I was selected as General Area Review Team reviewer for this specification
(for background on Gen-ART, please see
http://www.alvestrand.no/ietf/gen/art/gen-art-FAQ.html).
Summary: This document is almost ready for publication as a Proposed
Standard. I do have a question on Section 5.3, listed below.
I also identified two editorial comments (not part of the Gen-ART review for
Brian). I hope this is useful.
Thanks,
1. Introduction
This memo defines a portion of the Management Information Base (MIB)
for use with network management protocols in the Internet community.
In particular, it describes managed objects for information related
to the Fibre Channel network's Routing Table for routing within a
Fabric. Managed objects specific to particular routing protocols,
such as FSPF, are not specified in this MIB module.
Spencer (NIT): FSPF is not exanded until later in the document (and should
have the reference to [FC-SW-4] that doesn't appear until Section 4).
Suggest "... such as Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) protocol [FC-SW-4],
..." as replacement text.
5.3. Fabric Index
The latest standard for an interconnecting Fabric containing multiple
Fabric Switch elements is [FC-SW-4] (which replaces the previous
revision [FC-SW-3]). [FC-SW-4] specifies the operation of both a
single Fabric in a physical infrastructure, as well as the support of
multiple Virtual Fabrics operating within one (or more) physical
infrastructures. Whether operating on a physical Fabric (i.e.,
without Virtual Fabrics) or within a Virtual Fabric, the operation of
FSPF within a Fabric is identical. Therefore, this MIB defines all
Fabric-related information in tables which are INDEX-ed by an
arbitrary integer, named a "Fabric Index", the syntax of which is
IMPORTed from the T11-TC-MIB. When a device is connected to a single
physical Fabric, without use of any virtual Fabrics, the value of
this Fabric Index will always be 1. In an environment of multiple
virtual and/or physical Fabrics, this index provides a means to
distinguish one Fabric from another.
Spencer: I can guess what a Virtual Fabric is, but I'm guessing and the term
hasn't been introduced yet, and there's no reference for it. Not a critical
problem, but since there's a nice overview in Section 3, maybe it could have
a sentence or two that introduces the concept, before it appears in Section
5.3?
5.5. The t11FcRouteTable's INDEX
Providing the same useful feature in the MIB in this document,
results in having an unusually large number (ten) of objects in the
t11FcRouteTable's INDEX clause. However, all ten are either integers
or strings of length 0 or 3 octets. Thus, the aggregate number of
sub-identifiers to be appended to an OBJECT-TYPE's OID when naming an
instance of an object in this table, is at most 22 sub-identifiers,
i.e., less than the *minimum* number to be appended for the
inetCidrRouteTable table. In other words, while ten is an unusually
large number of objects in an INDEX clause, the resultant OIDs are
not unusually large.
Spencer (more than a NIT): This paragraph is really tortured, until you get
to the last sentence, which seems all that's needed anyway (suggest "While
this useful feature results in an unusually large number (ten) of objects in
the t11FcRouteTable's INDEX clause, all ten are all ten are either integers
or strings of length 0 or 3 octets, so the resulting OIDs are not unusually
large."). But the reason I flagged this as "more than a nit" was that
"length 0 or 3 octets" was confusing - the point is, "maximum length of 3
octets", isn't it? FC people are very aware of FCAddressIdentifier
structure, but no one else is, so "0 or 3 octets" is a distraction, and the
wordy paragraph just made it worse.
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