15.3 Release Notes Summary

Overview

The15.3 Release Notes Summary is a broad overview of some of the changes that have been made since release 15.2 of our products. Note that this summary is an abbreviated version of the 15.3 Release Notes. Customers can access the complete 15.3 Release Notes on the 15.3 media. The new release will be shipped over the next few months to SNMP Research customers, beginning with source code customers.

Documentation

One of the major updates to SNMP products is the inclusion of electronic documentation. Software and hardware manuals for 15.3 are included as files in Portable Document Format (PDF) on the 15.3 media. We recommend using Adobe Acrobat Reader® to view the manuals. The reader is freely available from www.adobe.com.

Internet Standards

Since the release of version 15.2, several Internet standard documents have been published or updated by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). SNMP Research has upgraded its products to meet these latest versions of the Internet standard documents (Requests For Comments, or RFCs). The latest additions and updates to IETF RFCs that affect SNMP Research products are as follows:

• RFC 2570: Introduction to SNMPv3
• RFC 2571: An Architecture for Describing SNMP Management Frameworks (obsoletes RFC 2271)
• RFC 2572: Message Processing and Dispatching for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) (obsoletes RFC 2272)
• RFC 2573: SNMP Applications (obsoletes RFC 2273)
• RFC 2574: User-based Security Model (USM) for version 3 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv3) (obsoletes RFC 2274)
• RFC 2575: View-based Access Control Model (VACM) for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) (obsoletes RFC 2275)
• RFC 2576: Coexistence between Version 1, Version 2, and Version 3 of the Internet-Standard Network Management Framework
• RFC 2591: Definitions of Managed Objects for Scheduling Management Operations (DISMAN-SCHEDULE-MIB)
• RFC 2592: Definitions of Managed Objects for the Delegation of Management Scripts (DISMAN-SCRIPT-MIB)
• RFC 2790: Host Resources MIB (obsoletes RFC 1514)
• RFC 2981: The Event MIB

Operating Systems

SNMP Research's products have been updated to support newer versions of existing supported platforms. Please see our list of supported platforms.

Upgrades for Core Libraries

Core Libraries are source code tools that provide the foundational routines used as the building blocks for other products. Core Libraries are written to support SNMPv1, SNMPv2, SNMPv3, and all MIB variables that conform to the Internet Standard Structure of Management Information (SMI).

A few of the improvements to our Core Libraries include updates to conform to the latest RFCs (see earlier section), suppressing unnecessary compiler warnings and messages, improving memory allocation, adding code to dynamically determine whether our code is running on a big endian or little endian machine, and improving the quality of error message descriptions.

Upgrades for Agent Products

SNMP Research provides agent products for end-users and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Agent products are available for both open and embedded systems. SNMP Research's agent products are built upon the world's leading EMANATE® agent technology. We offer such options as Web accessibility to agent information, run-time extensibility, and compile-time extensibility.

EMANATE and EMANATE/Lite

EMANATE is a run-time extensible SNMP agent. The EMANATE system includes the world's leading subagent development kit, which automates subagent development. Based on a Master Agent/Subagent architecture, EMANATE allows subagents to be loaded and unloaded dynamically at run time.

EMANATE/Lite is a monolithic agent, which includes an easy-to-use development toolkit for adding MIB extensions to the agent at compile time. EMANATE/Lite provides access to management information for each of the managed protocol layers within the network element. (The upgrades for EMANATE, EMANATE/Lite, and other EMANATE-based agents also include the updates made to the Core Libraries.)

A few of the improvements to EMANATE, EMANATE/Lite, and other EMANATE-based agents include updates to conform to the latest RFCs (see earlier section), improving the speed and overall performance of the agents, expanding the list of supported platforms, improving error handling and reporting, and improving the quality of error message descriptions.

CIAgent

CIAgent, a member of the SecureIntelligence family, is a secure, intelligent, standards-based agent for open systems, such as mission-critical Web servers, DNS servers, file servers, and print servers. CIAgent combines the power of the EMANATE Master Agent with many standard and private MIB extensions to provide network-wide management of systems, applications, and services. (The upgrades for CIAgent also include the updates made to the EMANATE.)

A few of the improvements to CIAgent include updating several Distributed Management Subagents to conform to the latest RFCs (Event MIB, Script MIB, and the Schedule MIB) and expanding the list of supported platforms.

Agent Adapters

SNMP Research offers several SNMP agent adapters, including the Native Agent Adapter, the Native Subagent Adapter, and the new EMANATE Protocol Interface Component (EPIC) Subsystem. The Native Agent Adapter allows a user to easily integrate an EMANATE Master Agent into a system that already possesses an SNMP agent. The Native Subagent Adapter allows a user to easily integrate an EMANATE Master Agent into a system that already possesses an SNMP agent that is also based on the Master Agent/Subagent paradigm. The EPIC Subsystem allows applications using non-SNMP protocols to communicate with an SNMP agent.

A few of the improvements to Agent Adapters include expanding the product line to include the new EPIC Subsystem and adding calls to correct some of the common encoding errors that might be made by the native agent or subagent.

Upgrades for Management Stations and Applications

SNMP Research provides management stations and applications for end-users and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Management stations and applications enable administrators to monitor and control networks, systems, and applications. Options, such as Web and java-based interfaces and policy-based management, are also available.

ARL and BRASS

The Asynchronous Request Library (ARL) provides an API for building SNMP manager applications or for integrating SNMP manager capabilities into an existing application. The ARL makes it easy to write manager applications that take advantage of the SNMP management framework without requiring the developer to have SNMP expertise or programming capabilities.

The Bilingual Request and Security Subsystem (BRASS) is a Management Application Toolkit designed to provide facilities for creating SNMP management applications. It provides a C programming API that allows one or many management applications to access a single, shared SNMP stack and security database. BRASS optimizes the management station platform by providing full SNMP functionality, management application extensibility, support for SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and SNMPv3, and simplified security configuration. BRASS also allows for efficient memory usage when there are multiple management applications. (The upgrades for ARL and BRASS also include the updates made to the Core Libraries.)

A few of the improvements to ARL and BRASS include updates to conform to the latest RFCs (see earlier section), improving the table handling, and improving ICMP support.

EnterPol

EnterPol, a member of the SecureIntelligence family, offers policy-based tools for seamless management of networks, systems, applications, and services. EnterPol is an integrated collection of programs, processes, databases, and Java applications that forms a solid technological foundation for cooperating management applications. (The upgrades for EnterPol also include the items listed in the ARL and BRASS section).

A few of the improvements to EnterPol include updates to conform to the latest RFCs (see earlier section), adding more security, and improving SNMPv3 configuration capabilities.

LT-301

The LATIN products (LT-301 and Mrs. Wright) are hardware-based products and management applications that provide SNMP interfaces between RS232 ports on legacy devices and SNMP management applications.

A few of the improvements to LT-301 include updates to conform to the latest RFCs (see earlier section) and providing additional error checking and reporting.