management information base

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Management Information Base
MIB

   <networking> (MIB) A {database} of managed objects acessed by
   {network management} {protocols}.  An {SNMP} MIB is a set of
   parameters which an {SNMP} {management station} can query or
   set in the {SNMP agent} of a network device (e.g. {router}).

   {SNMP} has two {standard} MIBs.  The first, MIB I, was
   established in {RFC 1156}, was defined to manage
   {TCP/IP}-based {internets}.  MIB II, defined in {RFC 1213}, is
   an update.

   Standard minimal MIBs have been defined, and many hardware
   (and certain software, e.g. {DBMS}) providers have developed
   private MIBs in {ASN.1} format allowing them to be compiled
   for use in a {Network Management System}.  In theory, any
   {SNMP manager} can talk to any {SNMP agent} with a properly
   defined MIB.

   See also {client-server model}.

   (2004-07-22)