[1] What is SMUX? SMUX is the snmp multiplexing protocol (RFC 1227). It can be used by an snmp agent to query variables maintained by another user-level process (e.g. GateD). [2] Why is it relevant to ucd-snmp? The ucd-snmp agent needed a mechanism to query statistics from GateD. GateD has traditionally supported this functionality via SMUX. Hence SMUX was implemented within the ucd-snmp framework to extract routing protocol statistics from GateD. The agent can also communicate with other applications via SMUX. [3] What is GateD? GateD is the 'Gateway Daemon' which implements a variety of routing protocols on a variety of platforms (OSes). There is a public version that is available free of charge. For more information see http://www.gated.org. [4] What routing protocol MIBs does ucd-snmp SMUX support? GateD supports up-to-date MIBS for all of the routing protocols that it implements (RIP, BGP4, OSPF, etc.). The agent will pass down queries it receives for any other MIB registered by a SMUX peer. [5] Can SMUX extract statistics from other user-level processes? Yes, the current implementation allows for the registration of any MIB that might be registered by a SMUX peer. [6] How does it work? Assuming 'snmpd' is already up and running, when the SMUX peer (e.g. GateD) comes up, it identifies itself with an oid identifier and string password, and registers any MIBs it would like to implement. When 'snmpd' receives queries for these MIBs, it passes these queries to the peer. [7] Who implemented SMUX for ucd-snmp? SMUX was implemented by Rohit Dube. He had oodles of help from ucd-snmp-coders (Dave, Niels, Wes, Simon, Felix, Leonti) and gated-people (Acee, Feiyi, Larry, Sue). [If I missed somebody, sorry in advance and do let me know]. Later, Nick Amato re-write the entire SMUX package so the code today is mostly his. [8] How do I find out more about SMUX? Read the RFC, the code and get in touch with ucd-snmp-coders@ece.ucdavis.edu