Management information base (MIB) report interface for abbreviated MIB data

摘要

An integrated multiport switch (IMS) in which an on-chip management information base (MIB) accumulation processor enables monitoring of a significantly larger number of MIB objects to be stored in external memory while minimizing, media access controller (MAC) complexity. A MAC for each port in the IMS outputs a MIB report for each transmission or reception of data according to a specific compressed format to a MIB engine that can be centrally located on the chip. The compression of the data that represents the monitored events enables conservation of the capacity of MAC buffer elements. The MIB report is immediately dispatched to the MIB engine upon receipt or transmission of a data frame. The MIB engine decodes the MIB report into a plurality of associated MIB objects. which are temporarily accumulated until the external memory is updated. The MIB engine initiates the stored MIB value updating process by retrieving the values from the external memory and adding the accumulated MIB objects to the retrieved values. The updated MIB objects are then transmitted back to the external memory for storage therein and the MIB engyine object values are reset.