call for LDAPEXT agenda items

[Mark Wahl <M.Wahl@critical-angle.com>]

Hello,  

It will soon be time for the first meeting of LDAPEXT as a Working Group.  
Here is a draft agenda for this meeting; please let us know of any 
suggestions for changes and additions.

What:   LDAP Extensions WG Meeting
When:   Wednesday, December 10, 1300-1500
Where:  Somewhere in the Washington DC Omni Shoreham Hotel
Who:    You

			Agenda (2 hours total)

     - Welcome and agenda review

     - Review of final charter (attached below)

     - Discussion of extension drafts in last call
	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3ext
	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-dynatt
	draft-ietf-asid-ldap-cache

     - Discussion of extension drafts about to enter last call
	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-sorting
	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-referral
	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-lang
	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-tls

     - Status reports on forthcoming drafts
	signed information control
	recommended authentication methods

     - Discussion of search result paging and scrolling drafts

     - Discussion of C and Java API drafts

     - Discussion of access control requirements draft
 
     - Any Other Business


Mark Wahl, Enterprise Directory Integration
Critical Angle Inc.

Charter

LDAP Extension

Chair(s):
	Tim Howes <howes@netscape.com>
	Mark Wahl <M.Wahl@critical-angle.com>

Responsible AD:
	Harald Alvestrand <Harald.T.Alvestrand@uninett.no>

Applications Area Director(s):
	Harald Alvestrand <Harald.T.Alvestrand@uninett.no>
	Keith Moore <moore@cs.utk.edu>

Mailing lists:
	General Discussion: ietf-ldapext@netscape.com
	To Subscribe:       ietf-ldapext-request@netscape.com
	Archive:        ftp://ftp.critical-angle.com/pub/ietf/ldapext/archive

Description of Working Group:

LDAP version 3 has laid a solid foundation for directory access on the
Internet. More work is needed to provide a full Internet directory
service.  The LDAP Extension working group will define and standardize
extensions to the LDAP version 3 protocol and extensions to the use of
LDAP on the Internet.  The group will also extend and standardize the
existing de facto application program interface to LDAP. The planned
work items include the following areas, many of which have been
previously discussed for some time in the ASID working group:

- Authentication

LDAPv3 contains an extensible SASL-based authentication framework.
This work item will be to document the forms of client authorization
provided by specific SASL mechanisms.

- Access control

LDAPv3 defines an information model and an authentication model,
allowing information to be protected via access control. But LDAPv3
defines no standard representation or semantic for this access control
information. This work item will be to define such a standard access
control model.

- Server-side sorting of search results
- Paged retrieval of search results

In order to more efficiently support the assumptions of users viewing
search results as a sorted, scrollable list, servers sort and provide a
paged view onto search results.  This work item will define the LDAPv3
message controls to allow a client to request a particular sort order,
and to allow a client to retrieve search results one page at a time.
The group will base its work on the following drafts:

	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-sorting-00.txt
	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-simple-paged-01.txt

- Language tags

LDAPv3 carries character data in UTF-8 format, allowing the full range
of international characters to be represented. This work item will be
to define attribute descriptions allowing the data returned from or
input to an LDAPv3 directory to be tagged identifying the language of
the data, and to define an LDAP message control allowing a client to
specify a preferred language. The group will base its work on the
following draft:

	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-lang-02.txt

- Dynamic directories

LDAPv3 supports static directory information that persists in its value
over a relatively long period of time until it is removed. Some
applications (e.g., Internet conferencing) require dynamic information
that changes often and persists only as long as it is being refreshed.
The deliverable from this work item will be LDAPv3 message controls and
extended operations allowing the specification and refresh of dynamic
directory information. The group will base its work on the following
drafts:

	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3ext-04.txt
	draft-ietf-asid-ldap-dynatt-00.txt

- Referral and knowledge reference maintenance

LDAPv3 is defined as an access protocol in which referrals may be
returned directing a client from one directory server to others. It
does not specify how this referral information is represented in the
directory. The deliverable from this work item is a document defining
the mechanisms by which referrals (sometimes known as knowledge
references) may be maintained in a server. The group will base its work
on the following draft:

	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-referral-00.txt

- LDAP server discovery

Like most other Internet protocols, LDAPv3 is silent on the
bootstrapping issue of how a client locates an LDAP server to talk to.
Yet this step is necessary for any client to successfully use the
directory without a priori knowledge of the directory server address it
should use. The group will work in conjunction with the SVRLOC group on
defining the method by which LDAP clients discover LDAP servers, based
on the following document:

	draft-ietf-svrloc-discovery-01.txt

- LDAP APIs

LDAP has an associated de facto standard C API, defined in RFC 1823.
The existence of this API has proved to be of great value in spurring
LDAP client development. As new features are added in LDAPv3 and the
extensions discussed elsewhere in this charter, the API will need to be
updated to make these new protocol features available to clients.  As
application development in other languages, Java in particular, occurs,
the need for a standard API increases. The deliverable from this work
item will be documents updating RFC 1823 for LDAPv3, documents defining
API extensions to support protocol extensions, and a document defining
a similar API for Java. The group will base its work on the following
documents:

	draft-ietf-asid-ldap-c-api-00.txt
	draft-ietf-asid-ldap-java-api-00.txt
	draft-ietf-asid-ldapv3-api-ext-00.txt

- CLDAP

LDAPv3 defines transport over TCP. In some situations, the overhead
involved in setting up and tearing down TCP connections is prohibitive,
requiring a lighter-weight transport. The deliverable from this work
item will be a document defining transport of the LDAPv3 protocol over
connectionless UDP transport. The group will expand on the work
developed for LDAPv2 in RFC 1798.

- Signed directory information

In many environments clients require the ability to validiate the
source and integrity of information provided by the directory. The
deliverable will be a document describing an LDAP message control which
allows for the retrieval of digitally signed information.

Other areas such as deployment and schema definition and review will be
handled by other groups.  Other areas may be added after approval by
the area directors if and when they turn out to be necessary for the
deployment of LDAP and feasible for the group to tackle. In particular,
replication may be considered for addition to the group's charter if
and when a viable approach to the problem is demonstrated.

Milestones

August 1997	Group meets as a BOF (Munich)
		Draft on sorting of search results
		Draft on paged retrieval of search results
		Draft on dynamic directories
		Draft on referrals and knowledge references
		Draft on language tags
		Draft on C LDAP API
		Draft on Java LDAP API

December 1997	Group meets as a WG (Washington DC)
		Draft on sorting of search results to PS
		Draft on paged retrieval of search results to PS
		Draft on dynamic directories to PS
		Draft on referrals and knowledge references to PS
		Draft on language tags to PS

		Draft on C LDAP API published as RFC
		Draft on Java LDAP API published as RFC

		Draft on access control requirements
		Draft on recommended authentication methods

		Draft on signed directory information

Spring 1998	Draft on access control
		Draft on recommended authentication methods to PS

		Draft on signed directory information to PS

		Draft on CLDAP

Summer 1998	Draft on access control to PS

		Draft on CLDAP to PS

		Group closes down if no other work has come up