[Nml-wg] DCN glossary

[Victor Reijs (work)]

Hello all of you,

Evangelos Chaniotakis wrote:
> I think both approaches have value, and are in fact very close but  
> maybe we would like to  to differentiate between them?

Related to this, is a point I try to make more explicit. In some case 
entities should have data for the actually configurated values and in 
some cases one needs to provide the alternative values a parameter can 
have (which could be provisioned).
Perhaps one needs to distinguish here in different class or attrbiute:
configuredValue
possibleValue

Remember in some cases the existing network topology is not very handy 
to determine a possible other network configuration. E.g. in the GLIF 
environment most links were made by adding new physical entities 
(interfaces, hops, etc.)...

So this is the difference between provisioning and configuration management.

In most cases (but not always) provisioning is a human activity and I 
think we will need to start realizing that such alternatives are possible.

An example; multiple Ethernet tagging method can sometimes be configured 
through an interface (like for most switches: 802.3, 802.1Q, 802.1ad). 
So these options exist in that 'node'/'hop'. And the choice is sometimes 
depending on the type of service one needs to provide (e.g. one needs to 
do 802.1ad on a trunk if one wants to provide 802.1Q to clients).

Another example; a network might advertise already its willingness that 
it can do more functions. But these will need human interventation (like 
an NREN is willing to change the interface to add the 802.1ah feature).

Perhaps people see the above as futuristic (real SF), but I think that 
the NML should be able to cater for that idea which is part of the SF 
(so in some way it should allow multi-value fields).

Hope I did not complicate things too much;-)

All the best,


Victor

-- 
Victor Reijs, Network Development Manager
HEAnet Limited, Ireland's Education and Research Network
1st Floor, 5 George's Dock, IFSC, Dublin 1
Registered in Ireland, no 275301
tel: +353-1-660 9040  fax: +353-1-660 3666
web: http://www.heanet.ie/