Internet Draft C. Apple Document: draft-apple-schema-reg-file-00.txt DSI Consulting, Inc. Expires: December 2003 June 2003 Directory Schema Listing File Names Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of [RFC2026]. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. Abstract This memo specifies a file name syntax for use by the primary listing repository operator of the directory schema listing service. Conventions used in this document The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 1] Internet Draft Directory Schema Listing File Names June 2003 Table of Contents 1. Introduction...................................................3 1.1 Scope......................................................3 1.2 Terms and Definitions......................................3 2. Formal File Name Syntax........................................4 3. Intended Use of File Names.....................................5 4. Example File Names.............................................6 5. Security Considerations........................................7 6. References.....................................................8 7. Acknowledgments................................................8 8. Author's Address...............................................9 Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 2] Internet Draft Directory Schema Listing File Names June 2003 1. Introduction The fastest route to interoperable directory services is through standard object classes and attribute types. There is a growing number of places where schema for Internet Directory Services and Internet Operations are being defined, with varying degrees of documentation. This plethora of schema is unavoidable in the light of the needs of different service communities, but makes it difficult for directory service builders to find and make use of an existing schema that will serve their needs and increase interoperability with other systems. A listing service providing a single point of discovery for directory service schema will promote schema reuse, reduce duplication of effort, and thus promote directory service interoperability. Schema listings will be stored in multiple files based on the different types of information associated with a listing: meta data and one or more syntax specifications. 1.1 Scope A file name syntax specification intended for use during the initial release of a directory schema listing service is inside the scope of this document. 1.2 Terms and Definitions Information Object - a descriptive abstraction of some real-world object Object Attribute - a descriptive property of an information object; typically, object attributes are defined in terms of semantic and syntactic definitions Schema - a collection of definitions for related information objects Schema Unit - a related or grouped set of object attributes that form a discrete unit within the context of a schema for a particular protocol; examples include an LDAP object class or a WHOIS++ template Schema Pak - a related or grouped set of schema units that collectively specify a schema associated with a particular protocol; an example of a schema pak is the set of LDAP object classes specified in [RFC2256] Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 3] Internet Draft Directory Schema Listing File Names June 2003 Metadata - characteristics that differentiate one schema unit or schema pak from another; used to catalog listing service content; structured using a profile of [RFC2425]; also contains references to files stored within and outside of a listing repository Schema Unit Content - a formal specification of a schema unit using a profile of [RFC2425] Schema Unit Listing - the combination of a single schema unit content file intended for use within the context of a particular protocol and a file containing metadata describing the schema unit specified within that schema unit content file Schema Pak Listing - a single metadata file containing information describing and referring to a set of related or grouped schema unit content files Repository - a database in which listings are stored Listing Request - a proposed schema unit listing or schema pak listing formatted using [MIME] constructs that is submitted for consideration as a listing to be published in a repository Operator - an organization that administers and maintains a repository Primary Repository - the repository that masters the schema listings database Shadow Repository - a repository that mirrors the primary repository Contact Person - the name of the individual who holds the authority to update a listing and who should be contacted if questions or concerns arise related to a listing or listing request Listing Authority Contact - the name of the individual who holds authority to replace a contact person; can be either the contact person for a listing or an alternate contact within the organization to which the contact person belongs (this allows one person organizations to list schema) 2. Formal File Name Syntax All file names for listing meta data and listing content MUST comply with the following ABNF [RFC2234] grammar: Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 4] Internet Draft Directory Schema Listing File Names June 2003 file-name = sequence "." listversion "." type sequence = ("0" / "current") / NZDIGIT 0* ; initialized to one (1) for first schema listing ; increments by one (1) for each successive schema ; listing name type = "meta-unit" / ; these values are defined "ldap" / ; for the initial release of the "pak-ldap" / ; schema listing service "whois++" / "pak-whois++" / ; other values may be defined "rwhois" / ; according to community needs in "pak-rwhois" / ; the future "whois" / "pak-whois" ; this document will be updated or ; obsoleted when additional ; values are defined listversion = 1* NZDIGIT = DIGIT = Other possible values of the type component of a file name MAY be defined in the future to accomodate schema listings specified using [RFC2425] profiles other than those defined for containing LDAP [RFC2251], WHOIS++ [RFC1835], and RWHOIS [RFC1714] schema listing content. 