Network Working Group A. Getchell
Request for Comments: 1632 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
FYI: 11 S. Sataluri
Obsoletes: 1292 AT&T Bell Laboratories
Category: Informational Editors
May 1994
A Revised Catalog of Available X.500 Implementations
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo
does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of
this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This document is the result of a survey that gathered new or updated
descriptions of currently available implementations of X.500,
including commercial products and openly available offerings. This
document is a revision of
RFC1292. We contacted each contributor in
RFC1292 and requested an update and published the survey template in
several mailing lists and obtained new product descriptions.
This document contains detailed description of twenty six (26) X.500
implementations - DSAs, DUAs, and DUA interfaces.
1. Introduction
This document catalogs currently available implementations of X.500,
including commercial products and openly available offerings. For
the purposes of this survey, we classify X.500 products as,
DSA
A DSA is an OSI application process that provides the Directory
functionality,
DUA
A DUA is an OSI application process that represents a user in
accessing the Directory and uses the DAP to communicate with a
DSA, and
DUA Interface
A DUA Interface is an application process that represents a user
in accessing the Directory using either DAP but supporting only
a subset of the DAP functionality or a protocol different from
DAP to communicate with a DSA or DUA.
Section 2 of this document contains a listing of implementations
cross referenced by keyword. This list should aid in identifying
implementations that meet your criteria.
To compile this catalog, the IDS Working Group solicited input from
the X.500 community by surveying several Internet mailing lists,
including:
iso@nic.ddn.mil,
isode@nic.ddn.mil,
osi-ds@cs.ucl.ac.uk,
and
ietf-ids@umich.edu. We also contacted many people by telephone
and sent the template to several individuals and mailed a floppy disk
containing the survey template to a person who did not have Internet
access.
Readers are encouraged to submit comments regarding both the form and
content of this memo. New submissions are welcome. Please direct
input to the Integrated Directory Services (IDS) Working Group
(
ietf-ids@umich.edu) or to the editors. IDS will produce new ver-
sions of this document when a sufficient number of changes have been
received. This will be determined by the IDS chairpersons.
1.1 Purpose
The Internet has experienced a steady growth in X.500 piloting
activities. This document hopes to provide an easily accessible
source of information on X.500 implementations for those who wish to
consider X.500 technology for deploying a Directory service.
1.2 Scope
This document contains descriptions of both free and commercial X.500
implementations. It does not provide instructions on how to install,
run, or manage these implementations. The descriptions and indices
are provided to make the readers aware of available options and thus
enable more informed choices.
1.3 Disclaimer
Implementation descriptions were written by implementors and vendors,
and not by the editors. We worked with the description authors to
ensure uniformity and readability, but can not guarantee the accuracy
or completeness of the descriptions, or the stability of the
implementations.
1.4 Overview
Section 1 contains introductory information.
Section 2 contains a list of keywords, their definitions, and a cross
reference of the X.500 implementations by these keywords.
Section 3 contains the X.500 implementation descriptions.
Section 4 has a list of references.
Section 6 lists the editors' addresses.
1.5 Acknowledgments
The creation of this catalog would not have been possible without the
efforts of the description authors and the members of the IDS Working
Group. Our special thanks to the editors of
RFC1292, Ruth Lang and
Russ Wright who helped us get started and made key suggestions that
enabled us to learn from their experience. We also acknowledge and
appreciate the efforts of Ken Rossen in obtaining six descriptions.
2. Keywords
Keywords are abbreviated attributes of the X.500 implementations.
The list of keywords defined below was derived from the
implementation descriptions themselves. Implementations were indexed
by a keyword either as a result of: (1) explicit, not implied,
reference to a particular capability in the implementation
description text, or (2) input from the implementation description
author(s).
2.1 Keyword Definitions
This section contains keyword definitions. They have been organized
and grouped by functional category. The definitions are ordered
first alphabetically by keyword category, and second alphabetically
by implementation name within keyword category.
2.1.1 Availability
Available via FTP
Implementation is available using FTP.
Commercially Available
This implementation can be purchased.
Free
Available at no charge, although other restrictions may apply.
Limited Availability
Need to contact provider for terms and conditions of
distribution.
Source
Source code is available, potentially at an additional cost.
2.1.2 Conformance with Proposed Internet Standards
These RFCs specify standards track protocols for the Internet
community. Implementations which conform to these evolving proposed
standards have a higher probability of interoperating with other
implementations deployed on the Internet.
RFC-1274Implementation supports
RFC1274: Barker, P., and S. Kille, The
COSINE and Internet X.500 Schema, University College, London,
England, November 1991.
RFC-1276Implementation supports
RFC1276: Kille, S., Replication and
Distributed Operations extensions to provide an Internet
Directory using X.500, University College, London, England,
November 1991.
RFC-1277Implementation supports
RFC1277: Kille, S., Encoding Network
Addresses to support operation over non-OSI lower layers,
University College, London, England, November 1991.
