home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
Text File | 1993-02-25 | 41.3 KB | 1,067 lines |
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Network Working Group P. Barker
- Request for Comments: 1431 University College London
- February 1993
-
-
- DUA Metrics
-
- Status of this Memo
-
- This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
- not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is
- unlimited.
-
- Abstract
-
- This RFC is being distributed to members of the Internet community in
- order to solicit their reactions to the proposals contained in it.
- While the issues discussed may not be directly relevant to the
- research problems of the Internet, they may be interesting to a
- number of researchers and implementers.
-
- This document defines a set of criteria by which a DUA
- implementation, or more precisely a Directory user interface, may be
- judged. Particular issues covered include terminal requirements;
- style of interface; target user; default object classes and attribute
- types; use of DAP; error handling. The focus of the note is on
- "white pages" DUAs: this is a reflection of the current information
- base. Nevertheless much of the document will be applicable to DUAs
- developed for other types of Directory usage.
-
- Please send comments to the author or to the discussion group <osi-
- ds@CS.UCL.AC.UK>.
-
- Table of Contents
-
- 1. Overview................................................ 2
- 2. General Information..................................... 3
- 3. Conformance to OSI Standards............................ 5
- 3.1 Directory protocols.............................. 5
- 3.2 Protocol stacks.................................. 5
- 3.3 Schema .......................................... 5
- 3.4 DIT structure .................................. 5
- 4. Conformance to Research Community Standards............. 6
- 5. The General Style of the DUA............................ 6
- 6. Schema.................................................. 7
- 6.1 Object Classes and Attribute Types............... 7
- 6.2 DIT structure.................................... 8
- 7. Entering queries........................................ 9
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 1]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- 8. Strategy for locating entries........................... 9
- 9. Displaying results...................................... 10
- 10. Association Handling.................................... 11
- 11. Suitability for management.............................. 12
- 12. Query Resolution........................................ 13
- 13. International Languages................................. 16
- 14. User Friendliness....................................... 16
- 15. Operational Use......................................... 17
- 16. Security Considerations................................. 19
- 17. Author's Address........................................ 19
-
- 1. Overview
-
- The purpose of this document is to define some metrics by which DUA
- products can be measured. It should be first be noted that the use
- of the term "DUA" is rather misleading. There is an assumption here
- that the DUA is implemented correctly and is able to "talk" valid
- X.500 protocol: this is a sine qua non. Instead, this document seeks
- to draw out the characteristics of Directory user interfaces.
- However, the term DUA is persisted with as it is used by most people
- when referring to Directory user interfaces. The format of these DUA
- metrics is essentially a questionnaire which extracts a detailed
- description of a user interface. DUAs come in very different forms.
- Many make use of windowing environments, offering a "high-tech" view
- of the Directory, while others are designed to work in a terminal
- environment. Some interfaces offer extensive control over the
- Directory, and thus may be well-suited to Directory managers, while
- others are aimed more at the novice user. Some interfaces are
- configurable to allow searches for any attribute in any part of the
- DIT, while others lack this generality but are focussed on handling
- the most typical queries well. In many aspects, it is almost
- impossible to say that one DUA is better than other from looking at
- the responses to question in this document. A flexible management
- tool will be better for management than a DUA aimed at servicing
- simple look-ups, and vice-versa. Furthermore, in other areas, there
- are several radically different approaches to a problem, but it is
- not as yet clear whether one approach is better than another. One
- example of this is the extent to which a DUA provides an abstraction
- of the underlying DIT hierarchy, either emphasising the world as a
- tree or trying to conceal this from the user.
-
- However, other aspects, such as whether the DUA can actually find the
- entries required, and if so, how quickly, can be directly measured in
- some way. Throughout this document, some of the questions posed are
- annotated with a square-bracketed points score and an explanation as
- to how the points should be allocated. For example, a question might
- be appended with "[2 if yes]", indicating score 2 points for an
- affirmative answer to that question. These points scores should be
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 2]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- collated in Table 1 at the end of the document, and this table
- constitutes a measure of the DUA. The metrics are on a section by
- section basis, which should help the reader who is seeking, for
- example, a DUA with good management capabilities which runs on a wide
- variety of platforms, to focus on the critical aspects of a DUA for
- the particular requirement.
