[5] in Open-Software-Foundation-News
OSF DCE Status
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (dstokes@austin.ibm.com)
Tue Dec 28 17:14:12 1993
Resent-From: Bill Cattey <wdc@MIT.EDU>
Resent-To: osf-news-mtg@menelaus.local
Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1993 10:17:45 -0500
From: dstokes@austin.ibm.com
To: info-afs@transarc.com
There were a fair number of questions last week at the AFSUG
regarding OSF plans for DCE, DCE SIGs, etc, so I thought I'd
pass this status from OSF on to this group. Keep in mind that
the various vendors will have their own schedules for picking
up these changes from OSF and releasing them in their own
products.
Thanks, Dawn
From root Wed Sep 29 08:32:23 1993
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To: dce-all@liz.austin.ibm.com
Subject: DCE program status
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 93 08:29:59 -0600
From: Dave Bachmann <bachmann@austin.ibm.com>
Status: RO
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Date: Tue, 28 Sep 93 10:18:50 -0400
From: hartman@osf.org
Message-Id: <9309281418.AA11275@bubba.osf.org>
To: dce-talk@osf.org, sig-dce@osf.org
Subject: DCE program status
Cc: allcontacts@osf.org
Hello DCE fans,
It's been a busy summer. Enclosed find a report re: DCE status
to bring you up to date. I hope you find it useful. This report
will also be filed as DCE RFC 37.1 once our RFT editor returns
from a brief paternity vacation (congratulations Walt).
Doug Hartman
DCE director
P.S. Some of our end user contacts indicated that they would like
to see this type of news even if they are not on the sig-dce mailing
list. As an experiment, this report is going to the mailing list of all
OSF contacts. This also may result in some of you receiving multiple
copies. Please let us know if you have strong feeling either way
about use of the all OSF contact list for this report.
OSF DCE SIG D. Hartman (OSF)
Request For Comments: 37.1 September 1993
DCE PROGRAM STATUS UPDATE
1. INTRODUCTION
This report provides a summary of DCE technology news for September
'93, continuing in the style of the April status report, RFC 37.0.
Highlights of this report include the following:
(a) Recap of 1.0.2 release(s) and 1.0.3 overview
(b) New plans for administrative enhancements in 1.1 release;
(c) Challenge 93 and IFEST are successful--IFEST '94 planning
underway;
(d) DCE Product catalog is available;
(e) Highlights of events calendar, including DCE developer
conference;
(f) Federated naming project begins.
2. 1.0.2 SHIPPED IN MAY, 1.0.2A IN AUGUST
All DCE licensees have received the 1.0.2 update. This release
includes a number of additional features and enhancements to DCE, see
the list in the April status report (RFC 37.0) for details. This
release successfully completed system testing for all components.
DFS fixes were included in the 1.0.2a update. 1.0.2 is the last
release of the 1.0.X series which contains a complete set of files
(which came about due to changes in how we handle source copyrights).
1.0.2a includes only changed files.
We get very good reports from licensees re: the quality and
performance of the 1.0.2 release. We are in the process of
converting our development environment at OSF to use DFS as its base
distributed file system.
Hartman Page 1
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
3. 1.0.3/1.1 REFERENCE PLATFORM UPDATE
For future releases (1.0.3, 1.1, and the foreseeable beyond):
(a) DECstation 3100 support will not be tested and should not be
relied upon except for historical value.
(b) OSF/1 v 1.2 on a PC-like 486 platform will take the
DECstation's place as an OSF/1 platform for all DCE components
except the file system. In particular, this platform will
support DME development. The file system exception means only
that we will not test it extensively, since DFS on OSF/1 486 is
working now and is used in our development environment.
(c) AIX 3.2 on the RS/6000 will continue as a reference platform
for all components. We are up to 3.2.4 now for 1.0.2a.
(d) OSF will introduce support for HP-UX rev 9.0 on the HP 9000/700
(HP-PA) machines in the 1.0.3 release. We will upgrade to HP-
UX rev 10.0 when that release becomes available sometime in the
next few quarters. We will offer HP-UX support for all
components including GDS and DFS.
(e) Support for the SVR4 MX300 platform will continue to be
provided by SNI. All SVR4 core support will be merged into the
mainline for 1.0.3. System V DFS support will be ready early
'94, based on 1.0.2a code. The DFS work will have a number of
OS specific areas which will be available only to system V
licensees via USL [Novell].
4. THE 1.0.3 RELEASE
We will offer a 1.0.3 release to customers with support contracts.
