Subject: DHC ldap schema comments

From: Leif Johansson <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 10:53:05 +0200

Some comments on the -00 ldap schema draft. I am not a member of
the dhc wg so please cc any comments to me. The comments based on
a first reading:

* The schema description should be rewritten in the usual form
of schema drafts -- one section per schema element with the 
full rfc2252 format included. Currently the format is some kind 
of pseudo-formal but non-rfc2252 compliant format where the 
"ldif" format is in an appendix. Also the DESC fields of the 
schema seems to be part of the schema element specification 
and not as it should be a text string which can be displayed 
to a client or a management app. In fact imho you should be able
to delete/ignore all DESC-fields and still be able to implement
the schema.

* I have a problem with the dhcpStatements attribute. It looks
like a kitchen-sink attribute for anything not covered by other
attributes. This strikes me as a bad idea. Also the syntax of
the attribute is ia5string which is not very flexible.

* I am glad to see that the authors have tried to avoid
specifying an information model which place requirements on
directory structure but there are still some places -- for instance
dhcpService is specified to contain a certain set of object
classes. Note that this is not possible to express in terms of
ldap schema elements since ldap (as opposed to x.509) does not 
include naming and structure rules. I am not sure if this is
a big problem in this particular case and I have to think more
carefully about it. You should seriously consider if this kind of 
naming and/or structure requirements are needed or can at least
be expressed in the schema (for instance using DN references).

	Cheers

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Leif Johansson				Phone: +46 8 164541		
IT- and media services
Stockholm University 			email: [email-masked] 	

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