3. Intended Use of File Names Schema writers, implementors, and users of the schema listing service SHOULD make use of the form of file names which includes descriptive alphabetic tokens as the value for the part of a file name. Filenames MAY be specified as an OID by prepending the OID value used as a root for the service filename and swapping alphabetic tokens for their numeric equivalent according to the following table: Token Number ----------- ------ current 0 meta-unit 0 ldap 1 Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 5] Internet Draft Directory Schema Listing File Names June 2003 pak-ldap 2 whoispp 3 pak-whoispp 4 rwhois 5 pak-rwhois 6 whois 7 pak-whois 8 For the initial release of the service the behaviors documented in Section 4.0 for file retrieval based on file name will be supported. Schema writers, implementors, and users of the schema listing service SHOULD NOT rely on future support of such file retrieval behavior for the file name examples that are missing alphabetic tokens. The behavior of file retrieval based on file names containing alphabetic tokens MUST be preserved permanently by the schema listing repository operators. 4. Example File Names Generally, file names will be of the following form: "sequence.listversion.type" The 'sequence' part of a file name consists of a serial number generated by the primary listing repository operator and is unique within the context of the schema listing service. When referring to a listing, a 'listversion' of "0" always represents the most current version (the highest current listversion number) published in the repository. Alternately, the token "current" may be used to request the most current version of a listing file. Otherwise, the listversion part of a file name represents the version number of a listing within the context of the schema listing service. The 'type' part of a file name consists of a token or number representing a file type. This token is unique within the context of the schema listing service and reflects the nature of file content. If an OID is used to retrieve a file, the base OID used by the primary listing repository operator MUST be prepended to the numeric representation of the filename. Retrieval of files will exhibit the following behavior for the initial release of the service (NOTE: a value of 1 is used as the base OID in these examples, the real base OID will be different): Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 6] Internet Draft Directory Schema Listing File Names June 2003 1.12.4.0: returns schema unit metadata for version 4 of listing 12. 12.4.meta-unit: returns schema unit metadata for version 4 of listing 12 1.12.0.0: returns schema unit metadata for latest version of listing 12 12.current.meta-unit: returns schema unit metadata for latest version of listing 12 1.12.4.1: returns ldap schema unit content for version 4 of listing 12 12.4.ldap: returns ldap schema unit content for version 4 of listing 12 1.12.0.1: returns ldap schema unit content for latest version of listing 12 12.current.ldap: returns ldap schema unit content for latest version of listing 12 1.13.2.2: returns metadata for version 4 of listing 12 13.2.pak-ldap: returns ldap schema pak metadata for version 2 of listing 13 1.13.0.2: returns ldap schema pak metadata for latest version of listing 13 13.current.pak-ldap: returns ldap schema pak metadata for latest version of listing 13 5. Security Considerations There are no known security concerns associated with the file name syntax specified in this document. Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 7] Internet Draft Directory Schema Listing File Names June 2003 6. References [RFC822] D. Crocker, "Standard of the Format of ARPA-Internet Text Messages", STD 11, RFC 822, August 1982. [RFC1630] T. Berners-Lee, "Universal Resource Identifiers in WWW", RFC 1630, June 1994. [RFC1835] P. Deutsch, R. Schoultz, P. Faltstrom, C. Weider, "Architecture of the WHOIS++ Service", RFC 1835, August, 1995. [RFC1714] S. Williamson, M. Kosters,"Referral Whois Protocol (RWhois)", RFC 1714, November 1994 [RFC2026] S. Bradner, "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996. [RFC2119] S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Level", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. [RFC2234] D. Crocker and P. Overell (Editors), "Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, Internet Mail Consortium and Demon Internet, Ltd., November 1997. [RFC2251] M. Wahl, T. Howes, S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (Version 3)", RFC 2251, December 1997. [RFC2425] T. Howes, M. Smith, "A MIME Content-Type for Directory Information", RFC 2425, September 1998. 7. Acknowledgments Leslie Daigle of Verisign reviewed and provided valuable comments on the syntax specification content in this document. The schema listing service engineering team: Chris Apple - DSI Consulting Sanjay Sain - Oracle Michael Mealling - Verisign John Strassner - Intelliden Sam Sun - CNRI Mark Wahl - Sun Microsystems Chris Weider - Microsoft Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 8] Internet Draft Directory Schema Listing File Names June 2003 Paul Hoffman for review and comment resulting from his effort to develop a platform for the initial release of the listing service. The members of the ietf-schema-reg@imc.org mailing list. 8. Author's Address Chris Apple DSI Consulting, Inc. 3601 West Hundred Road Chester, VA 23831 Phone: +1 609 828 2987 Email: capple@dsi-consulting.net This INTERNET-DRAFT expires on October 21, 1998. Apple Expires - December 2003 [Page 9]