All MIBs › SMUX-MIB
Category: Routing Protocols, SNMP Framework
Description: Defines the SNMP Multiplexing (SMUX) protocol, enabling an SNMP agent to communicate with external user-level processes such as routing daemons.
IPNetwork Monitor uses several OIDs from this MIB in network discovery and polling the applicable devices. Start monitoring SMUX-MIB with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor.
What Is SMUX-MIB?
SMUX-MIB defines the SNMP Multiplexing (SMUX) protocol, a vendor-neutral IETF standard (RFC 1227) that lets an SNMP agent delegate management of certain MIB subtrees to external, user-level processes such as routing daemons or other management applications. It exposes a table of peer processes registered with the agent along with a table of MIB subtrees each peer is responsible for, including identity, description, and status information for each. In monitoring terms, it is used to check the software-level health of the SMUX subsystem itself: whether registered peer processes are connected, their reported identity/description, and their operational status, revealing whether an external management process such as a routing daemon is properly attached and functioning. It underlies the classic SNMP agent extension mechanism historically used by tools like gated, so it depends on the base SNMP framework (RFC 1157/3411) rather than any hardware-specific standard. It is typically found on Unix-based routers/hosts using SMUX-capable SNMP agents to extend management coverage to routing or other software subsystems, consistent with the original SMUX-MIB RFC (RFC 1227) that defined this delegation mechanism.
IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in SMUX-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
- Unix-based routers/hosts running SMUX-capable SNMP agents
Monitoring Examples
An administrator would poll smuxPeerTable/smuxPeerEntry to see which peer processes (identified via smuxPidentity and smuxPdescription) are currently registered and check smuxPstatus to confirm each peer is active; separately, smuxTreeTable/smuxTreeEntry with smuxTsubtree and smuxTstatus show which MIB subtrees each peer serves and whether that mapping is active. If smuxPstatus shows a peer entry transitioning to goingDown or the peer disappears from the table, it indicates the external process (e.g., a routing daemon) has crashed or disconnected, and its associated MIB subtree becomes unavailable. This is a classic pattern for detecting a failed routing-protocol daemon on an SMUX-based Unix SNMP agent.
What Can Be Monitored
- registered SMUX peer processes
- peer identity/description
- peer operational status
- managed MIB subtree assignments
- subtree registration status
Imported Objects
OIDs
RFC description
SMUX (SNMP Multiplexing) peer table management for UNIX systems connecting subagents to SNMP managers.
Start monitoring vendor-neutral, standards-based MIB, Unix-based routers/hosts running SMUX-capable SNMP agents (peer-process 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.