This release includes changed files for defect fixes, new platform
support, and some incremental functionality outlined below. The 1.0.3
release will be delivered automatically to those with active support
contracts. The code will be covered under the existing license and
price list. (The 1.1[.X] release(s) will have a new price list.) We
are currently planning to release the core in December and DFS in
January.
Enhancements in 1.0.3 include:
(a) A new IDL compiler, completely compatible with the current IDL
language and protocol, which generates 50-75% smaller stubs on
average. The smaller stubs are sometimes faster and sometimes
slower than current stubs. The overall impact on system
performance is neutral or a slight improvement.
Hartman Page 2
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
(b) Completion of threadsafe XDS work.
(c) Addition of CMIP protocol requirements to the OSI upper layers
to facilitate DME OSI support. (This code will not be
integrated with GDS until 1.1, but will be provided in the
1.0.3 update.)
(d) Performance enhancements to DFS read and write system calls,
estimated to improve performance 10-15% using the NFS
connectathon tests as benchmark.
(e) Some enhancements to dce_config, such as unconfiguring a client
machine and logging the configuration process to a file.
(f) Core component system tests are updated to run via the TET test
scaffold.
1.0.3 will not contain any other 1.1 functionality. It will be
system tested using test configurations similar to 1.0.2/a, and will
meet similar exit criteria. It will include at least 200 bugs fixes
each to core and DFS code, as well as fixes to documentation and
tests. We are investigating whether DFS can meet the core component
low severity defect density goal of 0.3/KLOC for 1.0.3, vs. previous
0.5 density. All defects opened by the end of 1.0.2 will be
addressed in 1.0.3.
5. THE 1.1 RELEASE
1.1 is making excellent progress at the moment. The list of projects
is finalized, contracts are signed and project specs, plans and
staffing are well in hand for all core components. (DFS planning is
on a different schedule.)
The most significant 1.1 project changes since April include
additional administrative enhancements, including:
(a) A new command interpreter program, known as dcecp, which
subsumes the functionality of the common core administrative
tools such as cdscp, sec_admin, rgy_edit and acl_edit (as well
as others). This program provides a common command syntax for
DCE admin operations. We will use dcecp as the interpreter for
high-level task scripts such as add user, etc. Plans are under
way to develop gdscp and dfscp programs for these components
along similar lines.
(b) OSF will develop a set of extensions to the daemons found on
all DCE nodes to improve host configuration management. The
functions of rpcd and (probably) sec_clientd will be subsumed
into a new daemon called dced, which will also be able to
invoke servers upon request, maintain host configuration tables
Hartman Page 3
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
via remote interfaces, and respond to status queries.
(c) OSF will publish and implement a set of guidelines for the use
of CDS as an aid to managing cells, hosts and servers. For
example, information about each host will be exported to the
appropriate place in the namespace, where it can be referred to
by applications.
These administrative projects are scoped and planned currently, and
have draft specifications available.
5.1. 1.1 SPECIFICATION DOCUMENTS
The following list of RFCs are base documents for 1.1 specifications.
This will provide an overview of what to expect in 1.1 functionality.
Exact contents, syntax and semantics are of course subject to
revisions. We will update documents to reflect changes as we
complete the work. These documents are available via ftp from machine
grabbag@osf.org, login as dce-rfc and use password dce-rfc.
(a) 2.1, J. Harrow, "Proposed Enhancements for DCE 1.1 IDL", July
1992.
(b) 3.0, J. Pato, "Extending the DCE Authorization Model to Support
Practical Delegation (Extended Summary)", June 1992.
(c) 5.0, J. Linn, "GSS-API Extensions for DCE", June 1992.
(d) 6.0, J. Pato, "A Generic Interface for Extended Registry
Attributes", June 1992.
(e) 7.0, J. Pato, "Hierarchical Trust Relationships for Inter-Cell
Authentication", July 1992.
(f) 17.0, H. Melman, "DCE Code Clean-Up Requirements", December
1992.
(g) 20.0, M. Karuzis, "DCE RPC/DG Protocol Enhancements", October
1992.
(h) 23.0, R. Mackey, "DCE 1.1 Internationalization Guide", January
1993.
(i) 24.1 R. Salz, "DCE 1.1 Serviceability Proposal", April 1993.
(j) 24.2 R. Salz, "Making the DCE 1.1 Serviceability and Message
API's
Public", April 1993.
(k) 27.0, S. Martin, "Coded Character Set Conversions and Data
Loss: Providing Interoperability while Preventing Loss",
Hartman Page 4
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
December 1992
(l) 28.0, S. Luan, R. Weisz, "DCE Server Auditable-Event
Identification and a Proposed Audit Logging API", December
1992.
