Re: minutes for NETCONF WG interim meeting (09/03)

[Andy Bierman <abierman@cisco.com>]

At 09:33 AM 10/16/2003, Randy Presuhn wrote:
>Hi -
>
>> From: "Andy Bierman" <abierman@cisco.com>
>> To: "Juergen Schoenwaelder" <schoenw@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>
>> Cc: <netconf@ops.ietf.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2003 8:54 AM
>> Subject: Re: minutes for NETCONF WG interim meeting (09/03)
>...
>> I think the key point is the need for parsing the identifier.
>> We don't need to parse OIDs.  They are good as global
>> identifiers via decentralized naming authorities.
>...
>
>That's what they're supposed to be, and how the SMI uses them,
>but that's not how SNMP uses them.  Recall what it takes to
>extract table indexes from object identifiers.  Subagents
>spend much of their time parsing OIDs, and we've heard
>complaints from application writers who wish index objects
>were accessible so they wouldn't have to parse OIDs as
>frequently.

I was referring to registration OIDs, not MIB object
OIDs which contain instance identifiers.


>> URIs would also serve that purpose well.  But OIDs
>> don't have version numbers.   The group at the interim
>> felt it would be better to provide a distinct version number
>> rather than create a strict URI format that every vendor
>> must use for their own schema and capability definitions.
>>
>>
>> >It should be possible to register a URN namespace for netconf if we
>> >are interested in well controlled names for standardized capabilities.
>...
>
>A bystander's comment:
>This argument about structure vs. anarchy for the substance of this
>protocol seems to recur for every element, and the bias (perhaps
>due to the charter) seems to be towards anarchy.  I think this will
>undercut the value of whatever eventual standardization of those
>elements might happen.

I don't think we are promoting anarchy.  
I think we are promoting distinct parameters for
specific semantics, rather than defining a structured
string.  

We could have it both ways.  We could have a schema
that exposes both the version string and the URI.  We
can have a standard format for the URI as well.


>Randy

Andy


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