Generic management primitives

6.2 Generic management primitives

The management information specific to each layer is represented as a MIB for that layer. The MLME and
PLME are viewed as “containing” the MIB for that layer. The generic model of MIB-related management
primitives exchanged across the management SAPs is to allow the SAP user-entity to either GET the value
of a MIB attribute, or to SET the value of a MIB attribute. The invocation of a SET.request primitive might
require that the layer entity perform certain defined actions.
Figure 6-1 depicts these generic primitives.
The GET and SET primitives are represented as REQUESTs with associated CONFIRM primitives. These
primitives are prefixed by MLME or PLME depending upon whether the MAC sublayer or PHY
management SAP is involved. In the following, XX denotes MLME or PLME:
XX-GET.request(MIBattribute)
Requests the value of the given MIBattribute.
XX-GET.confirm(status, MIBattribute, MIBattributevalue)
Returns the appropriate MIB attribute value if status = “success,” otherwise returns an error indication
in the Status field. Possible error status values include “invalid MIB attribute” and “attempt to
get write-only MIB attribute.”
XX-SET.request(MIBattribute, MIBattributevalue)
Requests that the indicated MIB attribute be set to the given value. If this MIBattribute implies a
specific action, then this requests that the action be performed.
XX-SET.confirm(status, MIBattribute)
If status = “success,” this confirms that the indicated MIB attribute was set to the requested value;
otherwise it returns an error condition in status field. If this MIBattribute implies a specific action,
then this confirms that the action was performed. Possible error status values include “invalid MIB
attribute” and “attempt to set read-only MIB attribute.”
Additionally, there are certain requests that can be invoked across a given SAP that do not involve the
setting or getting of a specific MIB attribute. One of these is supported by each SAP, as follows:
— XX-RESET.request: where XX is MLME or PLME as appropriate
This service is used to initialize the management entities, the MIBs, and the datapath entities. It might
include a list of attributes for items to be initialized to nondefault values.
Other SAP-specific primitives are identified in 6.3.