Standards Update, IEEE 1003.8/2: Networking (IPC)
Jeffrey S. Haemer
jsh at usenix.org
Mon Dec 18 16:24:57 AEST 1989
From: Jeffrey S. Haemer <jsh at usenix.org>
An Update on UNIX* and C Standards Activities
December 1989
USENIX Standards Watchdog Committee
Jeffrey S. Haemer, Report Editor
IEEE 1003.8/2: Networking (IPC) Update
Steve Head <smh at hpda.hp.com> reports on the October 16-20, 1989
meeting in Brussels, Belgium:
OVERVIEW
P1003.8 is the IEEE POSIX networking standards committee, working on
network standard interface definitions for POSIX. The committee is
currently divided into six subcommittees: transparent file access,
network IPC, remote procedure call, OSI/MAP services, X.400 mail
gateway, and directory services.
This report is a summary of the activity in the network IPC
subcommittee, which is currently working on two potential interfaces,
a "detailed" interface (DNI) and a "simple" interface (SNI). DNI is
roughly (though not exclusively) at the transport level. SNI is
intended to be somewhat simpler to use than DNI, but at roughly the
same level.
At this meeting, presentations of DNI and SNI were made at the EC
(European Community) headquarters in Brussels. Discussions on DNI
(definitions) and SNI (routines) continued. The main topics of
discussion were:
1. DNI, SNI presentation to EC
2. DNI definitions
3. SNI routines
4. Schedule
5. Security
__________
* UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T in the U.S. and other
countries.
December 1989 Standards Update IEEE 1003.8/2: Networking (IPC)
- 2 -
6. P1003.8/2 -> full POSIX committee
DETAIL
1. DNI, SNI presentation to EC
Keith Sklower and Steve Head gave presentations on DNI and SNI
respectively to POSIX attendees at CEC (Commission of the
European Community) headquarters. This meeting was scheduled in
Brussels primarily to obtain European input. The presentations
went well, and attendees included X/Open and EC representatives.
No significant differences of opinion or direction were noted
between the committee and other attendees. This indicates some
degree of success (?). (Other networking groups, such as
directory services, were not so fortunate.)
This meeting "broke the ice" with international organizations in
the area of networking, and we now expect increased interaction
with those organizations.
2. DNI definitions
The committee discussed DNI definitions. Steve Head presented a
paper on the subject. Suggestions made at the meeting will be
incorporated into a future version of the paper, which will be
circulated via electronic mail. If no further significant
issues are raised, it will be incorporated into the next DNI
draft.
3. SNI routines
The committee discussed SNI routines, based on a paper from
Keith Sklower. No conclusions were reached, however, this
particular discussion was very useful since it brought a number
of goals and requirements for SNI into clear focus.
SNI is adopting some characteristics of ISODE (the ISO
Development Environment). This is probably beneficial since it
means that SNI will be partially based on a working
implementation instead of being entirely new. As such, it may
gain importance as a migration strategy for transferring
applications from TCP/IP to ISO. (ISODE stands for the ISO
Development Environment, a collection of networking software
available through public channels that runs over either TCP/IP
or ISO transport and allows higher level applications to be
December 1989 Standards Update IEEE 1003.8/2: Networking (IPC)
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oblivious to the type of transport a given system provides.)
4. Schedule
The working schedule has been delayed by the need to make
presentations at Brussels, instead of doing "real work".
Originally, we had scheduled the topics of connection setup,
connection tear-down, and name resolution for this meeting.
These topics were not discussed, and our schedule has been
shifted back a quarter to reflect this. These topics will be
discussed at the next meeting. (See FUTURE MEETING TOPICS
below.)
5. Security
We held another joint meeting with the POSIX security group,
P1003.6. An electronic mailing list was created for the topic
of network security. For more info or to be put on the list,
please contact Mike Ressler (mpr at bellcore.com or bellcore!mpr).
A list of topics on networking security to begin discussions on
was initiated.
6. P1003.8/2 -> full POSIX committee
The decision to make P1003.8/2 a full POSIX committee was
postponed by the POSIX executive committee (SEC). This subject
will be re-addressed at the next POSIX meeting in January.
December 1989 Standards Update IEEE 1003.8/2: Networking (IPC)
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FUTURE MEETING TOPICS (TENTATIVE)
DATE ACTIVITY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Winter 1990 mtg SNI/DNI connection setup/tear-down
Spring 1990 mtg SNI/DNI data transfer
Summer 1990 mtg SNI/DNI event management
Fall 1990 mtg SNI/DNI POSIX 1003.1 extensions
Winter 1991 mtg SNI/DNI protocol-independent options
Spring 1991 mtg SNI/DNI miscellaneous functionality
DNI protocol-dependent (ISO, ARPA, etc.) options
Summer 1991 mtg SNI/DNI definitions
Fall 1991 mtg SNI/DNI review drafts
Winter 1992 mtg SNI/DNI approve drafts for mock ballot
Jan. 1992 SNI/DNI mock ballot
Spring 1992 mtg SNI/DNI resolve mock ballot objections
Summer 1992 mtg SNI/DNI review drafts
Fall 1992 mtg SNI/DNI approve drafts for full use ballot
Nov. 1992 SNI/DNI full use ballot
Winter 1993 mtg SNI/DNI resolve full ballot objections
Spring 1993 mtg SNI/DNI resolve full ballot objections
May 1993 SNI/DNI submit approved drafts to IEEE stds. board
Summer 1993 data representation network interface goals ...
December 1989 Standards Update IEEE 1003.8/2: Networking (IPC)
Volume-Number: Volume 17, Number 108
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