-
- 2. General Information
-
- This section contains general information about the implementation
- under discussion.
-
- 1. Name of the implementation ......................................
-
- 2. Version number of the DUA described in this document ............
-
- 3. Are further versions planned? [3 if yes] .......................
-
- 4. Name and address of supplier or person to contact ...............
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 5. Describe the hardware and software platforms on which the DUA will
- run. Some DUAs are split into a user interface part, and a DUA
- server part, communicating by means of a protocol. If the DUA is
- of the type where the DUA protocol machinery and user agent are
- implemented in a single process, complete only the user interface
- section, and indicate "n/a" for the DUA server and
- communications protocol questions.
-
- (a) User interface part [1 per platform, up to a maximum of 4]
-
- i. Hardware (If appropriate, can summarise as, for example,
-
- ii. O/S (state version if critical)
-
- A. UNIX (be sure to indicate which flavour - e.g., SYSV,
- BSD, SUNOS, etc) ....................................
- ........................................................
-
- B. VMS) ................................................
-
- C. MS-DOS ..............................................
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 3]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- D. MS-Windows ..........................................
-
- E. Macintosh ...........................................
-
- F. Other) ..............................................
-
- (b) DUA server part (or n/a) ....................................
-
- i. Hardware (If appropriate, can summarise as, for example,
- "generic UNIX platform", or "386 PC") ...............
-
- ii. O/S (state version if critical)
-
- A. UNIX (be sure to indicate which flavour - e.g., SYSV,
- BSD, SUNOS, etc) ....................................
-
- B. VMS) ................................................
-
- C. MS-DOS ..............................................
-
- D. Macintosh ...........................................
-
- E. Other) ..............................................
-
- iii. How does the user interface communicate with the DUA
- server?
-
- A. Directory Assistance Service, as described in RFC1202
- ........................................................
-
- B. DIXIE protocol, as described in RFC1249 .............
-
- C. LDAP protocol, as described in Internet Draft OSI-DS
- 26
-
- D. Other ...............................................
-
- (c) Name any other software required to run the DUA which is not
- supplied with the operating system or with the DUA software
- itself. Examples might include X.500 DAP libraries, or
- communications software .....................................
-
- 6. Is the software free? If the DUA needs other packages, are these
- also freely available? [3 if completely free] ..................
- ....................................................................
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 4]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- 3. Conformance to OSI Standards
-
- 3.1 Directory protocols
-
- 7. Please list all conformance testing work applied to the DUA
- implementation (here the term DUA is used correctly in the sense
- of the DUA protocol machinery) [2 if any conformance work has been
- done] ...........................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 3.2 Protocol stacks
-
- For the next two questions, [2 per stack supported for up to 4
- stacks]
-
- 8. Which of the following transport and network layer protocols does
- the DUA support:
-
- (a) TP.x over CONS (state transport class) ......................
-
- (b) TP.4 over CLNS ..............................................
-
- 9. Does the DUA support other transport and "network" layer
- protocols?
-
- (a) TP.x over RFC1006 over TCP/IP (state transport class) .......
-
- (b) TP.x over X.25(1980) (state transport class) ................
-
- (c) State any other options supported. .........................
-
- 10. Does the DUA also run over any lightweight stack? If so, describe
- it with reference to the OSI seven layer model [3] ..............
- ....................................................................
-
- 3.3 Schema
-
- 11. Does the DUA support the full schema in X.520 and X.521 (y/n)?
- (Omissions should be described in response to a later question) [2
- for full schema support] ........................................
-
- 3.4 DIT structure
-
- 12. Does the DUA only follow object class hierarchies which conform to
- the suggested DIT structure in X.521?............................
