Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!A.ISI.EDU!LYNCH
From: LYNCH@A.ISI.EDU (Dan Lynch)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: RE: DOD ---> CMOT VERSUS SNMP
Message-ID: <12526830980.22.LYNCH@A.ISI.EDU>
Date: 17 Sep 89 01:37:45 GMT
References: <8909161044.AA02913@venera.isi.edu>
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Rodney,  Your last message got me to feel guilty about my earlier reply.
Sometimes those of us who "know the answers" don't realize how those
who are asking the questions are essentially so far removed from all
the stupid insider knowledge that our answers seem very opaque.

I will try to answer your questions directly.

CMOT is an acronym for CMip Over Tcp.  (I lowercased stuff to make
the point.)  CMIP is the ISO protocol for network management.
CMOT is a design that allows the ISO CMIP applications to manage objects
on a TCP/IP network as well as on an ISO network.  (At least thats the goal
statement.)

I do not know of any official DoD policy stating that SNMP and/or CMOT 
is the preferred/required network management protocol.  The IAB (Internet
Activities Board), of which I am a member, has stated that either protocol
is acceptable as a network management protocol and that entities that
wish to be network manageable must implement at least one of those
protocols.  The history of this situation is a longish one, but essentially
SNMP was viewed as a stopgap measure (albeit an excellent one) for
network management and that CMOT was a long term measure that would
incorporate the ISO network entities that are in our future.  

The current situation in the marketplace is that there are dozens of SNMP
implementations out there.  To date, I know of no CMOT implementations
that are offered as commercial products.  A year ago there was a demonstration
of CMOT prototypes at a technical conference.  The distance from a
prototype to a product is sometimes large, eh?  

My conclusion from this is that of someone is telling you that CMOT
is mandatory for a certain equipment buy, then you are probably being
lied to.  If you are not being lied to, then whoever set the requirement
is not in tune with product avaiability and the spec should be redone.
(I'm assuming this is for a product that someone wants to install this year
or next...)

Dan Lynch
Advanced Computing Environments
415-941-3399
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