Re: draft-ietf-boreham-numsubordinates-00.txt

[Mark Wahl <M.Wahl@INNOSOFT.COM>]

I had a number of questions on this document.

First, the OID of the definition is different between the LDAP and X.500
forms.  I would have expected 1.3.6.1.4.1.453 as the prefix.  

Second, the syntax is not one already defined for use with LDAP.  Why not 
use the integer syntax 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.27, as this is an integer
value?

It might be useful to include some text in how client should expect to be 
able to use this attribute.  For example, should servers be expected to
implement a filter of (subordinates>=1) in an efficient manner if they provide
the capability.

FWIW we found that 'immediateSubordinates' was a more obvious name for this
attribute in this capacity.  We use 'immediateSubordinates' for the one-level
count of both entries and DSEs in our implementation, and 'numSubordinates' 
for the count of the whole subtree including the target entry and all down to 
the leaves of the tree or referral DSEs.  I assume the intention of your 
attribute to count DSEs such as referrals as well as user entries?  We used 
'numSubordinates' rather than 'subtreeSubordinates' as the latter was too 
difficult to pronounce.

Mark Wahl, Directory Product Architect
Innosoft International, Inc.