RE: How do we recognize what directory we are talking to?

[Alan Lloyd <Alan.Lloyd@OpenDirectory.com.au>]

The next thing we need to do is then formailse OIDs for technology
capability and then get all clients and directory vendors to support the
interpretation of these re a Full capability statement... and then what
happens with upgrades, bug fixes, product features like being able to
support 16k * 128 mb attribute values.. and all the things that give
competitive edges.

Is what we need a standard that defines in a standard way - no standard
features?

This area is so full of knowledge, context and semantic variation,
market strategy  - its like representing a "car" with an OID when a car
has squillions of options re engines doors, interior,  sound system,
colour, etc ..

I think a Good Luck message is in order here... :-)

regards alan

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Mark Wahl 
> Sent:	Thursday, May 27, 1999 9:47 AM
> To:	Ashish Kolli
> Cc:	ietf-ldapext@netscape.com
> Subject:	Re: How do we recognize what directory we are talking
> to?
> 
> 
> >     Is there any ongoing work for making the information regarding
> the
> > directory server (like vendor name,  version etc etc) available to
> clients?
> 
> An Open Group working group has defined a set of functional profiles
> by which
> clients can determine the capabilities of a directory server and its
> suitabilty
> for particular applications.  The specs can be downloaded from 
> http://www.opengroup.org/orc/DOCS/LDAP_PR/  it is based on OID-valued
> attributes
> of the root DSE.  The advantage of this system is that a client easily
> check
> a question like, 
>  - is this server standards compliant for holding certificates/CRLs
> rather than be hardcoded with particular product version numbers.
> 
> Mark Wahl, Directory Product Architect
> Innosoft International, Inc.