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 5]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- 4. Conformance to Research Community Standards
-
- The COSINE and Internet Directory Pilots have agreed a set of
- extensions to the standard, which make for a more cohesive pilot.
- This section is about conformance to these extensions.
-
- 13. Does the DUA fully support RFC1274, "The COSINE and Internet
- X.500 Schema" (y/n)? (Omissions should be described in response
- to a later question) [2 for full support] .......................
-
- 14. Can the DUA handle referrals whose network addresses conform to
- RFC1277, "Encoding Network Addresses to support operation over
- non-OSI lower layers"? [2 if yes] .............................
-
- 15. Does the DUA handle the Distinguished Name string syntax described
- in OSI-DS 23, "A String Representation of Distinguished Names"
- [2 if yes] ......................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 16. Does the DUA use the user-friendly naming query resolution
- described in OSI-DS 24, "Using the OSI Directory to achieve User
- Friendly Naming" [2 if yes] ....................................
-
- 17. Does the DUA make use of the Quality of Service schema extensions
- described in OSI-DS 15, "Handling QOS (Quality of service) in the
- Directory" [2 if yes] ..........................................
-
- 5. The General Style of the DUA
-
- 18. Is this a "white pages" interface, designed to give access to
- information about people within organisations? If not, state the
- types of information at which this interface is targetted .......
- ....................................................................
-
- 19. If this is a white pages DUA, who is it principally designed to
- serve? Indicate more than one of the following categories if
- appropriate (but please do not fill in so may categories as to
- hide due emphasis): [mark allocated should be the highest for any
- single classification]
-
- (a) The ordinary user, who has no understanding of X.500, the
- hierarchical DIT, the state of advancement of the pilot, etc.
- [10] ........................................................
-
- (b) A secretary who wants to do telephone or room number look-ups
- within their department or organisation [8] .................
-
- (c) A computer-literate user, who habitually uses a wide-range of
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 6]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- network services [6] ........................................
-
- (d) An organisation's (or department's) data manager [4] ........
-
- (e) A Directory system manager [2] ..............................
-
- 20. Which best describes the use the DUA makes of the user's terminal?
-
- (a) Scrolling, line-mode interface ..............................
-
- (b) Full screen, "vt100" style interface ......................
-
- (c) X-Windows ...................................................
-
- (d) MS-Windows ..................................................
-
- (e) Macintosh ...................................................
-
- (f) Other .......................................................
-
- 21. Does the DUA tend to emphasise or de-emphasise the DIT hierarchy?
- ....................................................................
-
- 22. Describe the interface in your own terms (up to about 50 words)
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 6. Schema
-
- 6.1 Object Classes and Attribute Types
-
- Some DUAs are tightly focussed on answering particular queries: for
- example, white pages look-ups for information about people. Others
- offer more general capabilities. Please answer this question
- accordingly.
-
- 23. If the DUA has a tight focus, state:
-
- (a) The target object classes ...................................
- ................................................................
-
- (b) The default attribute types .................................
- ................................................................
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 7]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- (c) Other attribute types which may be configured. This might be
- answered as, for example, "all barring photo and audio", or
- as a list of supported attribute types ......................
- ................................................................
-
- 24. If the DUA has more general capabilities, state:
-
- (a) State any object classes in X.521 which cannot be searched for
- ................................................................
-
- (b) State any object classes in RFC1274 which cannot be searched
- for..........................................................
- ................................................................
-
- (c) State any attributes in X.521 which cannot be displayed......
- ................................................................
-
- (d) State any attributes in RFC1274 which cannot be displayed....
- ................................................................
-
- 6.2 DIT structure
-
- 25. DUAs often have a default object class hierarchy (e.g., it might
- assume countries at the root of the DIT, organisations immediately
- under countries, and people somewhere under organisations.
- Describe the type of hierarchy which the DUA most closely accords
- to:
-
- (a) Rigid .......................................................
-
- (b) Rigid, but several hierarchies supported ....................
-
- (c) Default hierarchy offered, but many hierarchies are supported
- ................................................................
