Kamal Satish M Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd. Pune XML & Directories Kamal Satish M Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd. Pune 4/23/2019

Topics of Discussion Directories: An overview Directory Services Markup Language(DSML) DirXML The future! 4/23/2019

Directories: An overview What they are? Data Stores having hierarchical model Optimized for read operations Have a standard protocol (LDAP) for accessing their contents, over the network What are directories Talk about LDAP 4/23/2019

Directories: An overview Why they are? Directories Provide: Optimal way of naming, describing and finding information and resources Scalability Granular Access Location Independence High level of security Easy replication Platform for eCommerce Why optimal : Optimized for read, Resembles real data, LDAP Why granular : Access to attribute level Why high level of security : Security restriction down to attribute level Why platform for eCommerce : Optimal for sharing information while maintaining the level of security 4/23/2019

Directories: An overview What they don’t have? Directories provide an ideal storage medium, but they lack in the following: Standardization of the information formats Ease of sharing directory information Requires lot of coding to access and manipulate directory data Are not web enabled Standardization in terms of schema for storing a type of data. No protocol for directories to communicate with each other 4/23/2019

DSML (Directory Services Markup Language) Proposed Internet standard for sharing directory services information DSML is an XML-Schema for representing Directory Services content and structure It is the representation of directory data and not directory data storage. General confusion. 4/23/2019

DSML: Use case scenario Source: Slide from the Bowstreet’s presentation on DSML at July 12, 1999 press conference 4/23/2019

DSML: Sample A sample directory entry information represented in DSML: <?xml version="1.0"?> <dsml:dsml xmlns:dsml="http://www.dsml.org/DSML"> <dsml:entry dn="o=IMC, c=US"> <dsml:objectclass> <dsml:oc-value>top</dsml:oc-value> <dsml:oc-value>organization</dsml:oc-value> </dsml:objectclass> <dsml:attr name="o"> <dsml:value>IMC</dsml:value> </dsml:attr> </dsml:entry> </dsml:dsml> 4/23/2019

DSML: The benefits Provides a standard way to share and combine directory information over the web DSML leverages LDAP It is an open standard Applications can be written to make use of DSML and capture the scalability, replication, security and management strengths of directory services LDAP provides a means for accessing info while DSML provides a means for reading and understanding that info. Sharing between two disparate sources. Give an example of database data and directory data both required in third format to an application. 4/23/2019

DSML: Limitations Query handling absent No mechanism of translating error messages between directories No indication of how Distinguished Names of directories will be handled across different directory servers 4/23/2019

DirXML Novell's data-sharing and synchronization solution, automatically distributes new and updated information across every designated application and directory on the network Use XML to communicate with every directory on the network Uses XSLT to transform data of one directory format to another directory's format A different usage. Internal, uses DSML 4/23/2019

Source: Novell DirXML web page DirXML: Under the hood Source: Novell DirXML web page 4/23/2019

The future! Most of the directory server vendors will start supporting DSML Next version of DSML will address most of the issues mentioned in its limitations Directories will see more use in the eCommerce and internet sector because of DSML Explain the future of DSML and DirXML 4/23/2019

References DSML: http://www.dsml.org http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/dsml.org/ http://www.sunworld.com/sunworldonline/swol-03-2000/swol-03-connectivity.html/ DirXML: http://www.novell.com/products/nds/dirxml/ http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/novell19990712.html/ 4/23/2019