ISNS-MIB

MIB Reference — IPNetwork Monitor · Updated October 06, 2026

All MIBs › ISNS-MIB

Organization: IETF IPS Working Group

Last Updated: 2007-07-11

Category: Fibre Channel and Storage

Description: Defines managed objects for the Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS), enabling SNMP-based configuration and monitoring of iSNS servers for iSCSI and Fibre Channel discovery.

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

What Is ISNS-MIB?

ISNS-MIB is the IETF standard MIB (RFC 4939) defining management information for the Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS), a discovery and management service used by iSCSI and Fibre Channel storage networks. It exposes objects organized under an isnsGroups conformance/grouping structure that describe iSNS server configuration and the storage nodes, discovery domains, and services the server tracks. In a monitoring context it is used to confirm that the iSNS server is operating and correctly tracking registered iSCSI/FC storage nodes, which underpins storage-device discovery in a SAN; loss of registered nodes or server unavailability would be a key fault indicator. It is a standalone IETF storage-networking MIB tied to the iSNS protocol (RFC 4171) rather than depending on other common device MIBs. It is typically deployed on iSNS servers within SAN/iSCSI storage network infrastructure. Engineers implementing or auditing this functionality typically reference the ISNS-MIB RFC/standard documentation for the authoritative specification.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in ISNS-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
  • iSNS server in an iSCSI/Fibre Channel SAN

Monitoring Examples

The only object name provided, isnsGroups, is a conformance-grouping container rather than a runtime data object, so a concrete monitoring scenario with specific leaf objects cannot be honestly constructed from the available data. In general an iSNS deployment would be monitored for server reachability and the count/state of registered storage nodes and discovery domains. No further specific object names can be confirmed.

Imported Objects

From ENTITY-MIB

PhysicalIndex

From FC-MGMT-MIB

FcAddressIdOrZero
FcNameIdOrZero

From INET-ADDRESS-MIB

InetAddress
InetAddressType
InetPortNumber

From SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

SnmpAdminString

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
NOTIFICATION-GROUP
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Gauge32
Integer32
MODULE-IDENTITY
NOTIFICATION-TYPE
OBJECT-TYPE
Unsigned32
mib-2

From SNMPv2-TC

TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
TimeStamp
TruthValue

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using isnsNumDds OID:

Select a device implementing ISNS-MIB 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 isnsNumDds 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 current total number of Discovery Domain Sets in this iSNS instance. 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 Gauge32-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

Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) management MIB for iSCSI and Fibre Channel storage fabric discovery and management.

Start monitoring Vendor-neutral IETF standard, RFC 4939 (iSNS server in an iSCSI/Fibre Channel SAN) 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 ISNS-MIB