Network Information Model
charter-ietf-nim-01

As the Internet has grown and flourished, new technologies have been
developed and deployed at a feverish pace. In the traditional IETF
operations and management model, the working group developing the
technology has also defined the data elements (MIB definitions)
necessary to monitor and manage the technology. While this has been
very successful, it has also led to a divergence of definitions and
structures. In many cases similar management elements have been
completely reinvented in different working groups because of a lack
of awareness. In other cases duplication has occurred because of a
subtle variation in the definition of the element or because the
relationship between the data element and other elements is new or
different.

It is recognized that the major benefit of an information model is
its ability to reuse previously defined constructs across various
applications. In order to see the benefits of an information model,
each addition to the model needs to be scrutinized for the reuse of
constructs that have already been defined in the model. As such, the
primary objective of this BOF is to determine the feasibility of
defining an information modeling language for the IETF that organizes
information to maximize reuse and provides consistency in the
information representation across various protocols and services.