IB-SMA-MIB

MIB Reference — IPNetwork Monitor · Updated October 05, 2026

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Organization: IETF IP Over IB (IPOIB) Working Group

Last Updated: 2005-09-01

Category: Standard: IETF

Description: IETF MIB for InfiniBand Subnet Management Agent (SMA) providing fabric topology and node management objects.

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 IB-SMA-MIB?

IB-SMA-MIB is a vendor-neutral IETF-standard MIB module for monitoring the Subnet Management Agent (SMA) present on every InfiniBand fabric node - switches and host channel adapters (HCAs) - that participates in InfiniBand subnet management. It exposes node identification and topology data: node type, number of ports, GUIDs (globally unique identifiers) for the node, system image, and individual ports, partition-table size, device ID/revision, and per-switch/management-port information. It is primarily used to monitor and inventory the hardware/firmware identity and topology of InfiniBand fabric elements - device/vendor identification and firmware revision data let an NMS detect an unexpected hardware type or firmware mismatch, while GUID and port-count data support building a live fabric topology map and detecting newly-joined or missing nodes. It is tightly coupled to the InfiniBand Architecture Specification's SMA/SMP concepts and typically works alongside other InfiniBand MIBs (e.g. performance-counter MIBs) for a complete operational picture. It is deployed in InfiniBand fabrics used in HPC clusters and storage-area networks, on switches and host channel adapters, with the IB-SMA-MIB MIB serving as the standard reference for SMA-based monitoring across these devices.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in IB-SMA-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, not tied to a specific manufacturer
  • InfiniBand switch
  • InfiniBand host channel adapter (HCA)

Monitoring Examples

ibSmaNodeGuid and ibSmaSystemImageGuid let a fabric manager uniquely identify each node and correlate it across ports, while ibSmaNodeNumPorts and ibSmaNodePortGuid support building a full port-level topology map of the fabric. ibSmaNodeDeviceId and ibSmaNodeRevision expose hardware/firmware identity, useful for detecting an unexpected firmware revision or device-type mismatch after a fabric-wide upgrade. The ibSmaSwitchInfo and ibSmaMgmtPortInfo object groups provide switch-specific and management-port details an admin would poll to confirm a switch's management port is reachable and correctly configured, and ibSmaNodePartitionTableNum indicates partition-table size, relevant for security/partition provisioning checks.

What Can Be Monitored

  • node type and GUID
  • number of ports
  • system image GUID
  • port GUID mapping
  • device ID and hardware revision
  • partition table size
Imported Objects

From IB-TC-MIB

IbDataPort
IbDataPortAndInvalid
IbGuid
IbMulticastLid
IbSmPortList
IbUnicastLid
infinibandMIBOBJECT-IDENTITY

From SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

SnmpAdminString

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
NOTIFICATION-GROUP
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
MODULE-IDENTITY
NOTIFICATION-TYPE
OBJECT-TYPE
Unsigned32

From SNMPv2-TC

TruthValue

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using ibSmaPortMKeyViolations OID:

Select an InfiniBand switch/host channel adapter (HCA), Subnet Management Agent 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 ibSmaPortMKeyViolations into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, then select it and click OK. Counts the number of SMP packets that have been received at this port that have invalid M_Keys. 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

Manages InfiniBand Subnet Management Agent (SMA) node information and port configuration.

Start monitoring InfiniBand switch/host channel adapter (HCA), Subnet Management Agent 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 IB-SMA-MIB