7. Keywords
This catalog uses "keywords" for terse characterizations of the tools. Keywords are abbreviated attributes of a tool or its use. To allow cross-comparison of tools, uniform keyword definitions have been developed, and are given below. Following the definitions, there is an index of catalog entries by keyword.
7.1. Keyword Definitions
The keywords are always listed in a prefined order, sorted first by the general category into which they fall, and then alphabetically. The categories that have been defined for management tool keywords are: o the general management area to which a tool relates or a tool's functional role; o the network resources or components that are managed; o the mechanisms or methods a tool uses to perform its functions; o the operating system and hardware environment of a tool; and o the characteristics of a tool as a hardware product or software release. The keywords used to describe the general management area or functional role of a tool are: Alarm a reporting/logging tool that can trigger on specific events within a network. Analyzer a traffic monitor that reconstructs and interprets pro- tocol messages that span several packets. Benchmark a tool used to evaluate the performance of network com- ponents. Control a tool that can change the state or status of a remote network resource. Debugger a tool that by generating arbitrary packets and moni- toring traffic, can drive a remote network component to various states and record its responses. Generator a traffic generation tool. Manager a distributed network management system or system com- ponent. Map a tool that can discover and report a system's topology or configuration. Reference a tool for documenting MIB structure or system confi- guration. Routing a packet route discovery tool. Security a tool for analyzing or reducing threats to security. Status a tool that remotely tracks the status of network com- ponents. Traffic a tool that monitors packet flow. The keywords used to identify the network resources or components that a tool manages are: Bridge a tool for controlling or monitoring LAN bridges. CHAOS a tool for controlling or monitoring implementations of the CHAOS protocol suite or network components that use it. DECnet a tool for controlling or monitoring implementations of the DECnet protocol suite or network components that use it. DNS a Domain Name System debugging tool. Ethernet a tool for controlling or monitoring network components on ethernet LANs. FDDI a tool for controlling or monitoring network components on FDDI LANs or WANs. IP a tool for controlling or monitoring implementations of the TCP/IP protocol suite or network components that use it. OSI a tool for controlling or monitoring implementations of the OSI protocol suite or network components that use it. NFS a Network File System debugging tool. Ring a tool for controlling or monitoring network components on Token Ring LANs. SMTP an SMTP debugging tool. Star a tool for controlling or monitoring network components on StarLANs. The keywords used to describe a tool's mechanism are: CMIS a network management system or component based on CMIS/CMIP, the Common Management Information System and Protocol. Curses a tool that uses the "curses" tty interface package. Eavesdrop a tool that silently monitors communications media (e.g., by putting an ethernet interface into "promiscu- ous" mode). NMS the tool is a component of or queries a Network Manage- ment System. Ping a tool that sends packet probes such as ICMP echo mes- sages; to help distinguish tools, we do not consider NMS queries or protocol spoofing (see below) as probes. Proprietary a distributed tool that uses proprietary communications techniques to link its components. RMON a tool which employs the RMON extensions to SNMP. SNMP a network management system or component based on SNMP, the Simple Network Management Protocol. Spoof a tool that tests operation of remote protocol modules by peer-level message exchange. X a tool that uses X-Windows. The keywords used to describe a tool's operating environment are: DOS a tool that runs under MS-DOS. HP a tool that runs on Hewlett-Packard systems. Macintosh a tool that runs on Macintosh personal computers. OS/2 a tool that runs under the OS/2 operating system. Standalone an integrated hardware/software tool that requires only a network interface for operation. Sun a tool that runs on Sun Microsystems platforms. (binary distribution built for use on a Sun.) UNIX a tool that runs under 4.xBSD UNIX or related OS. VMS a tool that runs under DEC's VMS operating system. The keywords used to describe a tool's characteristics as a hardware or software acquisition are: Free a tool is available at no charge, though other restric- tions may apply (tools that are part of an OS distribu- tion but not otherwise available are not listed as "free"). Library a tool packaged with either an Application Programming Interface (API) or object-level subroutines that may be loaded with programs. Sourcelib a collection of source code (subroutines) upon which developers may construct other tools.