Question 20/VII - Directory systems (continuation of Question 35/VII
studied in 1985-88)

Considering

(a) that directory systems are standardized in the X.500-Series of
Recommendations;

(b) that many administrations* are planning to provide directory system
services based on the X.500 Recommendations;

(c) that close collaboration with ISO/IEC JTC/1/SC 21/WG 4 is required
to advance the standardization of directory systems;

(d) that test methods and notation have been developed to provide for
conformance testing for X.400 message handling systems and which may
also be applicable to other application protocols;

(e) that close liaison with Study Group I is required to coordinate the
directory service requirements with the technical solution,

1. What steps should be taken to maintain the X.500 Recommendations?

2. What enhancements should be made to the directory system
specification, e.g. to support replication and update of distributed
directory information?

3. What changes to the X.500 Recommendations and/or what new
Recommendations are required to document the enhancements to the
directory?

4. What conformance test suites are required to enable tests for
conformance to the X.500 Recommendations?

5. What additional system support is required from the directory to
support potential users of the directory?

6. What changes, if any, are required to the directory authentication
framework standardized in Recommendation X.500 to satisfy the
requirements of applications which make use of the directory for
authentication?

Note - This study should be carried out in close coordination with other
Question(s) dealing with security in general.