Fore-Sonet-Ext-MIB

MIB Reference — IPNetwork Monitor · Updated October 05, 2026

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Organization: FORE

Last Updated: 1999-11-05

Category: ATM, Domain: WAN/TDM, Technology: Optical Transport, Vendor: Fore Systems (ATM)

Description: Fore Systems SONET extension MIB providing enhanced SONET/SDH path and section performance monitoring beyond the standard SONET-MIB.

Start monitoring vendor-neutral, standards-based MIB, any SNMPv3-capable network device (SNMP engine identity/boot/clock status) 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.

What Is Fore-Sonet-Ext-MIB?

Fore-Sonet-Ext-MIB is a Fore Systems proprietary extension to the standard SONET-MIB, adding configuration and statistics objects for SONET/SDH transport interfaces on ForeRunner switch hardware beyond what the IETF standard covers. It exposes per-medium configuration (such as loopback mode and transmit clock source) and section-level performance totals including bit interleaved parity (BIP) errors, loss of signal (LOS) counts, and loss of frame (LOF) counts. Its monitoring emphasis is squarely on hardware-level transport performance and fault detection, using BIP/LOS/LOF counters to reveal physical-layer signal degradation, fiber problems, or clocking issues on SONET line cards. As its name states, it explicitly extends and depends on the standard SONET-MIB, so must be read alongside that base module for full path/line/section context. It is deployed on Fore Systems ATM switches carrying SONET/SDH interfaces in carrier and enterprise backbone networks. Engineers can download the Fore-Sonet-Ext-MIB file directly to load it into their MIB browser.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in Fore-Sonet-Ext-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

  • Fore Systems ForeRunner ATM switch with SONET/SDH interfaces

Monitoring Examples

An operator would poll foreSonetSectionTotalBIPs, foreSonetSectionTotalLOSs, and foreSonetSectionTotalLOFs from the foreSonetSectionTotalTable/foreSonetSectionTotalEntry to detect rising bit errors or signal/frame loss indicating a degrading fiber link or bad transceiver. foreSonetMediumConfigLoopbackMode and foreSonetMediumConfigTxClockSource in the foreSonetMediumConfigTable would be checked to confirm a port isn't stuck in a diagnostic loopback state or using an unintended clock source, either of which would explain a link that appears down or unstable.

What Can Be Monitored

  • BIP error counts
  • loss of signal (LOS) counts
  • loss of frame (LOF) counts
  • loopback mode configuration
  • transmit clock source
Imported Objects

From Fore-Common-MIB

asxOBJECT-IDENTITY

From Fore-TrapLog-MIB

trapLogIndexOBJECT-TYPE

From IF-MIB

ifIndexOBJECT-TYPE
ifNameOBJECT-TYPE

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
Integer32
MODULE-IDENTITY
NOTIFICATION-TYPE
OBJECT-TYPE

From SONET-MIB

sonetFarEndLineIntervalNumberOBJECT-TYPE
sonetFarEndPathIntervalNumberOBJECT-TYPE
sonetFarEndVTIntervalNumberOBJECT-TYPE
sonetLineIntervalNumberOBJECT-TYPE
sonetPathIntervalNumberOBJECT-TYPE
sonetSectionIntervalNumberOBJECT-TYPE
sonetVTIntervalNumberOBJECT-TYPE

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using foreSonetSectionTotalBIPs OID:

Select a Fore Systems (later Marconi) ForeRunner ATM switch with SONET/SDH interface (extensions) 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 foreSonetSectionTotalBIPs into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, selecting the specific row/instance you want to monitor since this is a table column, then select it and click OK. The number of Section BIP-8 (Bit Interleaved Parity) errors that have been detected since the last time the port has been reset. 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 between polls, since a rising count of errors, failures, or discards often points to a real underlying problem. Click Finish to create the monitor; you can adjust any parameter later.
OIDs

RFC description

Vendor-private Fore Systems MIB; provides extended SONET/SDH management and monitoring objects for Fore network equipment.

Start monitoring Fore Systems (later Marconi) ForeRunner ATM switch with SONET/SDH interfaces (extensions) 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 Fore-Sonet-Ext-MIB