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This memo describes a Transport Security Model for the Simple Network Management Protocol.
This memo also defines a portion of the Management Information Base (MIB) for monitoring and managing the Transport Security Model for SNMP.
1.
Introduction
1.1.
The Internet-Standard Management Framework
1.2.
Conventions
1.3.
Modularity
1.4.
Motivation
1.5.
Constraints
2.
How the Transport Security Model Fits in the Architecture
2.1.
Security Capabilities of this Model
2.1.1.
Threats
2.1.2.
Security Levels
2.2.
Transport Sessions
2.3.
Coexistence
2.3.1.
Coexistence with Message Processing Models
2.3.2.
Coexistence with Other Security Models
2.3.3.
Coexistence with Transport Models
3.
Cached Information and References
3.1.
securityStateReference
3.2.
tmStateReference
3.2.1.
Transport information
3.2.2.
securityName
3.2.3.
securityLevel
3.2.4.
Session Information
3.3.
Transport Security Model Cached Information
3.3.1.
securityStateReference
3.3.2.
tmStateReference
3.3.3.
Prefixes and securityNames
4.
Processing an Outgoing Message
4.1.
Security Processing for an Outgoing Message
4.2.
Elements of Procedure for Outgoing Messages
5.
Processing an Incoming SNMP Message
5.1.
Security Processing for an Incoming Message
5.2.
Elements of Procedure for Incoming Messages
6.
MIB Module Overview
6.1.
Structure of the MIB Module
6.1.1.
The snmpTsmStats Subtree
6.1.2.
The snmpTsmConfiguration Subtree
6.2.
Relationship to Other MIB Modules
6.2.1.
MIB Modules Required for IMPORTS
7.
MIB module definition
8.
Security Considerations
8.1.
MIB module security
9.
IANA Considerations
10.
Acknowledgements
11.
References
11.1.
Normative References
11.2.
Informative References
Appendix A.
Notification Tables Configuration
A.1.
Transport Security Model Processing for Notifications
Appendix B.
Processing Differences between USM and Secure Transport
B.1.
USM and the RFC3411 Architecture
B.2.
Transport Subsystem and the RFC3411 Architecture
Appendix C.
Open Issues
Appendix D.
Change Log
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This memo describes a Transport Security Model for the Simple Network Management Protocol, for use with secure Transport Models in the Transport Subsystem [I‑D.ietf‑isms‑tmsm] (Harrington, D. and J. Schoenwaelder, “Transport Subsystem for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” May 2009.).
This memo also defines a portion of the Management Information Base (MIB) for monitoring and managing the Transport Security Model for SNMP.
It is important to understand the SNMP architecture and the terminology of the architecture to understand where the Transport Security Model described in this memo fits into the architecture and interacts with other subsystems and models within the architecture. It is expected that reader will have also read and understood RFC3411 [RFC3411] (Harrington, D., Presuhn, R., and B. Wijnen, “An Architecture for Describing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Management Frameworks,” December 2002.), RFC3412 [RFC3412] (Case, J., Harrington, D., Presuhn, R., and B. Wijnen, “Message Processing and Dispatching for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” December 2002.), RFC3413 [RFC3413] (Levi, D., Meyer, P., and B. Stewart, “Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Applications,” December 2002.), and RFC3418 [RFC3418] (Presuhn, R., “Management Information Base (MIB) for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” December 2002.).
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For a detailed overview of the documents that describe the current Internet-Standard Management Framework, please refer to section 7 of RFC 3410 [RFC3410] (Case, J., Mundy, R., Partain, D., and B. Stewart, “Introduction and Applicability Statements for Internet-Standard Management Framework,” December 2002.).
Managed objects are accessed via a virtual information store, termed the Management Information Base or MIB. MIB objects are generally accessed through the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Objects in the MIB are defined using the mechanisms defined in the Structure of Management Information (SMI). This memo specifies a MIB module that is compliant to the SMIv2, which is described in STD 58, RFC 2578 [RFC2578] (McCloghrie, K., Ed., Perkins, D., Ed., and J. Schoenwaelder, Ed., “Structure of Management Information Version 2 (SMIv2),” April 1999.), STD 58, RFC 2579 [RFC2579] (McCloghrie, K., Ed., Perkins, D., Ed., and J. Schoenwaelder, Ed., “Textual Conventions for SMIv2,” April 1999.) and STD 58, RFC 2580 [RFC2580] (McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., and J. Schoenwaelder, “Conformance Statements for SMIv2,” April 1999.).
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For consistency with SNMP-related specifications, this document favors terminology as defined in STD62 rather than favoring terminology that is consistent with non-SNMP specifications that use different variations of the same terminology. This is consistent with the IESG decision to not require the SNMPv3 terminology be modified to match the usage of other non-SNMP specifications when SNMPv3 was advanced to Full Standard.
Authentication in this document typically refers to the English meaning of "serving to prove the authenticity of" the message, not data source authentication or peer identity authentication.
The terms "manager" and "agent" are not used in this document, because in the RFC 3411 architecture, all SNMP entities have the capability of acting as either manager or agent or both depending on the SNMP applications included in the engine. Where distinction is required, the application names of Command Generator, Command Responder, Notification Originator, Notification Receiver, and Proxy Forwarder are used. See "SNMP Applications" [RFC3413] (Levi, D., Meyer, P., and B. Stewart, “Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Applications,” December 2002.) for further information.
While security protocols frequently refer to a user, the terminology used in RFC3411 [RFC3411] (Harrington, D., Presuhn, R., and B. Wijnen, “An Architecture for Describing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Management Frameworks,” December 2002.) and in this memo is "principal". A principal is the "who" on whose behalf services are provided or processing takes place. A principal can be, among other things, an individual acting in a particular role; a set of individuals, with each acting in a particular role; an application or a set of applications, or a combination of these within an administrative domain.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119] (Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” March 1997.).