-
- (d) Default hierarchy offered, but DUA fully flexible ...........
-
- (e) No default hierarchy, DUA fully flexible ....................
-
- 26. If a default hierarchy is offered, please describe it ...........
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 27. State any hierarchies, which are valid according to X.521's
- suggested DIT structure, but which cannot be queried (exclude
- hierarchies which cannot be queried because the DUA does not query
- for entries of particular object classes) .......................
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 8]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- ....................................................................
-
- 7. Entering queries
-
- The term "querying" is used here as a generic term for finding an
- entry, whether it be as a simple look-up, or the prelude to a
- modification operation.
-
- 28. Which best describes the query entry style?
-
- (a) Form filling (user responds to a set of prompts) ............
-
- i. Query specified first, then resolved ....................
-
- ii. Query entry and resolution mixed ........................
-
- iii. Both modes possible .....................................
-
- (b) Queries entered as "user-friendly names" ..................
-
- (c) Querying is by "navigating" around the DIT, the user
- searching and selecting .....................................
-
- (d) Other (please describe) .....................................
- ................................................................
-
- 8. Strategy for locating entries
-
- A number of strategies are employed by DUAs to find the entry the
- user is looking for. These have implications for user-friendliness
- and performance. For example, an interface which makes extensive use
- of search operations may be excellent at finding entries, but at the
- cost of being intolerably slow.
-
- 29. Which of the following strategies most closely accords with the
- behaviour of the DUA?
-
- (a) The DUA always uses search operations to find entries .......
-
- (b) The DUA offers users a list of entries, and invites the user
- to select from the list .....................................
-
- (c) The DUA only tries read operations (i.e., the DN must be
- exactly right) ..............................................
-
- (d) The DUA tries read operations first, then searches for
- something similar if no entry can be found ..................
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 9]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- (e) The DUA tries read operations first, then offers a list of
- possible entries if no entry can be found ...................
-
- (f) User explicitly controls the X.500 operation which is invoked
-
- (g) Other. Please describe......................................
- ................................................................
-
- 30. Does the DUA allow a user to "list" (either by the list
- operation or by a single level search operation) all the child
- entries of a node (notwithstanding administrative limits)? .....
-
- 31. Does the DUA follow aliases? ...................................
- If so, does it do so:
-
- (a) Always? ....................................................
-
- (b) Optionally? ................................................
-
- 32. Will the DUA optionally follow links to other entries by using
- attributes such as seeAlso and roleOccupant with a DN syntax? ..
-
- 9. Displaying results
-
- 33. Are the strings used to describe attribute types freely and
- independently configurable? [2] ................................
-
- 34. Name any attribute types where the attribute values may be
- presented in local formats? (For example, it may be possible to
- configure the display of telephone numbers so that local numbers
- are shown as extensions, rather than with the full international
- dialling code.) [1 per attribute, up to a maximum of 4] ........
- ....................................................................
-
- 35. Does the DUA allow for the display of more than one result at a
- time (showing attribute values other than the name of the entry)?
- If so, how many entries may be displayed in response to a single
- query? [2 if feature provided] .................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 36. Does the DUA support the notion of a quick synopsis, where a small
- core of attributes is retrieved initially, and a larger set is
- returned if required? [2 if yes] ...............................
-
- 37. What does the DUA do with attribute types it doesn't support in
- its sub-schema, but which have a standard syntax? ..............
-
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 10]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- 38. What does the DUA do with attributes which have are not in its
- sub-schema, and which have a non-standard syntax?
-
- (a) Ignore them? ...............................................
-
- (b) Tell user, but don't display? ..............................
-
- (c) Display hex BER encoded value? .............................
-
- (d) Display in some other format? ..............................
-
- 10. Association Handling
-
- This section is concerned with how a DUA handles its association with
- the Directory.
-
- 39. How/where is the access point to the Directory configured? If
- more than one method, indicate which ways are possible. [1 per
- method, up to maximum of 3]
-
- (a) In a system-wide tailor file ................................
