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