NADF Standing Documents: A Brief Overview

Network Working Group                 The North American Directory Forum
Request for Comments: 1758                                 February 1995
Obsoletes: 1417, 1295, 1255, 1218
Category: Informational


                        NADF Standing Documents:
                            A Brief Overview

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction .........................................    1
   1.1 Document Availability ...............................    3
   1.1.1 Hardcopy ..........................................    4
   1.1.2 Anonymous FTP .....................................    4
   Security Considerations .................................    4
   Author's Address ........................................    4

1.  Introduction

   The North American Directory Forum (NADF) is a collection of service
   providers which plans to cooperatively offer a Public Directory
   Service in North America using the CCITT X.500 Recommendations.
   Although many groups are working on realizing X.500, the NADF is
   unique in that it must achieve a cooperative service offered by
   competing providers.

   The purpose of this document is to provide a brief overview of the
   NADF's Standing Document series.  As of this writing, the standing
   documents are:

                No                           Title
               ----    ------------------------------------------------
               SD-0    NADF Standing Documents: A Brief Overview
               SD-1    Terms of Reference
               SD-2    Program Plan
               SD-3    Service Description
               SD-4    The Directory Schema
               SD-5    An X.500 Naming Scheme for National DIT Subtrees
                           and Its Application for c=CA and c=US
               SD-6    Guidelines on Naming and Subtrees
               SD-7    Mapping the North American DIT
                           onto Directory Management Domains
               SD-8    The Experimental Pilot Plan
               SD-9    Charter, Procedures and Operations of the
                       Central Administration for NADF
               SD-10   Security & Privacy: Policy & Services
               SD-11   Directory Security: Mechanisms and Practicality
               SD-12   Registry of ADDMD Names
               SD-13   NADF Accounting and Settlements

   SD-1 defines the scope of the NADF, whilst SD-2 describes issue of
   interest to the NADF.

   The remaining documents describe the agreements necessary to achieve
   a cooperative Public Directory Service offered by competing
   providers.  In this context, it should be observed that the NADF
   relies on X.500(88) to the largest extent possible.

   SD-3 contains agreements concerning the Directory "service", e.g.,
   quality of service, whilst SD-4 contains agreements concerning the
   Directory schema.

   SD-5 concerns itself with how a national authority should structure
   its DIT subtree, and then applies these principles to define the
   naming scheme for the c=CA and c=US parts of the DIT.  The NADF's
   approach is to divide a national DIT subtree into two portions: the
   public name-space, which corresponds to information objects having
   some sort of public recognition (e.g., states, counties, businesses,
   etc.), and several private name-spaces, each unilaterally managed by
   a public provider of Directory services.  (SD-12 defines the registry
   of these providers.) Based on the civil standing of an entity, that
   entity may opt to list as one or more entries in the public name-
   space.  That is, registration, per se, occurs outside of the
   Directory.  This is an important concept as it allows an entity to
   list where others are likely to search.

   SD-6 provides guidelines as to how organizations might wish to
   organize their private name-space, and also discusses how multi-
   nationals might choose to list themselves.

   SD-7 contains agreements concerning how the DIT is mapped onto
   multiple DMDs.  Knowledge maintenance procedures are absent from
   X.500(88), and products which support X.500(92) are years away.
   Further, the competitive relationships between the North American
   Directory providers invalidate any possibility of a single entity
   having exclusive management rights to the public name-space.  The
   NADF approach is to cooperatively manage the public name-space by
   allowing each service provider to provide linkage from the public
   name-space into their own private name-space.  This information is
   limited to knowledge references and naming links; there is little, if
   any, payload present.  SD-9 discusses how a central authority (termed
   the CAN) coordinates and disseminates this information.  In effect,
   the CAN publishes a roadmap for North American Public Directory
   Service.

   SD-8 describes agreements reached for the NADF Pilot.

   SD-10 describes the NADF policy toward security and privacy.
   Attachment 1 of SD-10 contains the "User Bill of Rights for entries
   and listings in the Public Directory".  In contrast, SD-11 describes
   the security facilities available in the Directory, and then
   specifies which mechanisms which will be used in the Public Directory
   service.

   SD-12 provides a registry of ADDMD names in the NADF project.

   SD-13 provides a model and general principles for accounting and
   settlement in the directory.

1.1.  Document Availability

   At the present time, the NADF standing documents are available only
   in hardcopy and PostScript form.  Since they do not exist in ASCII
   form, the NADF standing documents can not be distributed as
   informational RFCs.  Following are the various distribution
   mechanisms available.

1.1.1.  Hardcopy

               Postal: NADF Secretariat
                       c/o Rapport Communication
                       2721 N Street NW
                       Washington, DC 20007
                       US

               Tel:    +1 202 342 2727
               Fax:    +1 202 625 4101

               E-Mail: Ted Myer <4454742@mcimail.com>

1.1.2.  Anonymous FTP

               host:   ftp.gte.com
               area:   /pub/nadf/nadf-docs
               files:  sd-*.ps
               mode:   ascii

Security Considerations

   Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Author's Address

   North American Directory Forum
   c/o Theodore H. Myer
   Rapport Communication
   2721 N Street NW
   Washington, DC  20007

   Phone: +1 202-342-2727

   EMail: 0004454742@mcimail.com