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The reader is expected to have read and understood the description of the SNMP architecture, as defined in [RFC3411] (Harrington, D., Presuhn, R., and B. Wijnen, “An Architecture for Describing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Management Frameworks,” December 2002.), and the architecture extension specified in "Transport Subsystem for the Simple Network Management Protocol" [I‑D.ietf‑isms‑tmsm] (Harrington, D. and J. Schoenwaelder, “Transport Subsystem for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” May 2009.), which enables the use of external "lower layer transport" protocols to provide message security, tied into the SNMP architecture through the Transport Subsystem. The Transport Security Model is designed to work with such lower-layer secure Transport Models.
In keeping with the RFC 3411 design decisions to use self-contained documents, this memo includes the elements of procedure plus associated MIB objects which are needed for processing the Transport Security Model for SNMP. These MIB objects SHOULD NOT be referenced in other documents. This allows the Transport Security Model to be designed and documented as independent and self-contained, having no direct impact on other modules, and allowing this module to be upgraded and supplemented as the need arises, and to move along the standards track on different time-lines from other modules.
This modularity of specification is not meant to be interpreted as imposing any specific requirements on implementation.
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This memo describes a Security Model to make use of Transport Models that use lower layer secure transports and existing and commonly deployed security infrastructures. This Security Model is designed to meet the security and operational needs of network administrators, maximize usability in operational environments to achieve high deployment success and at the same time minimize implementation and deployment costs to minimize the time until deployment is possible.
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The design of this SNMP Security Model is also influenced by the following constraints:
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The Transport Security Model is designed to fit into the RFC3411 architecture as a Security Model in the Security Subsystem, and to utilize the services of a secure Transport Model.
For incoming messages, a secure Transport Model will pass a tmStateReference cache, described later. To maintain RFC3411 modularity, the Transport Model will not know which securityModel will process the incoming message; the Message Processing Model will determine this. If the Transport Security Model is used with a non-secure Transport Model, then the cache will not exist or not be populated with security parameters, which will cause the Transport Security Model to return an error (see section 5.2)
The Transport Security Model will create the securityName and securityLevel to be passed to applications, and verify that the tmTransportSecurityLevel reported by the Transport Model is at least as strong as the securityLevel requested by the Message Processing Model.
For outgoing messages, the Transport Security Model will create a tmStateReference cache (or use an existing one), and pass the tmStateReference to the specified Transport Model.
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The Transport Security Model is compatible with the RFC3411 architecture, and provides protection against the threats identified by the RFC 3411 architecture. However, the Transport Security Model does not provide security mechanisms such as authentication and encryption itself, so it SHOULD always be used with a Transport Model that provides appropriate security. Which threats are addressed and how they are mitigated depends on the Transport Model.
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The RFC 3411 architecture recognizes three levels of security:
- without authentication and without privacy (noAuthNoPriv)
- with authentication but without privacy (authNoPriv)
- with authentication and with privacy (authPriv)
The model-independent securityLevel parameter is used to request specific levels of security for outgoing messages, and to assert that specific levels of security were applied during the transport and processing of incoming messages.
The transport layer algorithms used to provide security SHOULD NOT be exposed to the Transport Security Model, as the Transport Security Model has no mechanisms by which it can test whether an assertion made by a Transport Model is accurate.
The Transport Security Model trusts that the underlying secure transport connection has been properly configured to support security characteristics at least as strong as reported in tmTransportSecurityLevel.
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The Transport Security Model does not work with transport sessions directly. Instead the transport-related state is associated with a unique combination of transportDomain, transportAddress, securityName and securityLevel, and referenced via the tmStateReference parameter. How and if this is mapped to a particular transport or channel is the responsibility of the Transport Subsystem.
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In the RFC3411 architecture, a Message Processing Model determines which Security Model should be called. As of this writing, IANA has registered four Message Processing Models (SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, SNMPv2u/SNMPv2*, and SNMPv3) and three other Security Models (SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, and the User-based Security Model).
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The SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c message processing described in RFC3584 (BCP 74) [RFC3584] (Frye, R., Levi, D., Routhier, S., and B. Wijnen, “Coexistence between Version 1, Version 2, and Version 3 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework,” August 2003.) always selects the SNMPv1(1) and SNMPv2c(2) Security Models. Since there is no mechanism defined in RFC3584 to select an alternative Security Model, SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c messages cannot use the Transport Security Model. Such messages can still be conveyed over a secure transport protocol, but the Transport Security Model will not be invoked.
The SNMPv2u/SNMPv2* Message Processing Model is a historic artifact for which there is no existing IETF specification.
The SNMPv3 message processing defined in RFC3412 [RFC3412] (Case, J., Harrington, D., Presuhn, R., and B. Wijnen, “Message Processing and Dispatching for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” December 2002.), extracts the securityModel from the msgSecurityModel field of an incoming SNMPv3Message. When this value is transportSecurityModel(YY), security processing is directed to the Transport Security Model. For an outgoing message to be secured using the Transport Security Model, the application should specify a securityModel parameter value of transportSecurityModel(YY) in the sendPdu ASI.
[-- NOTE to RFC editor: replace YY with actual IANA-assigned number, and remove this note. ]
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The Transport Security Model uses its own MIB module for processing to maintain independence from other Security Models. This allows the Transport Security Model to coexist with other Security Models, such as the User-based Security Model.
