[dsml] Fwd: DSML is still important

[Winston Bumpus <WBUMPUS@novell.com>]

All,

 

I would like to suggest a call or meeting in the next couple of weeks to discuss DSML next steps. There was a lot of discussion last week at the Open Group DIF meeting about the possible future of Directories and the emerging Web Services technologies. I have attached Dave's latest newsletter and it is a good call to action. I am not sure that taking on unfinished LDAP work is the right activity, but there is certainly work to be done.

 

What do folks think?

 

Talk to you soon,

Winston 

--- Begin Message ---

• From: NW on Directory Services <DirectoryServices@bdcimail.com>
• To: wbumpus@novell.com
• Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 18:10:00 -0500

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER DAVE KEARNS on 
DIRECTORIES
07/31/02
Today's focus: DSML is still important

Dear Winston Bumpus,

In this issue:

* DSML's future as the preferred method of interoperability 
  among directories
* Links related to Directory Services
* Featured reader resource

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Today's focus: DSML is still important

By Dave Kearns

I didn't mean to imply in last week's newsletter that the 
Directory Services Markup Language was no longer relevant. It 
was Burton Group analyst Mike Neuschwander who said that. He's 
wrong, and I'm here to tell you why.

Mike seemed to imply that the work of the Security Assertions 
Markup Language (SAML) committee had overtaken the work of the 
DSML folk. In one way, that's true. I, along with a number of 
others, had urged that the DSML people should concentrate on 
new opportunities for the directory rather than spin out an XML 
replacement for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. We 
suggested that an XML gateway to Lightweight Directory Access 
Protocol (LDAP) would be sufficient. We just didn't have the 
votes.

The DSML committee went on to do yeoman work in restructuring 
the best parts of LDAP into an XML jacket - DSML Version 2 is 
an excellent bit of work. But business people wishing to get on 
with the authentication required to implement the various 
activities lumped together as "Web services" needed a cross-
platform specification that at least started the journey on the 
path towards the Holy Grail of Webwide single sign-on. To that 
end, a group of like-minded people formed the SAML committee 
and delivered a well-designed initial specification (see the 
previous issue of this newsletter for more information).

So DSML won't be the glamorous front-end for Web services. It 
nevertheless has a great looking future as the preferred method 
of interoperability among directories - and other identity 
storage mechanisms. 

We've pretty much gotten all of LDAP Version 3 (at least, all 
the parts we want to keep) into DSML Version 2. The next step 
should be to take up what appears to be the abandoned work of 
the various Internet Engineering Task Force LDAP working groups 
and incorporate their accomplishments into an upcoming DSML 
spec.

In particular, the LDUP (LDAP Duplication/Replication/Update 
Protocols) committee's work needs to be revitalized and brought 
into the DSML arena.

I had the chance to speak with LDUP co-chair Chris Apple during 
the recent Catalyst conference and he's adamant that the work 
being done by the LDUP group needs to continue. I couldn't 
agree more. We need standardized ways to handle duplication and 
replication of data if we are ever to achieve truly federated 
systems. No one believes that a single directory service will 
emerge as a de facto standard any time in the foreseeable 
future, so those systems we are using need to be completely 
interoperable.

But XML is the wave of the future, and the DSML group needs to 
work to see that all things directory related are covered by 
either a single specification or, at least, related 
specifications. There will not be an LDAP Version 4. There will 
be a DSML Version 3. It's time to move all development into the 
DSML group.

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Archive of the Directory Services newsletter:
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