RFC 1609 (rfc1609) - Page 2 of 15


Charting Networks in the X



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



RFC 1609        Charting Networks in the X.500 Directory      March 1994


Table of Contents

      1. Introduction                                       2
      2. Infrastructural information requirements           2
      3. The Nature of the Network Map - The X.500 Solution 4
      4. The hierarchical model of a network                5
      4.1 Network maps                                      5
      4.2 Representation in the X.500 Directory             6
      5. Position in The Directory Information Tree(DIT)    7
      6. Proposed Schemes                                   8
      6.1 Communication Object Classes                      9
      6.2 Physical elements                                10
      6.2.1 Network                                        10
      6.2.2 Node                                           11
      6.2.3 NetworkInterface                               12
      6.3 Logical Elements                                 12
      6.3.1 Network                                        13
      6.3.2 Node                                           13
      6.3.3 NetworkInterface                               13
      7. Security Considerations                           14
      8. Authors' Addresses                                14
      9. References                                        15

1. Introduction

   The rapid and widespread use of computer networking has highlighted
   the importance of holding and servicing information about the
   networking infrastructure itself.  The growing and active interest in
   network management, which has concentrated mainly in the areas of
   fault and performance management on a local scale, is severely
   constrained by the lack of any organized pool of information about
   the network infrastructure itself. Some attempts have been made, on a
   piecemeal basis, to provide a larger view of some particular aspect
   of the network (WHOIS, DNS, .. in the case of the Internet; [1],
   [2]).  But to date, little or no effort has been made in setting up
   the infrastructural framework, for such an information pool. In this
   work we explore the possibility of setting up a framework to hold and
   serve the infrastructural information of a network.

2. Infrastructural information requirements

   Network operation and management requires information about the
   structure of the network, the nodes, links and their properties.
   Further, with current networks extending literally beyond bounds, the
   scope of the information covers networks beyond the span of local
   domain of authority or administration.  When the Network was
   relatively small and simple the map was already known to the
   knowledgable network administrator.  Based on this knowledge the



Mansfield, Johannsen & Knopper