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The Transport Security Model may work with multiple Transport Models, but the RFC3411 application service interfaces (ASIs) do not carry a value for the Transport Model. The MIB module defined in this memo allows an administrator to configure whether or not TSM prepends a transport model prefix to the securityName. This will allow SNMP applications to consider transport model as a factor when making decisions, such as access control, notification generation, and proxy forwarding.
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When performing SNMP processing, there are two levels of state information that may need to be retained: the immediate state linking a request-response pair, and potentially longer-term state relating to transport and security.
The RFC3411 architecture uses caches to maintain the short-term message state, and uses references in the ASIs to pass this information between subsystems.
This document defines the requirements for a cache to handle the longer-term transport state information, using a tmStateReference parameter to pass this information between subsystems.
To simplify the elements of procedure, the release of state information is not always explicitly specified. As a general rule, if state information is available when a message being processed gets discarded, the state related to that message SHOULD also be discarded. If state information is available when a relationship between engines is severed, such as the closing of a transport session, the state information for that relationship SHOULD also be discarded.
Since the contents of a cache are meaningful only within an implementation, and not on-the-wire, the format of the cache is implementation-specific.
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The securityStateReference parameter is defined in RFC3411. Its primary purpose is to provide a mapping between a request and the corresponding response. This cache is not accessible to Transport Models, and an entry is typically only retained for the lifetime of a request-response pair of messages.
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For each transport session, information about the transport security is stored in a cache. The tmStateReference parameter is used to pass model-specific and mechanism-specific parameters between the Transport subsystem and transport-aware Security Models.
The tmStateReference cache will typically remain valid for the duration of the transport session, and hence may be used for several messages.
Since this cache is only used within an implementation, and not on-the-wire, the precise contents and format are implementation- dependent. However, for interoperability between Transport Models and transport-aware Security Models, entries in this cache must include at least the following fields:
transportDomain
transportAddress
tmSecurityName
tmRequestedSecurityLevel
tmTransportSecurityLevel
tmSameSecurity
tmSessionID
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Information about the source of an incoming SNMP message is passed up from the Transport subsystem as far as the Message Processing subsystem. However these parameters are not included in the processIncomingMsg ASI defined in RFC3411, and hence this information is not directly available to the Security Model.
A transport-aware Security Model might wish to take account of the transport protocol and originating address when authenticating the request, and setting up the authorization parameters. It is therefore necessary for the Transport Model to include this information in the tmStateReference cache, so that it is accessible to the Security Model.
The ASIs used for processing an outgoing message all include explicit transportDomain and transportAddress parameters. The values within the securityStateReference cache might override these parameters for outgoing messages.
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There are actually three distinct "identities" that can be identified during the processing of an SNMP request over a secure transport:
The transport principal may or may not be the same as the tmSecurityName. Similarly, the tmSecurityName may or may not be the same as the securityName as seen by the Application and Access Control subsystems. In particular, a non-transport-aware Security Model will ignore tmSecurityName completely when determining the SNMP securityName.
However it is important that the mapping between the transport principal and the SNMP securityName (for transport-aware Security Models) is consistent and predictable, to allow configuration of suitable access control and the establishment of transport connections.
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There are two distinct issues relating to security level as applied to secure transports. For clarity, these are handled by separate fields in the tmStateReference cache:
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For security reasons, if a secure transport session is closed between the time a request message is received and the corresponding response message is sent, then the response message SHOULD be discarded, even if a new session has been established. The SNMPv3 WG decided that this should be a SHOULD architecturally, and it is a security-model-specific decision whether to REQUIRE this.
When processing an outgoing message, if tmSameSecurity is true, then the tmSessionID MUST match the current transport session, otherwise the message MUST be discarded, and the dispatcher notified that sending the message failed.
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The Transport Security Model has specific responsibilities regarding the cached information.
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The Transport Security Model adds the tmStateReference received from the processIncomingMsg ASI to the securityStateReference. This tmStateReference can then be retrieved during the generateResponseMsg ASI, so that it can be passed back to the Transport Model.
The Transport Security Model REQUIRES that the security parameters used for a response are the same as those used for the corresponding request. This security model sets the tmSameSecurity flag to true in the tmStateReference before passing it to the transport model.
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For outgoing messages, the Transport Security Model uses parameters provided by the SNMP application to lookup or create a tmStateReference. This security model uses the tmStateReference stored as part of the securityStateReference when appropriate.
For incoming messages, the Transport Security Model uses parameters provided in the tmStateReference cache to determine the securityName, and to verify adequate security levels.
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The SNMP-VIEW-BASED-ACM-MIB [RFC3415] (Wijnen, B., Presuhn, R., and K. McCloghrie, “View-based Access Control Model (VACM) for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” December 2002.), the SNMP-TARGET-MIB module [RFC3413] (Levi, D., Meyer, P., and B. Stewart, “Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Applications,” December 2002.), and other MIB modules contain objects to configure security parameters for use by applications such as access control, notification generation, and proxy forwarding.
IANA maintains a registry for transport domains and the corresponding prefix.
If snmpTsmConfigurationUsePrefix is set to true then all securityNames provided by, or provided to, the Transport Security Model MUST include a valid transport domain prefix.
If snmpTsmConfigurationUsePrefix is set to false then all securityNames provided by, or provided to, the Transport Security Model MUST NOT include a transport domain prefix.
The tmSecurityName in the tmStateReference stored as part of the securityStateReference does not contain a prefix.
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An error indication may return an OID and value for an incremented counter and a value for securityLevel, and values for contextEngineID and contextName for the counter, and the securityStateReference if the information is available at the point where the error is detected.
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This section describes the procedure followed by the Transport Security Model.
