregation groups (bounded by dsmonMaxAggGroups) for statistical collection, allowing an operator to group multiple DSCP values into a single counted bucket rather than tracking all 64 codepoints individually. It depends on RMON-MIB and RMON2-MIB for owner strings and protocol-directory indexing, and on HCNUM-TC/DIFFSERV-DSCP-TC for high-capacity counters and the Dscp type. It is deployed on RMON-capable probes and DiffServ-aware routers/switches in QoS-managed networks, per the DSMON-MIB RFC that defines its aggregation and statistics model.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in DSMON-MIB. Use the built-in SNMP Monitoring Browser to explore available variables, view their current values and descriptions, and select the objects you want to monitor. You can then create SNMP monitors, configure thresholds, and receive alerts when monitored values change.

Supported Devices

  • vendor-neutral, standards-based MIB (RFC 3287), not tied to a specific manufacturer — applies to RMON probes and DiffServ-aware routers/switches

Monitoring Examples

An operator polls dsmonCapabilities to confirm which DSMON groups (stats, per-protocol distribution, host, matrix) an agent supports, then checks the per-DSCP counters in the appropriate aggregation-group statistics table; a sudden spike in traffic mapped to a low-priority DSCP aggregation group alongside a drop in a premium-marked group would indicate DSCP remarking or misclassification somewhere upstream.

What Can Be Monitored

  • DSCP counter aggregation-group configuration
  • per-aggregation-group traffic statistics
  • per-protocol-per-group distribution statistics
  • per-host DSCP statistics
  • host-pair DSCP matrix entries
  • agent capability bitmask for supported DSMON groups
Imported Objects

From HCNUM-TC

CounterBasedGauge64
ZeroBasedCounter64

From RMON-MIB

OwnerString
rmonOBJECT-IDENTITY

From RMON2-MIB

DataSource
LastCreateTime
TimeFilter
ZeroBasedCounter32
protocolDirLocalIndexOBJECT-TYPE

From SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

SnmpAdminString

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
Gauge32
Integer32
MODULE-IDENTITY
OBJECT-TYPE

From SNMPv2-TC

RowStatus
TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
TimeStamp
TruthValue

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using dsmonAggControlChanges OID:

Select an RMON probe/DiffServ-aware router or switch (DSCP monitoring, vendor-neutral IETF standard RFC 3287) as the target host to create a monitor — the SNMP service should be up and running on it. Click New Monitor, then check SNMP Custom on the Favorites tab, click Next, and confirm the host. On the next page, click Select... to open the built-in SNMP MIB Browser and type dsmonAggControlChanges into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, then select it and click OK. This object counts the number of times the value of the dsmonAggControlLocked object has changed. On the monitor's Main parameters page you can set the target's SNMP port (default 161), credentials, polling interval, and other settings — see the SNMP Monitor help for details. On the State conditions and Alerting tabs, configure when the monitor should change state and trigger an alert; since this is a Counter32-type OID, Value bounds is the most useful condition here — trigger an alert if the counter increases sharply between polls relative to its normal baseline, since an unexpected spike often reflects a real change in traffic or activity. Click Finish to create the monitor; you can adjust any parameter later.
OIDs

RFC description

RMON extensions for monitoring DiffServ DSCP traffic counters and statistics in differentiated services networks.

Start monitoring RMON probe/DiffServ-aware router or switch (DSCP monitoring, vendor-neutral IETF standard RFC 3287) with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor. Import MIBs, browse SNMP OIDs, create custom SNMP monitors, configure alerts, and monitor any SNMP-enabled network device from a single console.

Download DSMON-MIB