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MIB Smithy 4.7 is now available for download. As with the recent MIB Views and MIB Smithy SDK releases, due to the unusually long time since the previous release, I have extended support periods for MIB Smithy users whose support expired (or was due to expire) after October 1, 2012 but before January 31, 2014, so that this release is available to those users as part of their annual support agreement.

Changes in this release:

5876: Set up file associations at install time

MIB Smithy file associations are now registered by the installer, rather than by the application itself, so that Windows can properly manage removal of the associations at uninstall time.

381: Use XML format for project files

MIB Smithy project files are now stored in XML rather than INI format to allow for future features with more complex configurations. When opening an old format (.mip) project file you will be prompted to save to a new (.smproj) file and the project will be converted to the new format.

5720: Reordering notification objects

Reordering commands (Move Up/Move Down) were added to the Objects property for Notification workspaces. As the ordering of the objects affects the on-the-wire encoding of the notifications, they can’t be arbitrarily reordered by MIB Smithy the way e.g. group members can, but using the “Select” button tended to put them in alphabetical order.

5127: Change preferences file format to XML

MIB Smithy application preferences are now stored in XML rather than INI format to allow for future features with more complex preferences. Existing preferences will be converted automatically.

5114: Use DOM to generate XML

MIB Smithy now uses an actual DOM implementation to build its XML output format for MIBs (and preferences, project files, etc), rather than rudimentary text operations. This is less prone to introducing malformed XML and may allow for future operations on the DOM document.

5878: Windows: Prefer Application Data folder over Registry for preferences

MIB Smithy will no longer save application preferences to the Windows Registry except as a fallback if it can’t save elsewhere. Instead, preferences are saved to the user’s Application Data folder. Existing preferences will be imported, and user given the option to remove or preserve the old registry entries.

5932: “Error in custom build script” during MOSY build

Spaces in output directory names were not handled properly when compiling to MOSY format, resulting in an “error in custom build script” message.

5767: Improve Unsigned32/Gauge32 conversion to derived types

SNMP tools will better handle converting Unsigned32 and Gauge32, which have the same on-the-wire encoding, to the proper syntax for display purposes provided appropriate MIBs are loaded.

5781: Missing REFERENCE property pages

The MODULE-COMPLIANCE and AGENT-CAPABILITIES workspaces were missing tabs to allow editing of those macros’ REFERENCE properties.

5115: XML-SMI schema corrections

Minor corrections were made to the XML-SMI schema to make the RangeSubspec and Enumeration definitions legal XSD syntax.

5128: Changing module for imported symbol should not add new import

Editing the module name for an existing symbol in the IMPORTS list will now actually change which module it is imported from, rather than causing the symbol to be imported from both modules (unless the “Add” button is used rather than “Modify”).

2121: Add support for pre-localized and unlocalized keys

SNMP tool sessions can now be configured directly with unlocalized or localized auth/priv keys, rather than requiring passwords and letting the session manage conversion to keys and key localization.

5801: Add options to CLI tools to specify keys rather than passwords

The bundled CLI tools/sample scripts now have options for specifying SNMPv3 auth/priv keys directly (localized or unlocalized), rather than only allowing passwords to be specified.

2277: Give validator messages unique IDs

All parser and validator messages have been moved to a message table with unique IDs, which are provided in messages printed to the configured log channel and in arguments to the configured log command. The actual IDs are still subject to change with reorganization, but this allows one to (for example) implement filters to effectively disable messages that aren’t desired.

1839: ASN.1 Type Assignment with type BITS

An error is now generated at parse time when attempting to use ASN.1 Type Assignment notation (Name ::= Type) with the “BITS” construct (which is not allowed in this form), rather than just quietly correcting it.

5397: XML-SMI XSD: use xsd:token type where appropriate

The XML-SMI Schema was changed to use “xsd:token” rather than “xsd:string” for some types where appropriate. Semantically the schema is unchanged by this as “xsd:token” is a subset of “xsd:string”, but “xsd:token” more closely matches the (existing) value restrictions.

1870: Add support for MODULE-CONFORMANCE (RFC-1303)

Support was added for parsing, editing, and validating the MODULE-CONFORMANCE construct from RFC 1303 (the SMIv1 predecessor to SMIv2’s AGENT-CAPABILITIES). The XML-SMI Schema was also updated to add support.

6065: Add support for MIB Views agent files

Added support for using MIB Views agent files with the MIB Smithy SNMP tools to save and restore SNMP agent settings to/from files.

5809: Remember SNMPv3 Trap Watch configuration

SNMPv3 Trap Watch tool configuration (port, SNMPv3 user name, keys, etc.) is now stored in the user’s preferences file and remembered between runs.

5954: Improve GUI responsiveness during walk

The SNMP Walk tool could appear to update in bursts if more CPU time was spent processing messages than allowing for GUI updates. It will now ensure the GUI updates when entries are added to the result table.

5953: Bad option “-fulloid” error in MIB Browser

A ‘Bad option “-fulloid”‘ error could occur in the MIB Browser due to changes introduced in version 4.6 to better handle ambiguous MIB definitions.

MIB Views 2.0.1 is now available for download. This release fixes a potential crash when adding or removing MIBs. It also fixes an issue where the GUI could become stuck displaying an error dialog would keep coming back when dismissed, requiring the application to be killed externally, if a saved agent file was renamed or removed while in use.

