RE: [kmip] question regarding conformance statement for KMIP

From
Bruce Rich <>
Date
2009-05-14T13:26:44+00:00
ID
Thread
RE: [kmip] question regarding conformance statement for KMIP
Peter,

I'm not sure what you meant by "mandatory
object".  It would seem that all objects are optional, as the
server's response to a Query Objects operation specifies those objects
that the server supports, and all the managed objects are potential entries
in that list. So if a server does not wish to support registration of SplitKey,
then it would simply omit SplitKey from the list of objects that it claims
it will support (if the client bothers to ask via Query Objects).

Bruce A Rich

brich at-sign us dot ibm dot com

From:
"Zelechoski, Peter" <>

To:
<>

Cc:
<>

Date:
05/13/2009 08:57 PM

Subject:
RE: [kmip] question regarding conformance
statement for KMIP

Robert -

My opinion is that an implementation that wants to claim compliance to

the standard would be required to respond accurately to all

required/mandatory objects.  A response of "not supported"
would only be

appropriate for an optional object.

- Peter 

-----Original Message-----

From:  [mailto:]

Sent: 2009-05-13 7:36 PM

To: 

Subject: [kmip] question regarding conformance statement for KMIP

Hi -

Rather than convening a meeting on conformance (as I'd suggested a

couple of meetings ago), I'd like to pose the question I've been

wondering about and see if there is an issue or not:

-                
Should we modify the language in Section 5 of the Usage Guide to

clarify what "support all objects etc" means? In particular,
do we need

to clarify whether this means a) the server has to implement all

mandatory objects etc or b) the server has to understand requests

related to all mandatory objects etc (but can return back an "object
not

supported" message). 

In drafting the conformance language currently included in the Usage

Guide, I followed the advice expressed in the Conformance Testing

document available at http://xml.coverpages.org/conform20000112.html:

that is, "the requirements or criteria for conformance must be specified

in the standard or specification. This is usually in a conformance

clause or conformance statement..."

The conformance statement in section 5 of the KMIP Usage Guide

distinguishes between conformance requirements for KMIP servers and

clients:

"Server implementations of the KMIP protocol must support all objects,

attributes, operations and profiles not specified as "optional"
in the

KMIP Specification in order to be conformant to the specification.

Server implementations that do not support objects, attributes,

operations and profiles defined as "optional" can claim KMIP

conformance, though they may be limited in terms of interoperability

with other KMIP implementations.

Client implementations of the KMIP protocol may implement any subset of

the KMIP protocol. For example, a client may implement only the Get and

Locate operations for symmetric keys. In order to claim conformance,

however, such a client must implement all aspects of any elements of the

protocol (objects, attributes, operations, profiles) that it claims to

support. In the example of Get/Locate support for symmetric keys,

therefore, a conforming client implementation must support all required

attributes for symmetric keys."

In re-reading the conformance statement for server implementations, it

looks to me that I made it more restrictive than I intended - that the

language should perhaps have been something like:

"Server implementations of the KMIP protocol shall accept and respond
to

client requests for all objects, operations and profiles not specified

as 'optional' in the KMIP Specification in order to be conformant to the

specification; a conformant response can be 'this object etc is not

supported.'" 

But perhaps it's better to have the more restrictive language, after

all?

I'd appreciate your thoughts!

Regards,

Bob

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