VARIABLES(5)

NAME
    variables - Format of specifying variable names to SNMP tools.

SYNOPSIS
    system.sysdescr.0

DESCRIPTION
Variable names are in the format of Object Identifiers (ASN.1). There are several methods of representation. Each variable name is given in the format of A.B.C.D..., where A, B, C, and D are subidentifiers in one of two forms of notation. Each subidentifier may be encoded as a decimal integer, or a symbol as found in the RFC1066 MIB. The case of the symbols is not significant.
If there is no leading "." in the variable name, the name will be formed as if having been preceded with "iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib.". A "." must be placed before the first variable if the user is to fully specify the name. For example:

1.1.0 system.sysDescr.0 and 1.sysDescr.0

all refer to the same variable name. Likewise:

.1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 .iso.org.dod.internet.mgmt.mib.system.sysdescr.0 .1.3.6.1.2.1.1.sysdescr.0

All refer to the same variable name.

The description of the variables in the MIB is given in the set of mib files defined by the MIBS environment variable (or the default list defined at compilation time) and the mib files in the DATADIR/snmp/mibs directory (or the MIBDIRS environment variable).

SEE ALSO
RFC 1065, RFC 1066, RFC 1067, ISO IS 8824(ASN.1)

BUGS
The parser of the mib files file is not expected to handle bizarre (although correct) interpretations of the ASN.1 notation.