The parameters needed for generating a message are supplied to the Security Model by the Message Processing Model via the generateRequestMsg() or the generateResponseMsg() ASI. The Transport Subsystem architectural extension has added the transportDomain, transportAddress, and tmStateReference parameters to the original RFC3411 ASIs.
statusInformation = -- success or errorIndication generateRequestMsg( IN messageProcessingModel -- typically, SNMP version IN globalData -- message header, admin data IN maxMessageSize -- of the sending SNMP entity IN transportDomain -- (NEW) specified by application IN transportAddress -- (NEW) specified by application IN securityModel -- for the outgoing message IN securityEngineID -- authoritative SNMP entity IN securityName -- on behalf of this principal IN securityLevel -- Level of Security requested IN scopedPDU -- message (plaintext) payload OUT securityParameters -- filled in by Security Module OUT wholeMsg -- complete generated message OUT wholeMsgLength -- length of generated message OUT tmStateReference -- (NEW) transport info )
statusInformation = -- success or errorIndication generateResponseMsg( IN messageProcessingModel -- typically, SNMP version IN globalData -- message header, admin data IN maxMessageSize -- of the sending SNMP entity IN transportDomain -- (NEW) specified by application IN transportAddress -- (NEW) specified by application IN securityModel -- for the outgoing message IN securityEngineID -- authoritative SNMP entity IN securityName -- on behalf of this principal IN securityLevel -- Level of Security requested IN scopedPDU -- message (plaintext) payload IN securityStateReference -- reference to security state -- information from original -- request OUT securityParameters -- filled in by Security Module OUT wholeMsg -- complete generated message OUT wholeMsgLength -- length of generated message OUT tmStateReference -- (NEW) transport info )
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1) If there is a securityStateReference (Response or Report message), then this security model uses the cached information rather than the information provided by the ASI. Extract the securityName and securityLevel and tmStateReference from the securityStateReference cache. Set the tmRequestedSecurityLevel to the value of the extracted securityLevel. Set the tmSameSecurity parameter in the tmStateReference cache to true. The cachedSecurityData for this message can now be discarded.
2) If there is no securityStateReference then create a tmStateReference cache with tmRequestedSecurityLevel set to the value of securityLevel, the tmSecurityName set to securityName, and tmSameSecurity set to false.
If the snmpTsmConfigurationUsePrefix object is set to true, then use the transportDomain to look up the corresponding prefix. (Since the securityStateReference stores the tmStateReference with the unprefixed tmSecurityName for the incoming message, prefix stripping only occurs when we are not using the securityStateReference).
- a.
- If the prefix lookup fails for any reason, then the snmpTsmUnknownPrefixes counter is incremented, an error indication is returned to the calling module, and message processing stops.
If the lookup succeeds, but the prefix returned does not match the prefix in the securityName, or there is no prefix in the securityName, then the snmpTsmInvalidPrefixes counter is incremented, an error indication is returned to the calling module, and message processing stops.
Strip the transport-specific prefix and trailing ':' character (ASCII 0x3a) from the tmSecurityName.
3) Set securityParameters to a zero-length OCTET STRING ('0400').
4) Combine the message parts into a wholeMsg and calculate wholeMsgLength.
5) The wholeMsg, wholeMsgLength, securityParameters and tmStateReference are returned to the calling Message Processing Model with the statusInformation set to success.
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An error indication may return an OID and value for an incremented counter and a value for securityLevel, and values for contextEngineID and contextName for the counter, and the securityStateReference if the information is available at the point where the error is detected.
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This section describes the procedure followed by the Transport Security Model whenever it receives an incoming message from a Message Processing Model. The ASI from a Message Processing Model to the Security Subsystem for a received message is:
statusInformation = -- errorIndication or success -- error counter OID/value if error processIncomingMsg( IN messageProcessingModel -- typically, SNMP version IN maxMessageSize -- from the received message IN securityParameters -- from the received message IN securityModel -- from the received message IN securityLevel -- from the received message IN wholeMsg -- as received on the wire IN wholeMsgLength -- length as received on the wire IN tmStateReference -- (NEW) from the Transport Model OUT securityEngineID -- authoritative SNMP entity OUT securityName -- identification of the principal OUT scopedPDU, -- message (plaintext) payload OUT maxSizeResponseScopedPDU -- maximum size sender can handle OUT securityStateReference -- reference to security state ) -- information, needed for response
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1) Set the securityEngineID to the local snmpEngineID.
2) If tmStateReference does not refer to a cache containing values for transportDomain, transportAddress, tmSecurityName and tmTransportSecurityLevel, then the snmpTsmInvalidCaches counter is incremented, an error indication is returned to the calling module, and Security Model processing stops for this message.
3) Copy the tmSecurityName to securityName.
If the snmpTsmConfigurationUsePrefix object is set to true, then use the transportDomain to look up the corresponding prefix.
- a.
- If the prefix lookup fails for any reason, then the snmpTsmUnknownPrefixes counter is incremented and an error indication is returned to the calling module, and message processing stops.
If the lookup succeeds, but the prefix length is less than one or greater than four octets, then the snmpTsmInvalidPrefixes counter is incremented, an error indication is returned to the calling module, and message processing stops.
Set the securityName to be the concatenation of the prefix, a ':' character (ASCII 0x3a) and the tmSecurityName.
4) Compare the value of tmTransportSecurityLevel in the tmStateReference cache to the value of the securityLevel parameter passed in the processIncomingMsg ASI. If securityLevel specifies privacy (Priv), and tmTransportSecurityLevel specifies no privacy (noPriv), or securityLevel specifies authentication (auth) and tmTransportSecurityLevel specifies no authentication (noAuth) was provided by the Transport Model, then the snmpTsmInadequateSecurityLevels counter is incremented, and an error indication (unsupportedSecurityLevel) together with the OID and value of the incremented counter is returned to the calling module. Transport Security Model processing stops for this message.
