Host Monitoring Protocol
RFC 869

• Status
• IESG evaluation record
• IESG writeups
• Email expansions
• History

• Versions

RFC - 869

                   A Host Monitoring Protocol

                        Robert M. Hinden

                 BBN Communications Corporation

                          December 1983



RFC-869                                             December 1983

                        Table of Contents

1   Introduction.......................................... 1

2   General Description................................... 3

3   Relationship to Other Protocols....................... 6

4   Protocol Operation.................................... 7

5   Header Formats....................................... 12
5.1   IP Headers......................................... 12
5.2   HMP Header......................................... 13

6   HMP Monitoring Center Message Formats................ 16
6.1   Message Type 100: Polling Message.................. 16
6.2   Message Type 101: Error in Poll.................... 18
6.3   Message Type 102: Control acknowledgment........... 20

A   Appendix A - IMP Monitoring.......................... 21
A.1   Message Type 1: IMP Trap........................... 21
A.2   Message Type 2: IMP status......................... 24
A.3   Message Type 3: IMP Modem Throughput............... 29
A.4   Message Type 4: IMP Host Throughput................ 32

B   Appendix B - TAC Monitoring.......................... 35
B.1   Message Type 1: TAC Trap Message................... 35
B.2   Message Type 2: TAC Status......................... 38
B.3   Message Type 3: TAC Throughput..................... 42

C   Appendix C - Gateway Monitoring...................... 47
C.1   Gateway Parameters................................. 47
C.2   Message Type 1: Gateway Trap....................... 48
C.3   Message Type 2: Gateway Status..................... 51
C.4   Message Type 3: Gateway Throughput................. 58
C.5   Message Type 4: Gateway Host Traffic Matrix........ 64
C.6   Message Type 6: Gateway Routing.................... 67

                               -i-



RFC-869                                             December 1983
Replaces IEN-197

                   A Host Monitoring Protocol

1  Introduction

     The Host Monitoring   Protocol  (HMP)  is  used  to  collect

information  from  hosts   in   various   networks.    A  host is

defined as an addressable  Internet  entity  that  can  send  and

receive  messages;  this  includes  hosts  such  as server hosts,

personal work stations, terminal concentrators, packet  switches,

and  gateways.  At present  the Host Monitoring Protocol is being

used to collect information from Internet Gateways and TACs,  and

implementations  are  being  designed  for  other  hosts.   It is

designed to monitor hosts spread over the  internet  as  well  as

hosts in a single network.

     This document is organized into three parts.  Section 2  and

3  contains a general description of the Host Monitoring protocol

and its relationship to other  protocols.   Section  4  describes

how  it  operates.   Section 5 and 6 contain the descriptions and

formats of the HMP messages.  These are  followed  by  appendices

containing the formats of messages sent by some of the hosts that

use the HMP  to  collect  their  monitoring  information.   These

appendicies included as examples only and are not part of the HMP

protocol.

                               -1-



RFC-869                                             December 1983

     This document replaces the previous HMP document "IEN-197, A

Host Monitoring Protocol."

                               -2-



RFC-869                                             December 1983

2  General Description

     The  Host  Monitoring  Protocol  is  a  transaction-oriented

(i.e.,  connection-less)  transport protocol.  It was designed to

facilitate  certain  simple  interactions  between  two  internet

entities,  one  of which may be considered to be "monitoring" the

other.  (In discussing the protocol we will sometimes speak of  a

"monitoring host" and a "monitored entity".)  HMP was intended to

be a useful transport protocol for applications that involve  any

or all of the following three different kinds of interactions:

   - The monitored entity sometimes  needs  to  send  unsolicited
     datagrams  to  the  monitoring  host.   The  monitoring host
     should be able to tell  when  messages  from  the  monitored
     entity  have  been lost in transit, and it should be able to
     determine the order in which the messages were sent, but the
     application  does  not require that all messages be received
     or that they be received strictly in the  same  sequence  in
     which they were sent.

   - The monitoring host needs to gather data from the  monitored
     entity by using a query-response protocol at the application
     level.  It is important to be able to determine which  query