RFC 1107 (rfc1107) - Page 2 of 19

Plan for Internet directory services

RFC 1107         A Plan for Internet Directory Services        July 1989


   scientists and engineers in other fields as well.  Also important and
   related is a so-called "Yellow Pages" service, which permits the
   location of Internet resources based on their attributes.

   A "White Pages" service is one in which one can look up people in
   order to learn information about them for finding them.  In its
   simplest form, a white pages service provides what the white pages
   telephone book provides.  Based on a name, one can find an address
   and a telephone number.  In a network environment, there may be many
   other kinds of location information, such as electronic mailbox,
   electronic calendar, or file server, where one might leave a file for
   the recipient.  In addition, the electronic white pages may support a
   much more sophisticated set of mechanisms for lookup.  One might
   match on a more complex set of attributes than first and last name.
   In addition, the searching might span more than one local white pages
   service.  There are a number of naming and directory service
   specifications and implementations in the field.  They have differing
   functionality and mechanisms to address that functionality.

   Within the the world of networking today, there are a number of
   partial solutions to the directory service problem.  Examples of
   these are the Internet Domain Naming Service (DNS), Clearinghouse,
   DECnet Network Architecture Naming Service (DNANS), Profile, and
   X.500.  The Domain Naming Service provides a directory service most
   commonly used for host naming and mail delivery.  Clearinghouse and
   DNANS are respectively the Xerox and DEC corporate naming services,
   originally for mail delivery, although having other uses as well, in
   both cases.  Profile is part of the work of Larry Peterson to explore
   descriptive naming in a non-hierarchical structure.

   There is a CCITT recommendation X.500 (ISO DIS 9594), which defines a
   general directory service.  One of its primary goals is the naming
   service needed for message handling (X.400).  While X.500 is still
   developing, and would need further evolution to cover all the
   requirements of a service for the Internet, it will have an important
   impact on the Internet community.  It will form the basis of
   commercial products, and it will almost certainly be the directory
   service of many parts of the network world, which implies a need to
   interoperate at a minimum.  There is some concern that despite the
   fact that X.500 is a recognized standard, there are a number of gaps
   and limitations of the approach, that in turn will cause it to be
   inadequate for the needs of the NRN.

   In this context, a meeting was held to review current requirements
   and solutions for directory services.  This RFC reports the results
   of that meeting, including the possibilities for a program of work in
   this area.




Sollins