SSPM-MIB

All MIBs › SSPM-MIB

Organization: IETF RMON MIB working group

Last Updated: 2005-07-28

Category: Network Monitoring (RMON)

Description: Defines managed objects for configuring Synthetic Sources for Performance Monitoring, enabling remote control of active probes for IP network performance assessment.

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

What Is SSPM-MIB?

SSPM-MIB is a vendor-neutral IETF standards MIB (published as RFC 4149) that defines managed objects for controlling Synthetic Sources for Performance Monitoring (SSPM), i.e., active measurement probes that generate synthetic traffic to assess IP network performance. It exposes general clock/timing capability objects (clock resolution, max skew, clock source, minimum frequency), a capabilities table describing what a given probe instance supports, and a source-profile table defining the parameters (packet size, traffic type) of the synthetic streams a probe can generate. Monitoring this MIB lets an operator verify the software/hardware readiness of a measurement probe - confirming its clock synchronization quality and which synthetic traffic profiles it is capable of generating - before relying on its performance results. It is explicitly designed to work alongside other IPPM (IP Performance Metrics) related MIBs and RFCs that define the actual test results/metrics collected using these synthetic sources. It is typically deployed on dedicated network performance-measurement probes or test points distributed across a service provider's IP network. Engineers implementing or auditing this functionality typically reference the SSPM-MIB RFC/standard documentation for the authoritative specification.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in SSPM-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
dedicated network performance-measurement probe/test point

Monitoring Examples

Polling sspmGeneralClockSource and sspmGeneralClockMaxSkew tells an admin whether a probe's timing reference is sufficiently accurate for latency/jitter measurements, which is critical since poor clock sync would invalidate synthetic test results. The sspmCapabilitiesTable/sspmCapabilitiesEntry (keyed by sspmCapabilitiesInstance) shows which synthetic-source profiles a probe supports, while sspmSourceProfileTable/sspmSourceProfileEntry entries expose sspmSourceProfileType and sspmSourceProfilePacketSize for each configured test stream, letting an admin confirm a probe is generating the expected synthetic traffic pattern.

What Can Be Monitored

clock source and max skew
clock resolution
probe capabilities per instance
synthetic source profile type
synthetic test packet size

Imported Objects

From APM-MIB

AppLocalIndex

From IF-MIB

InterfaceIndexOrZero

From INET-ADDRESS-MIB

InetAddress
InetAddressType

From RMON-MIB

OwnerString
rmon	OBJECT-IDENTITY

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
Integer32
MODULE-IDENTITY
OBJECT-TYPE
Unsigned32

From SNMPv2-TC

RowStatus
StorageType
TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
TruthValue

From SYSAPPL-MIB

Utf8String

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using sspmSinkLastSequenceInvalid OID:

Select a device implementing SSPM-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 sspmSinkLastSequenceInvalid 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 packets that arrived whose sequence number was not one plus the value of sspmSinkLastSequenceNumber. 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

