Re: Deja vu Again

[Eliot Lear <lear@cisco.com>]

Ran,

I am aware of much of what's out there.  We have (a lot of) running 
code.  F5 has running code.  Juniper in fact presented to the IETF, if 
you will recall.  There are a dozen different ways to do the same thing, 
today.  Not just one.  That is what the problem has become.  So there 
are two problems.

Consider SMTP and message formats: we have RFC 821 (now RFC 2821) and 
RFC 822 (now RFC 2822).  We need an RFC 821 to get us there, or we have 
to deal with random banners with random content, different prompts, 
different commands to enable, different authentication methods manage 
through, etc.  Don't underestimate the importance of this issue, as it 
has daunted many customers.  This is not to say that one couldn't have 
an "xml" command to get you into an XML mode from the CLI.  But we need 
something in addition to that for the sake of the stability of 
provisioning apps.

We *also* need a message format document that explains the contents and 
responses of messages sent in either direction.  That's a lot more 
complex that RFC 2822.  It seems to me a basic framework where people 
know where to plug their propietary components into, and where the IETF 
does its work (think enterprises).

Eliot


RJ Atkinson wrote:

> On Wednesday, June 26, 2002, at 10:39 , Eliot Lear wrote:
>
> > sshv2 could certainly be added to the list, but it doesn't provide 
> > sufficiently
> > rigorous syntax for transactions.  it's like doing mail through telnet,
> > and then invoking sendmail.
>
> It is already *implemented* and operators are experimenting with 
> *deploying*
> XML/SSHv2+glue.  In my mind, having folks actually looking into deploying
> something makes that approach very seriously interesting.
>
> And the transaction support is handled using XML in the current stuff,
> or so I'm being told.
>
> Ran
> rja@extremenetworks.com



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