-
- (b) In a per user tailor file ...................................
-
- (c) As a run-time command line argument .........................
-
- (d) Other. Please describe .....................................
- ................................................................
-
- 40. Does the DUA allow for automatic connection to a back-up DSA if
- the access point DSA is unavailable? [2 if yes] ................
-
- 41. Can the DUA keep connections open to more than one DSA at a time?
- [1 if yes] ......................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 42. Does the DUA keep an idle connection open to the DSA(s). If not,
- describe the timeout strategy. [1 if yes] ......................
- ....................................................................
-
- 43. Does the DUA handle referrals automatically? [2 if yes] ........
- If not: does the DUA handle referrals at all? [1 if yes] ......
-
- 44. Does the DUA make use of asynchronous operations?
-
- (a) Does the DUA bind asynchronously? [2 if yes]................
-
- (b) Are the operations handled asynchronously? .................
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 11]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- If so, is this true for:
-
- i. All operations? [2 if yes] .............................
-
- ii. Some operations? [1 if yes] ............................
-
- 45. Does the DUA use size and time limits by default? [2 if no
- limits, or limits may be over-ridden] If so: ...................
-
- (a) What size limit is used? ...................................
-
- (b) What time limit is used? ...................................
-
- (c) Are these limits overridable? ..............................
-
- 11. Suitability for management
-
- This section is intended to establish the range of operations
- supported by the DUA and, in particular, whether it is suitable for
- management tasks.
-
- 46. Is it possible to invoke all the operations in the Directory
- Abstract Service? If not, say which operations it does use [2 if
- all] ............................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 47. Is the user given full control over the service controls? If not,
- say which may be controlled, or none at all [2 if full, 1 if some
- control] ........................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 48. Is it possible to manage system attributes with the DUA? If so,
- indicate which DSA implementations for which this DUA provides
- management capabilities. .......................................
-
- (a) Knowledge [1]................................................
-
- (b) Replication information [1] .................................
-
- (c) Other .......................................................
-
- 49. Access control notwithstanding, does the DUA allow the following?
-
- (a) Attribute management [2 for all below, 1 for some]
-
- i. Addition ................................................
-
- ii. Modification ............................................
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 12]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- iii. Deletion ................................................
-
- (b) Entry management [2 for all below, 1 for some]
-
- i. Addition ................................................
-
- ii. Modification ............................................
-
- iii. Deletion ................................................
-
- iv. Renaming ................................................
-
- 12. Query Resolution
-
- This section discusses the process of query resolution. While two
- DUAs may both be able to resolve a query using the same information,
- one may do so much more quickly than the other. Some DUAs may be
- more "economic" in their use of DAP operations to achieve the same
- results. Some DUAs may find the correct results even when the users'
- input corresponds rather weakly to Directory names. Three aspects of
- query resolution are measured:
-
- o Does the DUA actually find the required entry?
-
- o If the required entry is found, how many entries were returned as
- well?
-
- o How "expensive" was the query in terms of underlying X.500
- operations, whether the query was resolved successfully or not?
-
- The following set of queries might all conceivably be resolved such
- that the author's Directory entry be found. The queries are split
- into 2 groups: the first group SHOULD pose no difficulties for a
- reasonable DUA; the second group are more problematic. In each case,
- award [2] marks if the query found the author's entry successfully.
- The expensiveness of each query should be measured using the
- following formula, which introduces the notion of SearchStones! The
- SearchStone rating is calculated by adding together the total
- operations used in attempting to resolve a query, weighted thus:
-
- o Bind [5]
-
- o Read operation [1]
-
- o List operation [2]
-
- o Search single level for countries, organisations or
- localities [3]
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 13]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- o Search single level for organisational units, people or roles [3]
-
- o Search subtree [5]
-
- Note: The single level searches have been separated into two
- categories in acknowledgement that certain types of search are
- much more likely to span multiple DSAs than others. The
- weightings are the same for the moment because of the
- pervasiveness of the Quipu implementation, which replicates all
- sibling entries in a single DSA, whatever the level in the DIT.