OID symbolic	OID numeric	Type	Access	Description
sspmCapabilitiesEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.1.5.1		not-accessible	Details about a particular SSPM capability.
APP sspmCapabilitiesInstance	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.1.5.1.1	AppLocalIndex	read-only	Indicates whether SSPM configuration of the corresponding AppLocalIndex is supported by this device. Generally, entries in this table are only made by the device when the configuration of the measurement is available.
sspmCapabilitiesTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.1.5		not-accessible	The table of SSPM capabilities.
sspmCompliances	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.1
sspmGeneral	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.1
SSP sspmGeneralClockMaxSkew	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.1.2	SspmClockMaxSkew	read-only	A read-only variable indicating the maximum offset error due to skew of the local clock over the time interval 86400 seconds, in seconds.
SSP sspmGeneralClockResolution	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.1.1	SspmMicroSeconds	read-only	A read-only variable indicating the resolution of the measurements possible by this device.
SSP sspmGeneralClockSource	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.1.3	SspmClockSource	read-only	A read-only variable indicating the source of the clock. This is provided to allow a user to determine how accurate the timing mechanism is compared with other devices. This is needed for the coordination of time values between probes for one-way measurements.
sspmGeneralCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.1.1			A general compliance that allows all things to be optional.
sspmGeneralGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.2.1			The objects in the SSPM General Group.
SSP sspmGeneralMinFrequency	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.1.4	SspmMicroSeconds	read-only	A read-only variable that indicates the devices' capability for the minimum supported sspmSourceFrequency. If sspmSourceFrequency is set to a value lower than the value reported by this attribute, then the set of sspmSourceFrequency will fail with an inconsistent value error.
sspmGroups	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.2
sspmMIB	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28			This SSPM MIB module is applicable to probes implementing Synthetic Source for Performance Monitoring functions. Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). This version of this MIB module is part of RFC 4149; see the RFC itself for full legal notices.
sspmMIBConformance	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3
sspmMIBNotifications	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.2
sspmMIBObjects	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1
sspmSink	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5
T/F sspmSinkEnable	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.6	TruthValue	read-create	Indicates if the sink is enabled or not.
sspmSinkEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1		not-accessible	The details of a particular sink entry. If the measurement is a round-trip type, then the sink entry will be on the same probe as the corresponding sspmSourceEntry. If the measurement is a one-way, type then the sink entry will be on a different probe.
U32 sspmSinkExpectedFirstSequenceNum	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.7	Unsigned32	read-create	The expected first sequence number of packets. This is used by the sink to determine if packets were lost at the initiation of the test.
SSP sspmSinkExpectedRate	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.5	SspmMicroSeconds	read-create	The expected rate at which packets will arrive.
sspmSinkFullCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.1.3			A sink-only compliance. Use this compliance when implementing a sink-only device. This is useful for devices to receive one-way measurements.
sspmSinkGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.2.4			The objects in the SSPM Sink Group.
U32 sspmSinkInstance	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.1	Unsigned32	not-accessible	An index. When the measurement is for a round-trip measurement, then this table entry is on the same probe as the corresponding sspmSourceEntry, and the value of this attribute should correspond to the value of sspmSourceInstance. Management applications configuring sinks for one-way measurements could define some scheme whereby the sspmSinkInstance is unique across all probes. Note that the unique key to this entry is also constructed with sspmSinkType, sspmSinkSourceAddressType, and sspmSinkSourceAddress. To make the implementation simpler, those other attributes are not included in the index but uniqueness is still needed to receive all the packets.
C32 sspmSinkLastSequenceInvalidEx	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.9	Counter32	read-only	The number of packets that arrived whose sequence number was not one plus the value of sspmSinkLastSequenceNumber.
U32 sspmSinkLastSequenceNumber	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.8	Unsigned32	read-only	The last sequence number received.
IP sspmSinkSourceAddress	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.4	InetAddress	read-create	The Internet address of the source. The formatting of this object is controlled by the sspmSinkSourceAddressType object above. This object should be set only to a valid device address that has been administratively configured into the device. If a set attempts to set this object to an address that does not belong (i.e., is not administratively configured into the device), the set should fail, and the agent should return a error-status of 'inconsistentValue'.
IPt sspmSinkSourceAddressType	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.3	InetAddressType	read-create	The type of Internet address of the source.
ROW sspmSinkStatus	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.11	RowStatus	read-create	Status of this conceptual row. An entry may not exist in the active state unless all objects in the entry have an appropriate value. Once this object is set to active(1), no objects with MAX-ACCESS of read-create in the sspmSinkTable can be changed.
STO sspmSinkStorageType	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.10	StorageType	read-create	The storage type of this sspmSinkEntry. If the value of this object is 'permanent', no objects in this row need to be writable.
sspmSinkTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1		not-accessible	A table configuring the sink for measurements.
APP sspmSinkType	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.5.1.1.2	AppLocalIndex	read-create	The AppLocalIndex value that uniquely identifies the measurement per the APM-MIB. In order to create a row in this table, there must be a corresponding row in the sspmCapabilitiesTable. If there is no corresponding row in the sspmCapabilitiestable, then the agent will return an error-status of 'inconsistentValue'.
sspmSource	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2
IP sspmSourceControlDestAddr	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.5	InetAddress	read-create	The Internet address for the destination. The formatting of this object is controlled by the sspmSourceControlDestAddrType object above. When this object contains a DNS name, then the name is resolved to an address each time measurement is to be made. Further, the agent should not cache this address, but instead should perform the resolution prior to each measurement.
IPt sspmSourceControlDestAddrType	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.4	InetAddressType	read-create	The type of Internet address by which the destination is accessed.
T/F sspmSourceControlEnabled	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.6	TruthValue	read-create	When set to 'true', this test is enabled. When set to 'false', it is disabled.
sspmSourceControlEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1		not-accessible	Details about a particular SSPM configuration.
U32 sspmSourceControlFirstSeqNum	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.10	Unsigned32	read-create	The first sequence number of packets to be transmitted.
SSP sspmSourceControlFrequency	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.9	SspmMicroSeconds	read-create	The inverse of this value is the rate at which packets are generated. Refer to sspmSourceSamplingDistribution. If the value set is less than the value of sspmGeneralMinFrequency, then the set will fail with an error-status of 'inconsistentValue'.
U32 sspmSourceControlInstance	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.1	Unsigned32	not-accessible	An arbitrary index.
U32 sspmSourceControlLastSeqNum	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.11	Unsigned32	read-only	The last sequence number transmitted. This value is updated by the agent after packet generation.
STR sspmSourceControlOwner	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.12	OwnerString	read-create	Name of the management station/application that set up the test.
I32 sspmSourceControlProfile	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.2	Integer32	read-create	A pointer to the profile (sspmSourceProfileEntry) that this control entry uses to define the test being performed.
INT sspmSourceControlSamplingDist	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.8	INTEGER	read-create	When this attribute is set to 'deterministic', then packets are generated at with a fixed inter-packet injection time specified by sspmSourceFrequency. When this attribute is set to 'Poisson', then packets are generated with inter-packet injection times sampled from an exponential distribution with the single distributional parameter determined by the inverse frequency).
NUM sspmSourceControlSrc	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.3	InterfaceIndexOrZero	read-create	The ifIndex where the packet should originate from the probe (if it matters). A value of zero indicates that it does not matter and that the device decides.
ROW sspmSourceControlStatus	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.14	RowStatus	read-create	Status of this source control entry. An entry may not exist in the active state unless all objects in the entry have an appropriate value. When this attribute has the value of 'active', none of the read-write or read-create attributes in this table may be modified, with the exception of sspmSourceControlEnabled.
STO sspmSourceControlStorageType	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.13	StorageType	read-create	The storage type of this sspmSourceControlEntry. If the value of this object is 'permanent', no objects in this row need to be writable.
sspmSourceControlTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2		not-accessible	The table of SSPM measurements configured.
SSP sspmSourceControlTimeOut	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.2.1.7	SspmMicroSeconds	read-create	Timeout value for the measurement response. If no response is received in the time specified, then the test fails.
sspmSourceFullCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.1.2			A source compliance. Use this compliance when implementing a traffic-source-only device. This is useful for implementing devices that probe other devices for intrusive application monitoring. It is also useful for implementing the source of one-way tests used with a sink-only device.
sspmSourceGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.2.2			The objects in the SSPM Source Group.
I32 sspmSourceProfile8021Tagging	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.12	Integer32	read-create	IEEE 802.1Q tagging used in IEEE 802.1D bridged environments. A value of -1 indicates that the packets are untagged. A value of 0 to 65535 is the value of the tag to be inserted in the tagged packets. Note that according to IEEE 802.1Q, VLAN-ID tags with a value of 4095 shall not be transmitted on the wire. As the VLAN-ID is encoded in the 12 least significant bits on the tag, values that translate in a binary representation of all 1's in the last 12 bits SHALL NOT be configured. In this case, the set should fail, and return an error-status of 'inconsistentValue'.
sspmSourceProfileEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1		not-accessible	Details about a particular SSPM Source Profile configuration. Entries must exist in this table in order to be referenced by rows in the sspmSourceControlTable.
I32 sspmSourceProfileFlowLabel	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.7	Integer32	read-create	This object is used to specify the Flow Label in a IPv6 packet (RFC 2460) to force special handling by the IPv6 routers; e.g., non-default quality-of-service handling. This object is meaningful only when the object sspmSourceDestAddressType is IPv6(2). The value of this object defaults to zero if not set.
