Subject: RFC 4268 (Entity State MIB)

From: Alfred Hönes <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 23:53:51 +0100 (MEZ)

Hello,

reading the recently published RFC 4268 authored by you
I caught a few textual flaws the correction of which might
be considered as candidate for an RFC Errata Note, or else be
filed for reference in case of any future update to this RFC.

(1)

In the CONTACT-INFO clauses of both MODULE-IDENTITY instances
(page 6 and page 10), apparently a text line (between the two
HTTP URIs given) has been blanked out inadvertently; usually,
        "Working Group Charter:"
appears at similar places in other MIB definitions.

(2) [typo]

The DESCRIPTION clause of the EntityAlarmStatus TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
declaration contains a funny 'byte twist'.
 It says (near the middle of page 8):

       When the 'value of underRepair' is set, the resource is
       currently being repaired, ...

It should say:

       When the value of 'underRepair' is set, the resource is
       currently being repaired, ...

(3) [--- this is the only hard stuff in this note ! ---]

In the DESCRIPTION clause of the entStateAdmin OBJECT-TYPE
declaration, the second paragraph on page 12 says:

                               vvvvvvvvvvvv
       Setting this object to 'notSupported' will result
       in an 'inconsistentValue' error.  [...]

This is insonsistent with the value range for the EntityAdminState
TEXTUAL-CONVENTION describing the syntax of this object.
(Perhaps there's some history behind the scene.)
I suspect that in fact this sentence should say:

                               vvvvvvv
       Setting this object to 'unknown' will result in an
       'inconsistentValue' error.  [...]

(4) [typo/grammar]

The fourth paragraph of the DESCRIPTION clause of the entStateOper
OBJECT-TYPE, 10 text lines from the bottom of page 12, says:

       A value of 'testing' means that entity currently being
       tested and cannot therefore report whether it is
       operational or not.

It should perhaps better say:
                                                       vvvv
       A value of 'testing' means that entity currently is
       being tested and cannot therefore report whether it
       is operational or not.

(5) [editing omission?]

The DESCRIPTION clause of the entStateStandby OBJECT-TYPE, near
mid-page 14, says:

       Some entities will exhibit only a subset of the
       remaining standby state values.  [...]
       ^^^^^^^^^^
Perhaps this text has been 'cloned' without full adaptation.
Since, in this case, no possible value of the object has been
excluded by the text, the word "remaining" is inappropriate in
this context.  Therefore, this clause should better say:

       Some entities will exhibit only a subset of the
       standby state values.  [...]

(6) + (7)  [typo/grammar]

The second paragraph of the DESCRIPTION clause of each of the
two NOTIFICATION-TYPE declarations, near the bottom of page 14
and near the top of page 15, contains the sentence:

       The entity this notification refers can be identified by
       extracting the entPhysicalIndex from one of the
       variable bindings.  [...]

Preferrably, this sentence should better say (in both instances):

                                          vvvv
       The entity this notification refers to can be identified
       by extracting the entPhysicalIndex from one of the
       variable bindings.  [...]

Best regards,
  Alfred Hönes.

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