Data types in Diameter

["David T. Perkins" <dperkins@dsperkins.com>]

HI,

I just recently read the definition of Diameter. The document is
 (http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-aaa-diameter-05.txt)

It defines the following data types:
  OctetString 
  Address (IPv4 or IPv6 address) 
  Integer32
  Integer64,
  Unsigned32
  Unsigned64
  Float32
  Float64
  Float128
  Grouped (which is a sequence)

Now, if we could get them to add OID, and develop an common plan for
floating point, then our data types would match, and inter-operability
would be improved. Does anyone know why all these float types are
specified in Diameter?

Also, Diameter sends messages that consist of a list of "attribute-value
pairs" (AVPs). Such a list is an SNMP varBindList, and an AVP is a
varBind. The Diameter attributes are identified by one number if
standards-track (and two numbers if vendor defined) instead a
sequence of numbers (an OID) as found in SNMP. However, I couldn't
figure out multi-instanced attributes were specified. (Does someone
know?) It might be a good thing to have instances identified
like in SNMP.

Regards,
/david t. perkins