5) The security data is cached as cachedSecurityData, so that a possible response to this message will use the same security parameters. Then securityStateReference is set for subsequent reference to this cached data. For Transport Security Model, the securityStateReference includes a reference to the tmStateReference cache.
6) The scopedPDU component is extracted from the wholeMsg.
7) The maxSizeResponseScopedPDU is calculated. This is the maximum size allowed for a scopedPDU for a possible Response message.
8) The statusInformation is set to success and a return is made to the calling module passing back the OUT parameters as specified in the processIncomingMsg ASI.
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This MIB module provides objects for use only by the Transport Security Model. It defines a configuration scalar and related error counters.
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Objects in this MIB module are arranged into subtrees. Each subtree is organized as a set of related objects. The overall structure and assignment of objects to their subtrees, and the intended purpose of each subtree, is shown below.
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This subtree contains error counters specific to the Transport Security Model.
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This subtree contains a configuration object that enables administrators to specify if they want a transport domain prefix prepended to securityNames for use by applications.
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Some management objects defined in other MIB modules are applicable to an entity implementing the Transport Security Model. In particular, it is assumed that an entity implementing the Transport Security Model will implement the SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB [RFC3411] (Harrington, D., Presuhn, R., and B. Wijnen, “An Architecture for Describing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Management Frameworks,” December 2002.), the SNMP-TARGET-MIB [RFC3413] (Levi, D., Meyer, P., and B. Stewart, “Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Applications,” December 2002.), the SNMP-VIEW-BASED-ACM-MIB [RFC3415] (Wijnen, B., Presuhn, R., and K. McCloghrie, “View-based Access Control Model (VACM) for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” December 2002.), and the SNMPv2-MIB [RFC3418] (Presuhn, R., “Management Information Base (MIB) for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” December 2002.). These are not needed to implement the SNMP-TSM-MIB.
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The following MIB module imports items from [RFC2578] (McCloghrie, K., Ed., Perkins, D., Ed., and J. Schoenwaelder, Ed., “Structure of Management Information Version 2 (SMIv2),” April 1999.), [RFC2579] (McCloghrie, K., Ed., Perkins, D., Ed., and J. Schoenwaelder, Ed., “Textual Conventions for SMIv2,” April 1999.), and [RFC2580] (McCloghrie, K., Perkins, D., and J. Schoenwaelder, “Conformance Statements for SMIv2,” April 1999.).
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SNMP-TSM-MIB DEFINITIONS ::= BEGIN IMPORTS MODULE-IDENTITY, OBJECT-TYPE, mib-2, Counter32 FROM SNMPv2-SMI MODULE-COMPLIANCE, OBJECT-GROUP FROM SNMPv2-CONF TruthValue FROM SNMPv2-TC ; snmpTsmMIB MODULE-IDENTITY LAST-UPDATED "200807100000Z" ORGANIZATION "ISMS Working Group" CONTACT-INFO "WG-EMail: isms@lists.ietf.org Subscribe: isms-request@lists.ietf.org Chairs: Juergen Quittek NEC Europe Ltd. Network Laboratories Kurfuersten-Anlage 36 69115 Heidelberg Germany +49 6221 90511-15 quittek@netlab.nec.de Juergen Schoenwaelder Jacobs University Bremen Campus Ring 1 28725 Bremen Germany +49 421 200-3587 j.schoenwaelder@iu-bremen.de Editor: David Harrington Huawei Technologies USA 1700 Alma Dr. Plano TX 75075 USA +1 603-436-8634 ietfdbh@comcast.net Wes Hardaker Sparta, Inc. P.O. Box 382 Davis, CA 95617 USA +1 530 792 1913 ietf@hardakers.net " DESCRIPTION "The Transport Security Model MIB In keeping with the RFC 3411 design decisions to use self-contained documents, the RFC which contains the definition of this MIB module also includes the elements of procedure which are needed for processing the Transport Security Model for SNMP. These MIB objects SHOULD NOT be modified via other subsystems or models defined in other document.. This allows the Transport Security Model for SNMP to be designed and documented as independent and self- contained, having no direct impact on other modules, and this allows this module to be upgraded and supplemented as the need arises, and to move along the standards track on different time-lines from other modules. Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008). This version of this MIB module is part of RFC XXXX; see the RFC itself for full legal notices. -- NOTE to RFC editor: replace XXXX with actual RFC number -- for this document and remove this note " REVISION "200807100000Z" DESCRIPTION "The initial version, published in RFC XXXX. -- NOTE to RFC editor: replace XXXX with actual RFC number -- for this document and remove this note " ::= { mib-2 xxxx } -- RFC Ed.: replace xxxx with IANA-assigned number and -- remove this note -- ---------------------------------------------------------- -- -- subtrees in the SNMP-TSM-MIB -- ---------------------------------------------------------- -- snmpTsmNotifications OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpTsmMIB 0 } snmpTsmMIBObjects OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpTsmMIB 1 } snmpTsmConformance OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpTsmMIB 2 } -- ------------------------------------------------------------- -- Objects -- ------------------------------------------------------------- -- Statistics for the Transport Security Model snmpTsmStats OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpTsmMIBObjects 1 } snmpTsmInvalidCaches OBJECT-TYPE SYNTAX Counter32 MAX-ACCESS read-only STATUS current DESCRIPTION "The number of incoming messages dropped because the tmStateReference referred to an invalid cache. " ::= { snmpTsmStats 1 } snmpTsmInadequateSecurityLevels OBJECT-TYPE SYNTAX Counter32 MAX-ACCESS read-only STATUS current DESCRIPTION "The number of incoming messages dropped because the securityLevel asserted by the transport model was less than the securityLevel requested by the application. " ::= { snmpTsmStats 2 } snmpTsmUnknownPrefixes OBJECT-TYPE SYNTAX Counter32 MAX-ACCESS read-only STATUS current DESCRIPTION "The number of messages dropped because