(m) 29.0, S. Luan, R. Weisz, "Design of an Audit Subsystem for DCE
-- Implementation Specification", December 1992.
(n) 30.0, H. Melman, "DCE 1.1 Administrative Improvements:
Requirements for DCE Shell", January 1993. (To be updated and
renamed to dcecp.)
(o) 34.2 H. Melman, "DCE 1.1 Coding Style Guide", August 1993.
(p) 40.0 S. Martin, "OSF Character and Code Set Registry", April
1993.
(q) 41.1 M. Romagna, R. Mackey, "RPC Runtime Support for I18N
Characters -- Functional Specification", September 1993.
(r) 42.0 H. Melman, "DCE Shell Functional Specification", June
1993.
(s) 45.0 R. Mackey, R. Salz, "DCE Backing Store Library --
Functional Specification", July 1993.
(t) 46.0 R. Mackey, R. Salz, "DCE ACL Library -- Functional
Specification", Date TBD. (not yet published)
(u) 47.0 R. Mackey, R. Salz, "DCE Daemon -- Functional
Specification", Date TBD. (not yet published)
The following projects currently have no RFC description, but design
notes are available and can be furnished upon request.
(a) Multiple cell registration (e.g., DNS, X.500 and/or CDS).
(b) Subtree operations in CDS.
(c) The NSI daemon (support for Microsoft RPC clients).
(d) XDS convenience functions.
(e) Performance enhancements to binding lookup operations.
(f) Integration of DCE security with GDS.
(g) 1.1 system test plan.
Hartman Page 5
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
5.2. 1.1 PROJECT PLANS AND DATES
Project plans show functional completion of 1.1 work between October
'93 and April '94, projecting to a 3Q '94 release given our quality
goals. We're comfortable with this as a delivery commitment, so
licensees can make plans accordingly. Keep in mind that DFS
enhancements are not included in the committed 1.1 functionality on
that schedule.
Early access to 1.1 code will provided by a 1.1 beta program. The
beta program will allow us to track the status of the new code. Beta
participants will benefit by gaining access to 1.1 code in
(approximately) April, keeping in mind that this beta code will not
meet production quality criteria. There will be no cost to beta
participants, except a prerequisite that all beta participants be DCE
source licensees with full support service. If licensees ship 1.1
beta code, they will need to pay royalties per the 1.1 price list.
This price list will be available before Beta begins.
All DCE documentation will be revised for 1.1. Major areas of focus
include documenting new features, adding examples and other
explanatory material, adding descriptions of error messages and
defining guidelines for application developers to improve inter-
application useability.
Exit criteria for 1.1 continue as with previous releases, plus in
addition we are adding objective test coverage measurements for all
new functionality. The 1.1 release will be tested for portability
and interoperability with the 1.0.3 release (which is equivalent to
1.0.2/a). Programs which use only 1.0.X features will work
unmodified with either 1.0.X or 1.1 libraries and servers. Programs
which use 1.1 features will need to access 1.1 libraries and servers
for only those functions.
6. INTEROPERABILITY PROGRAM NEWS
Interoperability continues as a popular program at OSF. OSF members
voted the interoperability [i14y] activities as the most important
things OSF can do over and above producing high quality
implementations of DCE. i14y includes the AES, interoperability test
events, validation suites and conformance recognition (sometimes
referred to as certification). Details on i14y programs follow.
6.1. IFEST AND CHALLENGE 93
The IFEST in April and Challenge in May were huge successes. They
demonstrated conclusively that DCE products are available and
interoperate. OSF has a brochure available detailing the results of
Challenge '93 for those who couldn't attend. Contact literature-
request@osf.org if you would like this brochure. We plan to build on
Hartman Page 6
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
the success of these programs for '94, as detailed below.
6.2. INTEROPERABILITY PARTNER PROGRAM
OSF is developing an Interoperability Partner Program (IPP) to
provide a means of identifying and labelling systems that comply with
DCE specifications from OSF. Details of the program will be
developed in conjunction with OSF membership. We expect the program
to look something like the following:
It will address DCE implementations, including secure core, GDS and
DFS. DCE applications are beyond the scope of the program.
DCE implementations that successfully complete hurdles to be defined
by the membership will be awarded an OSF-trademarked "seal of
approval", which can be used for marketing purposes.
The hurdles will include successful execution of the RPC validation
suite and successful completion of tests at IFEST '94 designed for
this purpose. IFEST participation will be a prerequisite for IPP.
Successful implementations will be publicized. Confidentiality will
be maintained for those who choose not to participate, or those who
complete only part of the prerequisites.