RFC-1485Implementation supports
RFC1485: Kille, S., A String
Representation of Distinguished Names, ISODE Consortium, July
1993.
RFC-1487Implementation supports
RFC1487: Yeong, W., T. Howes, and S.
Kille, X.500 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, July 1993.
2.1.3 Consistence with Informational and Experimental Internet RFCs
These RFCs provide information to the Internet community and are not
Internet standards. Compliance with these RFCs is not necessary for
interoperability but may enhance functionality.
RFC-1202Implementation supports
RFC1202: Rose, M. T., Directory
Assistance Service. February 1991.
RFC-1249Implementation supports
RFC1249: Howes, T., M. Smith, and B.
Beecher, DIXIE Protocol Specification, University of Michigan,
August 1991.
RFC-1275Implementation supports
RFC1275: Kille, S., Replication
Requirements to provide an Internet Directory using X.500,
University College, London, England, November 1991.
RFC-1278Implementation supports
RFC1278: Kille, S., A string encoding
of Presentation Address, University College, London, England,
November 1991.
RFC-1279Implementation supports
RFC1279: Kille, S., X.500 and Domains,
University College, London, England, November 1991.
RFC-1484Implementation supports
RFC1484: Kille, S., Using the OSI
Directory to achieve User Friendly Naming, ISODE Consortium,
July 1993.
2.1.4 Implementation Type
API
Implementation comes with an application programmer's interface
(i.e., a set of libraries and include files).
DSA Only
Implementation consists of a DSA only. No DUA is included.
DSA/DUA
Both a DSA and DUA are included in this implementation.
DUA Interface
Implementation is a DUA-like program that uses either DAP, but
supporting only a subset of the DAP functionality, or uses a
protocol different from DAP to communicate with a DSA or DUA.
DUA Only
Implementation consists of a DUA only. No DSA is included.
LDAP
DUA interface program uses the Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP).
2.1.5 Internetworking Environment
CLNS
Implementation operates over the OSI ConnectionLess Network
Service (CLNS).
OSI Transport
Implementation operates over one or more OSI transport
protocols.
RFC-1006Implementation operates over
RFC-1006 with TCP/IP transport
service.
RFC-1006 is an Internet Standard.
X.25
Implementation operates over OSI X.25.
2.1.6 Pilot Connectivity
DUA Connectivity
The DUA can be connected to the pilot, and information on any
pilot entry looked up. The DUA is able to display standard
attributes and object classes and those defined in the COSINE
and Internet Schema.
DSA Connectivity
The DSA is connected to the DIT, and information in this DSA is
accessible from any pilot DUA.
2.1.7 Miscellaneous
Included in ISODE
DUAs that are part of ISODE.
Limited Functionality
Survey states that the implementation has some shortcomings or
intended lack of functionality, e.g., omissions were part of the
design to provide an easy-to-use user interface.
Motif
Implementation provides a Motif-style X Window user interface.
Needs ISODE
ISODE is required to compile and/or use this implementation.
OpenLook
Implementation provides an OpenLook-style X Window user
interface.
X Window System
Implementation uses the X Window System to provide its user
interface.
2.1.8 Operating Environment
386
Implementation runs on a 386-based platform.
Bull
Implementation runs on a Bull platform.
CDC
Implementation runs on a CDC MIPS platform.
DEC ULTRIX
Implementation runs under DEC ULTRIX.
DEC Vax OpenVMS
Implementation runs on a DEC VAX platform running OpenVMS.
HP
Implementation runs on an HP platform.
IBM PC
Implementation runs on a PC.
IBM RISC
Implementation runs on IBM's RISC UNIX workstation.
ICL
Implementation runs on an ICL platform.
Macintosh
Implementation runs on a Macintosh.
Multiple Vendor Platforms
Implementation runs on more than one hardware platform.
Sequent
Implementation runs on a Sequent platform.
SNI
Implementation runs on a Siemens Nixdorf platform.
Solbourne
Implementation runs on a Solbourne platform.
Sun
Implementation runs on a Sun platform.
Tandem
Implementation runs on a Tandem platform.
UNIX
Implementation runs on a generic UNIX platform.
Wang
Implementation runs on a Wang RISC platform.
2.2 Implementations Indexed by Keyword
This section contains an index of implementations by keyword. You
can use this list to identify particular implementations that meet
your chosen criteria.
The index is organized as follows: keywords appear in alphabetical
order; implementations characterized by that keyword are listed
alphabetically as well. Note that a "*" is used to indicate that the
particular implementation, or feature of the implementation, may not
be available at this time.
For formatting purposes, we have used the following abbreviations for
implementation names: BULL S.A. (Bull X500-DS and X500-DUA), DEC
X.500 DSA (DEC X.500 Directory Server), DEC X.500 Admin (DEC X.500
Administration Facility), HP X.500 DD (HP X.500 Distributed
Directory), LDAP (University of Michigan LDAP Implementation), OSI
Access & Dir (OSI Access and Directory), and Traxis (Traxis
Enterprise Directory).
386 CLNS