Abstract Syntax Notation One () is a formal language for abstractly describing messages to be exchanged between distributed computer systems.
Objects in an MIB are defined with the ASN.1 naming scheme. The naming scheme assigns each object a long prefix, which guarantees that the name will be unique.
Example: An integer, which counts the number of IP datagrams that a device has received, is named iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib.ip.ipinReceives.
The following figure depicts the ASN.1 naming scheme example.
This object name is represented in an SNMP message by assigning each part an integer. So, the above message would appear as 1.3.6.1.2.2.4.3.
Each integer has the following meaning.
-
1 = ISO
-
3 = identified organization — 1 of the branches under the ISO root
-
6 = U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) — 1 of the children under branch1.3
-
1 = the Internet subtree under 1.3.6
-
2 = the mgm branch — (1 of 7) of the Internet subtree. It is managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, and includes the standard MIBs.
-
2 = mib-2(1) group of managed objects
-
4 = ip — the mib-2(1) IP group (1 of 11)
-
3 = ipinReceives — the MIB object