Support for saving agents to file was added in 2.0. Normally the GUI will check to see if the file has been modified when the window gets focus (in case it was modified externally) to give the user an opportunity to reload the file. If the file were renamed or removed, the error would occur; then when the error was dismissed, the window would get focus again, and so trigger the error again. MIB Views neglected to check if the file still existed before trying to check its modification time.

MIB Smithy SDK 4.6.3 is now available for download. This release fixes a crash/unhandled exception that could occur due to an iterator being used after being invalidated during updates to the internal OID index (such as when importing MIBs). The issue was likely introduced in the 4.6 release as part of the changes made to give each MIB database its own orphans tree.

MIB Views 2.0 is now available for download. This release is available to all licensed MIB Views users. If your support period previously expired (or was due to expire) prior to December 31, 2013, you will find that your support period has been extended to December 31, 2013, so that this release is available to you.

This is partly in recognition of the length of time it’s been since the 1.9 release, but also because a number of things have been addressed that I would have liked to have gotten into the product a long time ago (such as ability to save agents, and fixing a number of minor but annoying quirks of the UI not mentioned specifically below), for which I’d just feel better about not having anyone stuck on a 1.x release, and create a better foundation for things to come.

Changes in this release:

387: Add save option for agent settings

MIB Views agent configuration can now be saved to a file in XML format and opened in new windows or sessions, rather than only remembering the last (partial) configuration. It will not save SNMPv3 passwords or unlocalized keys, but it will save localized keys, so it is recommended that agents be saved only to secure (e.g. encrypted or readable only by owner) locations.

5809: Remember SNMPv3 Trap Watch configuration

SNMPv3 Trap Watch tool configuration (port, SNMPv3 user name, keys, etc.) is now stored in the user’s preferences file and remembered between runs.

5806: Change preferences file format to XML

MIB Views application preferences are now stored in XML rather than INI format to allow for future features with more complex preferences. Existing preferences will be converted automatically.

5945: Show/Hide and Clear Message Log

Options were added to the View menu to show or hide the Message Log panel, as well as clear the log.

5954: Improve GUI responsiveness during walk

The Walk tool could appear to update in bursts if more CPU time was spent processing messages than allowing for GUI updates. It will now ensure the GUI updates when entries are added to the result table.

5485: OSX: Check if file system is writable when adding MIBs

MIB Views will no longer allow MIB modules to be added if it is being run from a read-only file system (e.g. the downloaded disk image). Previously it would report the issue but still allow the MIB to load for the duration of the session.

5953: Bad option “-fulloid” error in Tree View

A ‘Bad option “-fulloid”‘ error could occur in the Tree View due to changes introduced in version 1.9 to better handle ambiguous MIB definitions.

5766: Improve Unsigned32/Gauge32 conversion to derived types

MIB Views will better handle converting Unsigned32 and Gauge32, which have the same on-the-wire encoding, to the proper syntax for display purposes provided appropriate MIBs are loaded.

2121: Add support for pre-localized and unlocalized keys

SNMPv3 sessions can now be configured directly with unlocalized or localized auth/priv keys, rather than requiring passwords and letting the session manage conversion to keys and key localization.

1870: Add support for MODULE-CONFORMANCE (RFC-1303)

Support was added for parsing and validating the MODULE-CONFORMANCE construct from RFC 1303 (the SMIv1 predecessor to SMIv2’s AGENT-CAPABILITIES).

5127: Change preferences file format to XML

MIB Views application preferences are now stored in XML rather than INI format to allow for future features with more complex preferences. Existing preferences will be converted automatically.

5878: Windows: Prefer Application Data folder over Registry for preferences

MIB Views will no longer save application preferences to the Windows Registry except as a fallback if it can’t save elsewhere. Instead, preferences are saved to the user’s Application Data folder. Existing preferences will be imported, and user given the option to remove or preserve the old registry entries.

Plus a number of other minor changes/fixes not worth mentioning individually.

MIB Smithy SDK 4.6.2 is now available for download. This release fixes two issues introduced in the 4.6 release, and one other minor issue that’s been around for a while was only recently noticed while working on the MIB Views release under OSX.

In recognition of the unreasonable length of time between the 4.5 and 4.6 releases, and the expectation of periodic updates during the support period, I’m making this release available to all customers whose support period was due to expire after October 1, 2012 (if your support was due to expire after that date, but before December 31, 2013, you will find that your support period has been extended to December 31, 2013).

I meant to do this with the 4.6 release, but have been highly focused on getting the other product builds out as well, and similar arrangements will be made for those users.

Changes in this release:

5935: Host IDs not displaying correctly

Host IDs were not displaying correctly in the license message/dialog due to a change in the 4.6 release. The issue only affected formatting for display.

5951: SNMPv3 privacy without authentication regression

A bug was introduced during refactoring for the 4.6 release making it was possible to send SNMPv3 messages with the privacy flag set (and encrypted) but without the authentication flag set or authentication done, which is illegal.

5957: Incomplete cleanup on session closure

The Tcl channels associated with SNMP session sockets were not cleaned up properly upon session closure, which could result in a thread deadlock at application exit time.