The partnership program is an ongoing program, with annual renewal of
the seal of approval after successful interoperability testing.
Participation in the program is voluntary. OSF will not refer to
this program in technology licenses or price lists.
The large number of details involved in this program will be
addressed on an ongoing basis by all interested OSF members, so watch
this space for further news. (The next meeting is planned during SIG
week November 1-5.)
[We are not using the term "certification" for this program, as
"certification" is already used by a number of organizations
(including OSF) to refer to programs with different requirements.]
6.3. RPC VALIDATION SUITE
This test suite of ~150K lines of code covers the RPC API, the DCE
transfer syntax (aka NDR), and the protocols for both connectionless
and connection-oriented RPC. The validation suite is a part of the
Interoperability Partner Program. Licensees may also wish to run the
validation suite to test interoperability with platforms that have
different byte orderings, floating point format or character
representation. The validation suite is available for licensing
today.
Hartman Page 7
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
6.4. DCE AES
The RPC AES is being printed by Prentice Hall this month. (900
pages!) The time service AES material has been reviewed by X/Open,
with the directory service currently undergoing X/Open and OSF member
review. Security and threads AES sections are making good progress;
we expect to have these sent to X/Open for review by the end of the
year. DFS AES material will be developed during 1994. X/Open will
include these in XPG specifications. These AES sections will
complete Revision A of the AES, which corresponds to 1.0.X. We will
update these with 1.1 features to produce Revision B when 1.1
products are in the marketplace.
7. MARKET ACTIVITY
The OSF DCE technology management team has spent the summer meeting
with licensees to formulate plans for DCE marketing activities. We
have identified a number of actions to maintain continued awareness
and preference for DCE. These activities capitalize on the current
availability of DCE implementations for a number of platforms, and
the growing list of DCE-enabled tools and applications. The
activities are summarized below:
7.1. MARKET POSITIONING
We are working with users, vendors, analysts, and the press to
promote the message that DCE implementations are available now.
Users are developing applications, conducting pilot programs and
planning/installing systems for production use. Developers are
creating tools to simplify development of DCE applications. Third
party software packages such as database management systems and
system management tools are being updated to use DCE core services,
including security, directory, RPC and threads. Over the next
several months, we plan to highlight facets of the program in press
releases and at conferences. For example, this month we released
press statements re: DCE audit plans and publication of the AES.
Future topics include DFS, database integration, application
development tools, end user case studies, desktop DCE, and technical
focus on directory and security technology.
OSF is working with end user organizations to produce case studies on
DCE. Those studies will be published by OSF and distributed at trade
shows (and through other channels) as well as sent to out press and
consultant contact and shared with licensees. Please contact Ann
Hewitt (hewitt@osf.org, 617-621-8871) if you have users at your site
or your customer's sites who are prepared to talk about their plans
for using DCE. Organizations currently working with OSF include JPL,
EDS, Bellcore, Secom and others.
Hartman Page 8
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
7.2. PRODUCT CATALOG
Wonder who's shipping DCE products, and for what platforms? We have
compiled a catalog of more than 70 products, including DCE
implementations as well as DCE-enabled tools and applications. The
bulk of these products are currently available, with the rest planned
for 1994 delivery. Each catalog entry includes product description,
contact information, supported platforms and availability. No DCE
fan should be without their own copy! The catalog is available
electronically via ftp from machine grabbag@osf.org. Login as dce-
rfc, password dce-rfc, and look in directory dce-pl. We can fulfill
requests for hardcopy as well; send mail to buchman@osf.org (617-
621-8975). Please only one copy per mailing, since we are not
charging for this service.
If you would like to include your company's product or service,
contact Courtney Grey (grey@osf.org) with product description,
contact, platform and availability information. We will include
products shipping now, as well as those which are announced or
otherwise suitable for inclusion in a general distribution catalog.
(No secret/non-disclosure products, in other words.)
7.3. DEVELOPER CONFERENCE
Also in response to licensee requests for a dedicated DCE technical
forum, we are working on a proposal for a DCE developer's conference.
Current thinking is it would be held in the Boston area in March '94.
It would be a multi-day, multi-track technical conference covering
details of DCE technology, programming, administration and
deployment. The conference will be open to all comers subject to a
registration fee per attendee. We expect attendees from system
vendors, end users, and independent software developers who are
interested in the latest information about DCE which is not available
in any other form. OSF will sponsor the event. If you would like
more information about the conference proposal, contact Ram Kumar at
OSF (kumar@osf.org). We will follow up with more specifics when we
know them.
