Subject: AppnTimeStamp and related changes

From: "R.E. (Robert) Moore (254-4436)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 95 13:32:30 EST

I'd like to offer the following alternative to Jim Cobban's proposed
text for the changes we agreed to at AIW 9 relative to AppnTimeStamp.
There are three elements included in the overall AppnTimeStamp solution:

    - the AppnTimeStamp Textual Convention itself
    - the two "special" objects appnNodeUpTime and appnNodeStartTime
    - a typical object with type AppnTimeStamp

Both Jim's version and this one contain the essence of what we agreed on
at the SIG meeting:  AppnTimeStamps will equal sysUpTime if the agent can
do this, otherwise they'll be relative to when the APPN node last came
up.  The difference between the two versions centers on the nature of the
appnNodeUpTime object:  Jim has it as a time stamp (he says "TimeTicks"
for the type, but the description makes it clear that this is really an
AppnTimeStamp), while in this version it's a duration.  My argument
for this version is based on the fact that most people will naturally
think of a xxxUpTime object as returning a duration--for example, that's
what sysUpTime does.

Note, by the way, that in both versions appnNodeStartTime is of type
AppnTimeStamp (although, once again, Jim said "TimeTicks" in his
proposal), since its function is to locate the event of the node's last
coming up relative to whichever frame of temporal reference the agent is
using.

We need to reach closure on a solution here pretty quickly, since
(I think--maybe Bill Kwan can confirm for sure) the APPC MIB
is waiting to get the equivalent changes in for AppcTimeStamp before
it makes the "leap" to proposed standard.  Bill will need to read
consensus for the APPC MIB.  For the APPN MIB, I'm planning to include
this version in the next draft of the MIB unless somebody objects.

Bob Moore

-- *********************************************************************
-- Textual Conventions
-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
AppnTimeStamp ::= TEXTUAL-CONVENTION
     STATUS current
     DESCRIPTION
         "A time stamp indicating when an event occurred.

         All events in this MIB are time stamped relative to a single
         reference event.  If possible, an implementation should use
         the same reference event it uses for sysUpTime, so that
         the value of an object of type AppnTimeStamp will be the value
         of sysUpTime at the time the event occurred.

         An alternative is for an implementation to use as the reference
         event the time at which the APPN node last came up.  In this
         case a Management Station can relate APPN's time stamps to
         sysUpTime by retrieving sysUpTime and appnNodeUpTime, which
         indicates the amount of time that the APPN node has been up,
         calculating the difference between them, and adding this offset
         to the value of the AppnTimeStamp object.

         The object appnNodeStartTime assists a Management Station in
         determining how an agent is doing its APPN time stamping:

             - If appnNodeStartTime + appnNodeUpTime = sysUpTime
               at some point in time, then all objects of type
               AppnTimeStamp return the value of sysUpTime.

             - If appnNodeStartTime = 0, then all objects of type
               AppnTimeStamp contain time stamps offset from
               sysUpTime by the amount sysUpTime - appnNodeUpTime."

     SYNTAX  TimeTicks

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
appnNodeUpTime  OBJECT-TYPE
      SYNTAX TimeInterval       -- from SMI-TC
      MAX-ACCESS read-only
      STATUS current
      DESCRIPTION
          "Amount of time (in hundredths of a second) since the
          APPN node was last re-initialized."

      ::=  { appnGeneralInfoAndCaps 6 }

appnNodeStartTime  OBJECT-TYPE
      SYNTAX AppnTimeStamp
      MAX-ACCESS read-only
      STATUS current
      DESCRIPTION
          "The time when the APPN node was last re-initialized,
          measured in hundredths of a second."

      ::=  { appnGeneralInfoAndCaps 6 }

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

appnLsMaxDelayTime  OBJECT-TYPE
      SYNTAX AppnTimeStamp
      MAX-ACCESS read-only
      STATUS current
      DESCRIPTION
           "The time when the longest delay occurred, measured in
           hundredths of a second.  This time can be used to identify
           when this high water mark occurred in relation to other
           events in the agent, such as the last time the APPN node
           was re-initialized."

      ::=  { appnLsEntry 37 }

---

From: "Bill Kwan" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 19:38:16 EST5EDT

My comments below.

Regards,
Bill

> Date:          Thu, 9 Nov 95 13:32:30 EST
> From:          "R.E. (Robert) Moore (254-4436)" <[email-masked]>
> To:            [email-masked]
> Cc:            [email-masked], [email-masked]
> Subject:       AppnTimeStamp and related changes

> (I think--maybe Bill Kwan can confirm for sure) the APPC MIB

Yes, I can confirm that.  I guess I have done my part :-).

> this version in the next draft of the MIB unless somebody objects.

No sense in doing something different for the APPC MIB. If there are 
no objections, I would propose to do the same for that MIB.