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Wireshark-users: Re: [Wireshark-users] adding MIB files (Andrew Hood)

From: Stuart Kendrick <skendric@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:34:54 -0700
hi andrew,

ok, got it.

i was assuming that specifying the directories was sufficient ... now i'm specifying each MIB file independently, and Wireshark is finding them (in the list of directories i've provided)

and the console window is appearing, telling me about the MIB files i'm missing ... but i know how to solve that

i can see that i will be building smi_modules and smi_paths programmatically ... rather than typing all this in. but that's OK. [i don't mind waiting longer for Wireshark to load ... in exchange for the decodes i get when the relevant MIB file is compiled!]

i'm in business, thank you for the assistance,

--sk


Stuart Kendrick wrote:
does anyone have the MIB compiler working?

i'm running WireShark 1.0.7 under Windows ... and am trying to add some portion of my ~2000 MIB file collection

Only add MIBs as you want them. Every extra MIB slows down wireshark
startup a little.

-i've configured Preferences:Open a console window to 'Always(debugging') ... but i haven't seen an error message in the console window yet

-i've played with Preferences:Name Resolution:SMI (MIB and PIB) paths, adding directories in which I've installed MIB files (i've tried both relative directory names, aka Broadcom, Dell, Intel, as well as fully-qualified names: C:\Program Files (x86)\Wireshark\snmp\mibs\Broadcom, C:\Program Files (x86)\Wireshark\snmp\mibs\Dell ...

Hmmm. Running on 64 bit Windows. Can you see if using paths which do not
contain "(" and ")" characters makes any difference? libsmi was ported
from Unix and Window's wierd file and path names have cause me issues,
and I've been using libsmi for many years.

-i've tried copying MIB files into C:\Program Files (x86)\Wireshark\snmp\mibs and then adding them using Preferences:Name Resolution: SMI (MIB and PIB) modules

-and i've even tried specifying a non-existent MIB files ('foo') using Preferences:Name Resolution: SMI (MIB and PIB) modules ... minimally, i would have expected an error in the console window, something like "unable to find MIB module 'foo'" ... but no, a serenely peaceful and solidly black console window

Before any MIB will load you have to have all the other MIBs on which it
 depends in one of the directories in the MIB path. You can determine
which ones are required by looking for the "IMPORTS" clause. MIB names
follow the "FROM" keyword.

Ensure every MIB file contains exactly one MIB.

Ensure the name of each MIB file is the name which appears in the
"DEFINITIONS" clause, and it is best if the case of letters matches.
Filename extensions ".my", ".smiv1", "smiv2", "mib" or ".txt" are permitted.

Syntax or semantic errors will stop MIBs loading. It is very common for
MIBs to be syntacticly invalid, including those from vendors like Cisco
who should know better.