All MIBs › VPN-TC-MIB
Organization: Layer 3 Virtual Private Networks (L3VPN) Working Group.
Last Updated: 2004-05-26
Category: VPN and Tunneling
Description: Specifies textual conventions used by L3VPN MIBs, defining common data types for VPN identifiers and route distinguishers.
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What Is VPN-TC-MIB?
VPN-TC-MIB is a vendor-neutral, IETF standards-based module (published as part of an RFC on L3VPN management) that defines textual conventions — shared data types — used by other Layer 3 VPN MIBs rather than exposing device state directly. It does not itself expose monitoring data; instead it standardizes types like VPN identifiers and route distinguishers so that other VPN-related MIBs (e.g. those tracking VRF instances, PE-CE routing, or VPN membership) can use consistent, interoperable object syntax. Because it carries no operational objects of its own, it has no direct role in hardware/software status monitoring, but it underpins the correctness of any VPN monitoring built on top of it. It is explicitly dependent on and referenced by other L3VPN MIBs (such as those covering MPLS VPN or PPVPN configuration) which import its textual conventions. It is typically found bundled alongside other VPN MIBs on any MPLS/L3VPN-capable router or management platform as a supporting definitions module rather than something polled on its own. Engineers can download the VPN-TC-MIB file directly to load it into their MIB browser.
IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in VPN-TC-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 — applies to MPLS/L3VPN-capable routers
Monitoring Examples
A management application implementing an L3VPN MIB would import the VpnId or RouteDistinguisher textual convention defined here rather than redefining the byte-string format itself, ensuring a VRF's route distinguisher is encoded identically across vendors' agents. Since VPN-TC-MIB itself defines no tables, there is nothing to poll directly — a NOC would instead poll the VRF/PE-CE MIBs that import these types, relying on VPN-TC-MIB purely for type consistency. No concrete sample objects were available for this module beyond its role as a TC-only definitions file.
What Can Be Monitored
- VPN identifier format (supporting other VPN MIBs)
- route distinguisher format (supporting other VPN MIBs)
Imported Objects
From SNMPv2-SMI
| MODULE-IDENTITY | |
| mib-2 |
From SNMPv2-TC
| TEXTUAL-CONVENTION |
OIDs
RFC description
Provides textual conventions and data types for VPN management across IETF L3VPN implementations.
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