The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →A Management Information Base (MIB) is a virtual information store of managed objects used to describe and manage systems. In SNMP network management, SNMP generally provides access to those objects, while the Structure of Management Information (SMI) defines how they are described. A MIB is not necessarily a separate database service.
What does MIB mean in SNMP?
MIB stands for Management Information Base. RFC 3418 defines it this way: “Managed objects are accessed via a virtual information store, termed the Management Information Base or MIB.” The RFC describes objects that represent aspects of an SNMP entity’s behavior; it does not describe a physical database that must be installed or run separately. RFC 3418 was published in December 2002 as STD 62 and obsoletes RFC 1907.
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How do the MIB, SNMP, and SMI differ?
These terms describe different parts of the network-management framework:
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- MIB: The virtual store or information model containing managed objects.
- SNMP: The protocol generally used to access those objects.
- SMI: The rules and notation used to define managed objects and organize them into modules.
SMI uses an ASN.1-based notation and conventions to specify such details as an object’s name, syntax, and encoding. RFC 1902 describes this framework for SNMPv2 and explains how related objects are organized into MIB modules. RFC 1902 was published in January 1996.
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What are MIB objects, OIDs, and instances?
A MIB module defines a particular collection of managed objects; it is not necessarily a complete inventory of every metric a device could expose. An object type has a name, syntax, and encoding. Its name is an object identifier (OID), which identifies the type. The type combined with an instance identifies a specific occurrence, such as a value associated with a particular interface. Human-readable textual descriptors are commonly used alongside OIDs for convenience. RFC 1213 explains these distinctions.
As an analogy, an object type is like a field definition, while an instance is a particular occurrence of that field. This analogy is not RFC terminology: a MIB object is not necessarily a database row, and whether an object can be changed depends on its defined access characteristics and the implementation.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is MIB-II the same as the SNMP MIB?
No. The standards address different scopes:
| Standard | Scope | Publication context |
|---|---|---|
| RFC 1213, MIB-II | Managed objects for network management of TCP/IP-based internets; its object identifier prefix is mib-2. |
Published in March 1991. |
| RFC 3418, SNMPv2-MIB | Objects describing the behavior of an SNMP entity; it also incorporates a subset of SNMP-group definitions that RFC 1213 had specified. | Published in December 2002 as STD 62; obsoletes RFC 1907. |
RFC 3418 does not replace all of MIB-II. It defines the SNMP entity’s management objects, whereas RFC 1213 defines MIB-II for TCP/IP network management.
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