snmpTsmConfigurationUsePrefix was set to true and there is no known prefix for the specified transport domain. " ::= { snmpTsmStats 3 } snmpTsmInvalidPrefixes OBJECT-TYPE SYNTAX Counter32 MAX-ACCESS read-only STATUS current DESCRIPTION "The number of messages dropped because the securityName associated with an outgoing message did not contain a valid transport domain prefix. " ::= { snmpTsmStats 4 } -- ------------------------------------------------------------- -- Configuration -- ------------------------------------------------------------- -- Configuration for the Transport Security Model snmpTsmConfiguration OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpTsmMIBObjects 2 } snmpTsmConfigurationUsePrefix OBJECT-TYPE SYNTAX TruthValue MAX-ACCESS read-write STATUS current DESCRIPTION "If this object is set to true then securityNames passing to and from the application are expected to contain a transport domain specific prefix. If this object is set to true then a domain specific prefix will be added by the TSM to the securityName for incoming messages and removed from the securityName when processing outgoing messages. Transport domains and prefixes are maintained in a registry by IANA. This object SHOULD persist across system reboots. " DEFVAL { false } ::= { snmpTsmConfiguration 1 } -- ------------------------------------------------------------- -- snmpTsmMIB - Conformance Information -- ------------------------------------------------------------- snmpTsmCompliances OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpTsmConformance 1 } snmpTsmGroups OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { snmpTsmConformance 2 } -- ------------------------------------------------------------- -- Compliance statements -- ------------------------------------------------------------- snmpTsmCompliance MODULE-COMPLIANCE STATUS current DESCRIPTION "The compliance statement for SNMP engines that support the SNMP-TSM-MIB " MODULE MANDATORY-GROUPS { snmpTsmGroup } ::= { snmpTsmCompliances 1 } -- ------------------------------------------------------------- -- Units of conformance -- ------------------------------------------------------------- snmpTsmGroup OBJECT-GROUP OBJECTS { snmpTsmInvalidCaches, snmpTsmInadequateSecurityLevels, snmpTsmUnknownPrefixes, snmpTsmInvalidPrefixes, snmpTsmConfigurationUsePrefix } STATUS current DESCRIPTION "A collection of objects for maintaining information of an SNMP engine which implements the SNMP Transport Security Model. " ::= { snmpTsmGroups 2 } END
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This document describes a Security Model, compatible with the RFC3411 architecture, that permits SNMP to utilize security services provided through an SNMP Transport Model. The Transport Security Model relies on Transport Models for mutual authentication, binding of keys, confidentiality and integrity.
The Transport Security Model relies on secure Transport Models to provide an authenticated principal identifier and an assertion of whether authentication and privacy are used during transport. This Security Model SHOULD always be used with Transport Models that provide adequate security, but "adequate security" is a configuration and/or run-time decision of the operator or management application. The security threats and how these threats are mitigated should be covered in detail in the specifications of the Transport Models and the underlying secure transports.
An authenticated principal identifier (securityName) is used in SNMP applications, for purposes such as access control, notification generation, and proxy forwarding. This security model supports multiple transport models. Operators might judge some transports to be more secure than others, so this security model can be configured to prepend a prefix to the securityName to indicate the transport model used to authenticate the principal. Operators can use the prefixed securityName when making application decisions about levels of access.
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There are a number of management objects defined in this MIB module with a MAX-ACCESS clause of read-write and/or read-create. Such objects may be considered sensitive or vulnerable in some network environments. The support for SET operations in a non-secure environment without proper protection can have a negative effect on network operations. These are the tables and objects and their sensitivity/vulnerability:
Some of the readable objects in this MIB module (i.e., objects with a MAX-ACCESS other than not-accessible) may be considered sensitive or vulnerable in some network environments. It is thus important to control even GET and/or NOTIFY access to these objects and possibly to even encrypt the values of these objects when sending them over the network via SNMP. These are the tables and objects and their sensitivity/vulnerability:
SNMP versions prior to SNMPv3 did not include adequate security. Even if the network itself is secure (for example by using IPsec), even then, there is no control as to who on the secure network is allowed to access and GET/SET (read/change/create/delete) the objects in this MIB module.
It is RECOMMENDED that implementers consider the security features as provided by the SNMPv3 framework (see [RFC3410] (Case, J., Mundy, R., Partain, D., and B. Stewart, “Introduction and Applicability Statements for Internet-Standard Management Framework,” December 2002.) section 8), including full support for the USM and Transport Security Model cryptographic mechanisms (for authentication and privacy).
Further, deployment of SNMP versions prior to SNMPv3 is NOT RECOMMENDED. Instead, it is RECOMMENDED to deploy SNMPv3 and to enable cryptographic security. It is then a customer/operator responsibility to ensure that the SNMP entity giving access to an instance of this MIB module is properly configured to give access to the objects only to those principals (users) that have legitimate rights to indeed GET or SET (change/create/delete) them.
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IANA is requested to assign:
Value Description References ----- ----------- ---------- 0 reserved for 'any' [RFC3411] 1 reserved for SNMPv1 [RFC3411] 2 reserved for SNMPv2c [RFC3411] 3 User-Based Security Model (USM) [RFC3411] YY Transport Security Model (TSM) [RFCXXXX] -- NOTE to RFC editor: replace XXXX with actual RFC number -- for this document and remove this note -- NOTE to RFC editor: replace YY with actual IANA-assigned number, throughout this document and remove this note.