U32 sspmSourceProfileInstance	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.1	Unsigned32	not-accessible	An arbitrary index.
OCT sspmSourceProfileLooseSrcRteFill	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.8	OCTET STRING	read-create	In the event that the test should run over a specific route, the intent is to force the route using the Loose Source Route option in IPv4 [RFC791] and IPv6 [RFC2460]. This object contains a series of IP addresses along the path that would be put into the loose source route option in the IP header. The IPv4 addresses are to be listed as 32-bit address values, and the IPv6 addresses are to be listed as a string of 128-bit addresses. The maximum length allowed within the IPv4 source route option is 63 addresses. To simply account for IPv6 addresses as well, the maximum length of the octet string is 240. This allows up to 60 IPv4 addresses or up to 15 IPv6 addresses in the string.
I32 sspmSourceProfileLooseSrcRteLen	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.9	Integer32	read-create	In the event that the test should run over a specific route, the intent is to force the route. This attribute specifies the length of data to be copied from the sspmSourceProfileLooseSrcRteFill into the route data fields of the loose source route options in the IPv4 or IPv6 headers.
T/F sspmSourceProfileNoFrag	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.11	TruthValue	read-create	When true, the 'Don't Fragment Bit' should be set on the packet header.
STR sspmSourceProfileOwner	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.16	OwnerString	read-create	Name of the management station/application that set up the profile.
INT sspmSourceProfilePacketFillType	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.4	INTEGER	read-create	Indicates how the packet is filled. 'random' indicates that the packet contains random data patterns. This is probe and implementation dependent. 'pattern' indicates that the pattern defined in the sspmSourceProfilePacketFillValue attribute is used to fill the packet. 'url' indicates that the value of sspmSourceProfilePacketFillValue should contain a URL. The contents of the document at that URL are retrieved when sspmSourceStatus becomes active and utilized in the packet. If the attempt to access that URL fails, then the row status is set to 'notReady', and the set should fail with 'inconsistentValue'. This value must contain a dereferencable URL of the type 'http:', 'https:', or 'ftp:' only.
OCT sspmSourceProfilePacketFillValue	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.5	OCTET STRING	read-create	The string value with which to fill the packet. If sspmSourceProfilePacketFillType is set to 'pattern', then this pattern is repeated until the packet is sspmSourcePacketSize in bytes. Note that if the length of the octet string specified for this value does not divide evenly into the packet size, then an incomplete last copy of this data may be copied into the packet. If the value of sspmSourceProfilePacketFillType is set to 'random', then this attribute is unused. If the value of the sspmSourceProfilePacketFillType is set to 'url', then the URL specified in this attribute is retrieved and used by the probe. In the case of a URL, this value must contain a dereferencable URL of the type 'http:', 'https:', or 'ftp:' only.
U32 sspmSourceProfilePacketSize	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.3	Unsigned32	read-create	The size of packet to be transmitted in bytes. The size accounts for all data within the IPv4 or IPv6 payloads, excluding the IP headers, IP header options and link-level protocol headers. If the size is set smaller than the minimum allowed packet size or greater than the maximum allowed packet size, then the set should fail, and the agent should return a 'badValue' error.
OCT sspmSourceProfileParameter	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.15	OCTET STRING	read-create	An optional parameter used by the application protocol. For DNS, this would be the hostname or IP. For HTTP, this would be the URL. For nntp, this would be the news group. For TCP, this would be the port number. For SMTP, this would be the recipient (and could assume the message is predefined).
STR sspmSourceProfilePassword	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.14	Utf8String	read-create	An optional password used by the application protocol.
ROW sspmSourceProfileStatus	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.18	RowStatus	read-create	Status of this profile. An entry may not exist in the active state unless all objects in the entry have an appropriate value. Once this object is set to active(1), no objects in the sspmSourceProfileTable can be changed.
STO sspmSourceProfileStorageType	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.17	StorageType	read-create	The storage type of this sspmSourceProfileEntry. If the value of this object is 'permanent', no objects in this row need to be writable.
sspmSourceProfileTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1		not-accessible	The table of SSPM Source Profiles configured.
I32 sspmSourceProfileTOS	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.6	Integer32	read-create	Represents the TOS field in the IP packet header. The value of this object defaults to zero if not set.
I32 sspmSourceProfileTTL	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.10	Integer32	read-create	If non-zero, this specifies the value to place into the TTL field on transmission.
APP sspmSourceProfileType	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.2	AppLocalIndex	read-create	The AppLocalIndex value that uniquely identifies the measurement per the APM-MIB. In order to create a row in this table, there must be a corresponding row in the sspmCapabilitiesTable. When attempting to set this object, if no corresponding row exists in the sspmCapabilitiesTable, then the agent should return a 'badValue' error.
STR sspmSourceProfileUsername	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.1.2.1.1.13	Utf8String	read-create	An optional username used by the application protocol.
sspmUserPassGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.16.28.3.2.3			The objects in the SSPM Username and password group.

RFC description

Server and Switch Management Performance MIB for monitoring system performance metrics. Tracks CPU usage, memory, disk I/O, and network throughput on managed devices.

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