-
- The notion of SearchStones merits some further explanation and the
- statement of some caveats.
-
- The idea is to give some broad brush view of the work being
- undertaken by a DUA to retrieve an entry. There will be some
- correspondence between a low SearchStone rating and a DUA responding
- quickly, and vice-versa, although this correlation is not consistent,
- for reasons given below. It would be desirable to be able to have
- some timing information for the resolution of queries, but such
- results would only be meaningful if the tests were for target entries
- widely distributed throughout the DIT. Maybe this is something for
- the future? In the meantime it is worth noting some of the factors
- which militate against simple minded interpretation of the
- SearchStones.
-
- o The DIT is not uniform, with the depth varying considerably
-
- o While the DIT is currently mastered mostly by DSAs of a single
- implementation, this will be decreasingly the case, and other DSAs
- may have very different performance profiles.
-
- o Different directory domains are already adopting different
- strategies on information replication with profound performance
- implications.
-
- o No weighting is given to different search filters, or to boolean
- combinations of filters.
-
- While acknowledging the difficulty of the exercise, there are counter
- arguments:
-
- o Some DUAs are better than others at finding the required results
-
- o Some DUAs will get the required results more quickly than most
-
- o DUA designers have to build DUAs in the knowledge that the DIT is
- heterogeneous with respect to DSA implementation and DIT structure
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 14]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- One possible way forward would be to refine the test queries such
- that they better represented the diversity of the DIT. However, as a
- first step, the tests are restricted to queries which could
- reasonably be constructed as searches for the author's entry. The
- author's entry is held in part of the DIT which is representative of
- much of the current DIT. It is suggested that in order to normalise
- the tests as much as possible, that testing be performed by
- connecting to the target DSA directly. The DSA's name is "cn=Vicuna,
- c=GB", and the addresses of the DSA may be found in the presentation
- address attribute for that entry. Note that the SearchStone rating
- should be shown even for queries which cannot be resolved.
-
- First, the straightforward queries:
-
- 50. NAME=Paul Barker, OU=Computer Science, O=University College
- London, C=GB
-
- 51. NAME=Paul Barker, OU=Computer Science, O=UCL, C=GB
-
- 52. NAME=Barker, OU=Computer, O=UCL, C=GB
-
- 53. NAME=Barker, O=UCL, C=GB
-
- 54. NAME=p barker, O=university college, C=GB
-
- 55. NAME=paul b, OU=cs, O=university college, C=GB
-
- More difficult queries:
-
- 56. NAME=p b, O=university college, C=uk
-
- 57. NAME=Paul Barker, OU=Computer Networking, O=london college, C=GB
-
- 58. NAME=Paul Baker (sic), OU=cs, O=ucl, C=Britain
-
- 59. NAME=p baker (sic), O=UCL, C=England
-
- 60. NAME=Paul Barker, OU=Directories, O=london, C=United Kingdom
-
- Other general questions:
-
- 61. Will the DUA attempt a query of the form "Find all the Smiths in
- Britain"? .....................................................
-
- If so, does it do it by:
-
- (a) A single query under the country node? .....................
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 15]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- (b) Multiple queries under all organisation nodes? .............
-
- 62. Does the DUA allow "hands-off" querying whereby the details of a
- query may be entered in one go, and the DUA attempts to resolve
- the query without any further user intervention? ...............
-
- 13. International Languages
-
- 63. Does the DUA offer multi-lingual support. If so: ..............
-
- (a) State which languages are already supported [1 per language up
- to a maximum of 3] ..........................................
- ................................................................
-
- 64. Can the DUA handle national language characters not found in
- PrintableString? [2 if yes] ....................................
-
- 14. User Friendliness
-
- 65. Is run-time help available? [2 if yes] .........................
- If so:
-
- (a) Is context-sensitive help available? [1 if yes] ............
-
- (b) How many screens/windows? ..................................