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The editors would like to thank Jeffrey Hutzelman for sharing his SSH insights, and Dave Shield for an outstanding job wordsmithing the existing document to improve organization and clarity.
Additionally, helpful document reviews were received from: Juergen Schoenwaelder.
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[RFC3410] | Case, J., Mundy, R., Partain, D., and B. Stewart, “Introduction and Applicability Statements for Internet-Standard Management Framework,” RFC 3410, December 2002 (TXT). |
[RFC3414] | Blumenthal, U. and B. Wijnen, “User-based Security Model (USM) for version 3 of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv3),” STD 62, RFC 3414, December 2002 (TXT). |
[RFC3415] | Wijnen, B., Presuhn, R., and K. McCloghrie, “View-based Access Control Model (VACM) for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” STD 62, RFC 3415, December 2002 (TXT). |
[RFC3418] | Presuhn, R., “Management Information Base (MIB) for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP),” STD 62, RFC 3418, December 2002 (TXT). |
[RFC3584] | Frye, R., Levi, D., Routhier, S., and B. Wijnen, “Coexistence between Version 1, Version 2, and Version 3 of the Internet-standard Network Management Framework,” BCP 74, RFC 3584, August 2003 (TXT). |
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The SNMP-TARGET-MIB and SNMP-NOTIFICATION-MIB [RFC3413] (Levi, D., Meyer, P., and B. Stewart, “Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Applications,” December 2002.) are used to configure notification originators with the destinations to which notifications should be sent.
Most of the configuration is security-model-independent and transport-model-independent.
The values we will use in the examples for the five model-independent security and transport parameters are:
transportDomain = snmpSSHDomain
transportAddress = 192.0.2.1:162
securityModel = Transport Security Model
securityName = sampleUser
securityLevel = authPriv
The following example will configure the Notification Originator to send informs to a Notification Receiver at host 192.0.2.1 port 162 using the securityName "sampleUser". The columns marked with a "*" are the items that are Security Model or Transport Model specific.
The configuration for the "sampleUser" settings in the SNMP-VIEW-BASED-ACM-MIB objects are not shown here for brevity. First we configure which type of notification should be sent for this taglist (toCRTag). In this example, we choose to send an Inform.
snmpNotifyTable row: snmpNotifyName CRNotif snmpNotifyTag toCRTag snmpNotifyType inform snmpNotifyStorageType nonVolatile snmpNotifyColumnStatus createAndGo
Then we configure a transport address to which notifications associated with this taglist should be sent, and we specify which snmpTargetParamsEntry should be used (toCR) when sending to this transport address.
snmpTargetAddrTable row: snmpTargetAddrName toCRAddr * snmpTargetAddrTDomain snmpSSHDomain snmpTargetAddrTAddress 192.0.2.1:162 snmpTargetAddrTimeout 1500 snmpTargetAddrRetryCount 3 snmpTargetAddrTagList toCRTag snmpTargetAddrParams toCR (must match below) snmpTargetAddrStorageType nonVolatile snmpTargetAddrColumnStatus createAndGo
Then we configure which principal at the host should receive the notifications associated with this taglist. Here we choose "sampleUser", who uses the Transport Security Model.
snmpTargetParamsTable row: snmpTargetParamsName toCR snmpTargetParamsMPModel SNMPv3 * snmpTargetParamsSecurityModel TransportSecurityModel snmpTargetParamsSecurityName "sampleUser" snmpTargetParamsSecurityLevel authPriv snmpTargetParamsStorageType nonVolatile snmpTargetParamsRowStatus createAndGo
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The Transport Security Model is called using the generateRequestMsg() ASI, with the following parameters (* are from the above tables):
statusInformation = -- success or errorIndication generateRequestMsg( IN messageProcessingModel -- *snmpTargetParamsMPModel IN globalData -- message header, admin data IN maxMessageSize -- of the sending SNMP entity IN transportDomain -- *snmpTargetAddrTDomain IN transportAddress -- *snmpTargetAddrTAddress IN securityModel -- *snmpTargetParamsSecurityModel IN securityEngineID -- immaterial; TSM will ignore. IN securityName -- snmpTargetParamsSecurityName IN securityLevel -- *snmpTargetParamsSecurityLevel IN scopedPDU -- message (plaintext) payload OUT securityParameters -- filled in by Security Module OUT wholeMsg -- complete generated message OUT wholeMsgLength -- length of generated message OUT tmStateReference -- reference to transport info )
The Transport Security Model will determine the Transport Model based on the snmpTargetAddrTDomain. The selected Transport Model will select the appropriate transport connection using the snmpTargetAddrTAddress, snmpTargetParamsSecurityName, and snmpTargetParamsSecurityLevel.
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USM and secure transports differ in the processing order and responsibilities within the RFC3411 architecture. While the steps are the same, they occur in a different order, and may be done by different subsystems. The following lists illustrate the difference in the flow and the responsibility for different processing steps for incoming messages when using USM and when using a secure transport. (These lists are simplified for illustrative purposes, and do not represent all details of processing. Transport Models must provide the detailed elements of procedure.)
With USM, SNMPv1, and SNMPv2c Security Models, security processing starts when the Message Processing Model decodes portions of the ASN.1 message to extract header fields that are used to determine which Security Model should process the message to perform authentication, decryption, timeliness checking, integrity checking, and translation of parameters to model-independent parameters. By comparison, a secure transport performs those security functions on the message, before the ASN.1 is decoded.
Step 6 cannot occur until after decryption occurs. Step 6 and beyond are the same for USM and a secure transport.