7.4. OSF SERVICES NEWS
OSF offers both technical overview seminars on DCE and in-depth
technical courses on DCE Application Development, DCE System
Administration and DCE Internals Architecture. The DCE courses can
be purchased for customer-site instruction or may be attended as part
of our Open Enrollment classes offered in cities around the world.
NEW COURSE - OSF DCE Application Programming Course with Labs, a new
four-day DCE course, is designed to teach students how to develop
distributed applications in the OSF DCE environment. Based on
OSF/DCE release 1.0.2, the course covers the development of a basic
server and a basic client as well as the use of the DCE IDL, objects,
Hartman Page 9
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
CDS, RPCs and Threads. Additional lectures will cover error
handling, DCE Security, and advanced DCE programming topics.
UPDATED COURSE - The DCE Features and Functionality Seminar has been
updated to meet the changing needs of the DCE audience. In addition
to architectural overview information on DCE, this seminar focuses on
explaining the issues in the computer industry that drove the need
for DCE and how DCE provides an effective solution for these
problems. The seminar provides an example of how DCE can be
implemented in a typical corporate environment which includes legacy
systems as well as DCE platforms. This seminar is also part of the
OSF Professional Services under the DCE Technology Evaluation
Package.
NEW SERVICE - OSF Professional Services provides DCE consulting to a
wide variety of customers who are implementing open systems-based
technologies. Our newest offering, the DCE Technology Evaluation
Package, allows customers to establish the DCE Core Service
components in their own environment. The goal is to enable our
customers to "test drive" DCE's capabilities by setting up a working
DCE cell. To achieve this goal, OSF Professional Services has
packaged a combination of resources including engineering consulting,
a "proof-of-concept" demo application, DCE technical training and a
focused technical briefing by a senior DCE consultant. For more
information, contact Rich Martin (rfm@osf.org).
7.5. EVENTS CALENDAR
Here is a listing of dates for DCE marketing activities:
October '93, Paris: Interop Europe. A number of companies will
demonstrate DCE interoperability at this show via the DDP demo.
November 1-3 '93, Cambridge: DCE SIG. All OSF SIGs will meet the
first week of November, allowing members to participate in multiple
SIG meeting if desired. Agenda forthcoming from Sumner Blount of
Digital. (blount@tuxedo.enet.dec.com).
March '94, Boston area: DCE Developer conference. Described above.
March 23-25 '94, San Francisco: Uniforum. A major UNIX tradeshow
with good DCE interest.
April '94, Boston area: IFEST 94. Follows up on the successful
IFEST '93, and the site of the Interoperability Partner Program
testing described above. Probably at a hotel, as we expect to
outgrow the test area in 11 Cambridge Center. Contact Ray
Mazzaferro (ram@osf.org) to get your request for space in early.
May 2-6, '94, Las Vegas: Interop+Networld. Interop moves to the
Spring, to Las Vegas, and merges with Networld. Rivals Comdex in
Hartman Page 10
DCE-RFC 37.1 DCE Program Status Update September 1993
size; our most effective tradeshow opportunity. Preferred site of a
US "Challenge '94" to demonstrate DCE implementations, tools and
applications (plans not yet in place though).
May 24-26 '94, Brussels: OSF Member meeting. Venue for those most
dedicated to OSF and DCE to see the latest at a European venue, also
site for European "Challenge '94".
8. FEDERATED NAMING PROJECT
OSF is managing a group on behalf of X/Open to specify an extensible
architecture for integrating name/directory servers. This project is
known as the Federated Naming project. It includes technical
participation from OSF, HP, Sunsoft, SNI, IBM and Banyan at this
writing, and we expect one or two additional participants before the
project is all done. The output of this project will be an API
specifying a programming interface suitable for use with directory
servers which are used to compose a namespace at runtime, along with
a protocol which can be exported by directories which wish to
participate in the namespace. (Think of it as a backplane for
directory integration.) Keep in mind that it does not increase
interoperability of directories, though it provides a methodology for
others to accomplish this.
As part of this project, the participants will prototype this API
over a variety of existing directory services, including CDS, NIS+,
and X.500. OSF expects to incorporate this API in a future version
of DCE to allow additional directory servers to participate in the
DCE global name space. X/Open will publish and revise the resulting
specification. The group has a draft API specification at this point
suitable for beginning the prototyping effort. The prototype effort
will require a few months to develop and assess, with resulting
changes to the spec incorporated at its conclusion.
AUTHOR'S ADDRESS
Doug Hartman Internet email: hartman@osf.org
Open Software Foundation Telephone: +1-617-621-8818
11 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA
Hartman Page 11
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