-
- (c) How many bytes of help information? [2 if more than 5 Kbytes
- of text, 1 if more than 3 Kbytes] ...........................
-
- 66. Are the error messages terse renderings of the X.500 service
- errors, or user-friendly!? As an example, provide the error
- message displayed to the user if an administrative limit is
- exceeded. [2 if user-orientated, 1 if administrator-orientated, 0
- if no message at all] ...........................................
- ....................................................................
- ....................................................................
-
- 67. If modify operations are provided, is there support for editing
- the attributes correctly with the appropriate syntax (e.g., does
- the DUA guide the user that addresses are of up to 6 lines of up
- to 30 characters; what support is given for entering distinguished
- names) [2 for postal address support, 2 for DN support, 1 for any
- other support] ..................................................
-
- 68. Is the user allowed to see what sort of entries are in the
- Directory if they are unable to find the entry they are looking
- for? [1 if yes] ................................................
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 16]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- 69. Does the DUA allow automatic following of attributes with DN
- values, such as seeAlso and roleOccupant? [1 if yes]............
-
- 15. Operational Use
-
- The DUA exists. But is there any evidence to suggest that it is a
- usable tool?
-
- 70. Is this DUA widely in use? [5 if used by more than 20 orgs, 3 if
- by more than 10 orgs, 2 if by more than 5 orgs, 1 if used
- operationally to provide a service anywhere] ....................
-
- (a) Is this DUA in use anywhere in the COSINE/Internet Pilot? ..
- ................................................................
-
- (b) Is this DUA in use in any other major pilot? ...............
-
- (c) Is this DUA in use anywhere else operationally? ............
-
- 71. Has this DUA been assessed by groups outside of the software
- developers or providers? .......................................
-
- 72. If so, are the assessments public? Please provide copies of these
- assessments if they are available ...............................
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 17]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- __________________________________________________________
- |_____Section_____|_____Points____|______________________|
- |No._|Description_|Maximum_|Scored|______________________|
- | | | | | |
- |__2_|Gen_Info____|__10____|...___|__________n/a_________|
- | | | | | |
- |__3_|Conf_to_OSI_|__15____|...___|__________n/a_________|
- | |Conf to Res | | | |
- |__4_|Comm_stds___|__10____|...___|__________n/a_________|
- | | | | | |
- |__5_|Gen_Style___|__10____|_...__|__________n/a_________|
- | | | | | |
- |__9_|Disp_Res____|__10____|_...__|__________n/a_________|
- | | | | | |
- |_10_|Assoc_hand._|__15____|_...__|__________n/a_________|
- | | | | | |
- |_11_|Man_cap_____|__10____|_...__|__________n/a_________|
- | 12 |Query res | | |Search |No. of other |
- | | | | |Stones |entries found |
- |____|Q._50_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._51_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._52_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._53_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._54_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 18]
-
- RFC 1431 DUA Metrics February 1993
-
-
- __________________________________________________________
- |_____Section_____|_____Points____|______________________|
- |No._|Description_|Maximum_|Scored|______________________|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._55_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._56_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._57_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._58_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._59_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | | |
- |____|Q._60_______|__2_____|_...__|_...___|:_...._....___|
- | | | | | |
- |_13_|Int_Lang____|__5_____|_...__|__________n/a_________|
- | 14 |User-fr | | | |
- | | | | | |
- | |Query DUA | 10 | .... | n/a |
- | | | | | |
- |____|Modify_DUA__|__15____|_...__|__________n/a_________|
- | | | | | |
- |_15_|Op_use______|__5_____|_...__|__________n/a_________|
-
- Table 1: DUA Metrics
-
- 16. Security Considerations
-
- Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
-
- 17. Author's Address
-
- Paul Barker
- Department of Computer Science
- University College London
- Gower Street
- London
- WC1E 6BT
- United Kingdom
-
- Phone: +44 71 380 7366
- Fax: +44 71 387 1397
- Email: P.Barker@cs.ucl.ac.uk
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Barker [Page 19]
-