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- 1)
- decode the ASN.1 header (Message Processing Model)
- 2)
- determine the SNMP Security Model and parameters (Message Processing Model)
- 3)
- verify securityLevel. [Security Model]
- 4)
- translate parameters to model-independent parameters (Security Model)
- 5)
- authenticate the principal, check message integrity and timeliness, and decrypt the message. [Security Model]
- 6)
- determine the pduType in the decrypted portions (Message Processing Model), and
- 7)
- pass on the decrypted portions with model-independent parameters.
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- 1)
- authenticate the principal, check integrity and timeliness of the message, and decrypt the message. [Transport Model]
- 2)
- translate parameters to model-independent parameters (Transport Model)
- 3)
- decode the ASN.1 header (Message Processing Model)
- 4)
- determine the SNMP Security Model and parameters (Message Processing Model)
- 5)
- verify securityLevel [Security Model]
- 6)
- determine the pduType in the decrypted portions (Message Processing Model), and
- 7)
- pass on the decrypted portions with model-independent security parameters
If a message is secured using a secure transport layer, then the Transport Model should provide the translation from the authenticated identity (e.g., an SSH user name) to a human-friendly identifier in step 2. The security model will provide a mapping from that identifier to a model-independent securityName.
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From -09- to -10-
snmpTsmInvalidPrefix -> snmpTsmInvalidPrefixes
Improvements to the prefix handling text in the EOP
Removed transform selection
Removed translation table
Removed option to disable transports.
Removed references to the LCD.
Removed modifications to the "Cached Information" section to keep this consistent with other ISMS documents.
Eliminated most "Relationship to Other MIB modules" text.
Significant text cleanup
From -08- to -09-
Added the transport domain specific prefix adding/removing support as agreed to within the ISMS WG. The implementation is a bit different than what was originally discussed and is now housed entirely within this document and requires only a string allocation in the TM documents. In the end this form greatly reduced the documentation and procedure complexity in most documents.
Added the snmpTsmConfigurationUsePrefix scalar.
Removed the snmpTsmLCDTable since it is no longer needed.
Removed the snmpTsmLCDDomainTable since it is not needed with the prefix addition replaced the functionality.
From -07- to -08-
Added tables to the MIB module to define a Transport Security Model-specific LCD, and updated the Elements of Procedure. This was because references to an abstract LCD sort of owned by both the security model and the transport model were found confusing.
Realized we referred to the MIB module in text as SNMP-TRANSPORT-SM-MIB, but SNMP-TSM-MIB in the module. Changed all occurrences of SNMP-TRANSPORT-SM-MIB to SNMP-TSM-MIB, following RFC4181 guidelines for naming.
Updated Security Considerations to warn about writable objects, and added the new counter to the readable objects list.
Changed snmpTsmLCDName to snmpTsmLCDTmSecurityName
From -05- to -06-
Fixed a bunch of editorial nits
Fixed the note about terminology consistent with SNMPv3.
Updated MIB assignment to by rfc4181 compatible
Replaced tmSameSession with tmSameSecurity to eliminate session-matching from the security model.
Eliminated all reference to the LCD from the Transport Security Model; the LCD is now TM-specific.
Added tmTransportSecurityLevel and tmRequestedSecurityLevel to clarify incoming versus outgoing
From -04- to -05-
Removed check for empty securityParameters for incoming messages
Added a note about terminology, for consistency with SNMPv3 rather than with RFC2828.
From -03- to -04-
Editorial changes requested by Tom Petch, to clarify behavior with SNMPv1/v2c
Added early discussion of how TSM fits into the architecture to clarify behavior when RFC3584 security models are co-resident.
Editorial changes requested by Bert Wijnen, to eliminate version-specific discussions.
Removed sections on version-specific message formats.
Removed discussion of SNMPv3 in Motivation section.
Added discussion of request/response session matching.
From -02- to -03-
Editorial changes suggested by Juergen Schoenwaelder
Capitalized Transport Models, Security Models, and Message Processing Models, to be consistent with RFC341x conventions.
Eliminated some text that duplicated RFC3412, especially in Elements of Procedure.
Changed the encoding of msgSecurityParameters
Marked the (NEW) fields added to existing ASIs
Modified text intro discussing relationships to other MIB modules.
From -01- to -02-
Changed transportSecurityModel(4) to transportSecurityModel(YY), waiting for assignment
cleaned up elements of procedure [todo]s
use the same errorIndication as USM for unsupportedSecurityLevel
fixed syntax of tsmInadequateSecurity counter
changed the "can and will use" the same security parameters to "can use", to allow responses that have different security parameters than the request.
removed "Relationship to the SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB"
cleaned up "MIB Modules Required for IMPORTS"
From -00- to -01-
made the Transport Model not know anything about the Security Model.
modified the elements of procedure sections, given the implications of this change.
simplified elements of procedure, removing most info specified in architecture/subsystem definitions.
rethought the coexistence section
noted the implications of the Transport Security Model on isAccessAllowed()
modified all text related to the LCD.
removed most of the MIB (now the TSM has no configuration parameters).
added counters needed to support elements of procedure
renamed MIB module, and registered under snmpModules
updated IANA and Security Considerations
updated references.
modified the notification configurations.
From SSHSM-04- to Transport-security-model-00
added tsmUserTable
updated Appendix - Notification Tables Configuration
remove open/closed issue appendices
changed tmSessionReference to tmStateReference
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David Harrington | |
Huawei Technologies (USA) | |
1700 Alma Dr. Suite 100 | |
Plano, TX 75075 | |
USA | |
Phone: | +1 603 436 8634 |
EMail: | dharrington@huawei.com |
Wes Hardaker | |
Sparta, Inc. | |
P.O. Box 382 | |
Davis, CA 95617 | |
US | |
Phone: | +1 530 792 1913 |
EMail: | ietf@hardakers.net |
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