jsh@usenix.org (Jeffrey S. Haemer) (12/18/89)
From: Jeffrey S. Haemer <jsh@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@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) - 3 - 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@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) - 4 - 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