Re: Aggregate Attributes

[rpresuhn-lists@dorothy.bmc.com]

Hi -

> Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.2.20010831133418.02081e10@mira-sjcm-2.cisco.com>
> Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 13:47:02 -0700
> To: sming@ops.ietf.org
> From: Fred Baker <fred@cisco.com>
> Subject: Aggregate Attributes
> In-Reply-To: <200108312033.NAA03626@irp-view7.cisco.com>
..
> What I note in the text above is that "attribute group" and "containment" 
> are used without definition. May I suggest that a strong definition be 
> written for those concepts, so that when someone reads this requirements 
> document they know for sure what is required and what is not?
..

I agree.  The way these terms are used in this document
doesn't seem to match their definition in other standards,
so we'd better change the terms or provide our own definitions.

For example, ITU-T Rec. X.720 defines attribute groups:

     Attribute group: a group of attributes which have been
     assigned a single identifier for ease of access.

Later, it elaborates:

     An attribute group provides a means of referring to a
     collection of attributes within a managed object that
     contains the collection of attributes.  Two types of
     attribute groups may be defined: fixed and extensible.
     Whether or not extension is possible is part of the
     definition of the attribute group.

Similarly, X.720 defines containment:

     Containment: a structuring relationship for managed
     objects in which the existence of a managed object is
     dependent on the existence of a containing managed object.

One could argue whether these are useful definitions,
but my point is that this is clearly not the way in
which these terms are being used in the sming work, so
we should add some text to make it clear what we DO mean.

 ------------------------------------------------------
 Randy Presuhn          BMC Software, Inc.  1-3141
 randy_presuhn@bmc.com  2141 North First Street
 Tel: +1 408 546-1006   San José, California 95131  USA
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 My opinions and BMC's are independent variables.
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