Subject: Protocol Action: Agent Extensibility (AgentX) Protocol Version 1 to Proposed Standard

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 11:07:17 -0500

The IESG has approved the Internet-Draft 'Agent Extensibility (AgentX)
Protocol  Version 1' <draft-ietf-agentx-ext-pro-04.txt> as a Proposed
Standard. This document is the product of the SNMP Agent Extensibility
Working Group. The IESG contact persons are John Curran and Michael
O'Dell.

Technical Summary

 This memo defines a standardized framework for extensible SNMP
 agents.  It defines processing entities called master agents and
 subagents, a protocol (AgentX) used to communicate between them, and
 the elements of procedure by which the extensible agent processes SNMP
 protocol messages.

Working Group Summary

 The Working Group spent significant time discussing the scope of the
 protocol and trying to balance the desire for a straightforward
 subagent communication model against the desire for a transparent
 subagent model which would work for any given MIB structure.   This
 resulted in an approach which minimizes subagent communication
 messages while supporting the many common MIB object configurations.

 During Last Call, the issue was raised that the protocol was not
 suitable as a replacement for existing proprietary master/subagent
 protocols, as it could not address the full range of object types
 found in some MIBs.  In review, it was determined that this tradeoff
 were made with the rough consensus of the working group, and that the
 resulting protocol is still sufficiently valuable for portable
 subagents development that it warrants standardization.

 Also raised during Last Call was an issue regarding inability of a
 master agent to administratively decline a subagent's registration
 request.  While not a requirement, per se, it was felt that this
 concern was reasonable and would be best resolved by the creation of
 an additional return code or set of codes as determined by
 implementation experience.

Protocol Quality
 
 This work has been reviewed by the Area Director responsible for the
 work as well as others knowledgable regarding master/subagent
 technology. There are at least two draft implementations at this
 time.