[Nml-wg] Schema doc final submission

[Jeroen van der Ham]

Hi all,

I have just uploaded the final version of the schema document to the standards council.
We have made a large number of minor improvements, which Freek has nicely summarised in the list below.

Congratulations, and thank you all!

Jeroen.


NML changes between Group Last Call and Public Last Call
========================================================

Changes in the schema
---------------------
• version attribute is a datetime stamp. It can be used as the default start time in case a Lifetime object is not specified.
• The address property of a Location now points to "a ADR property in a vCard", instead of "a vCard". The syntax of the address property is not defined, to later allow a XML or RDF representation instead of the default (string-based) syntax of RFC 6350.
• define cardinality for all relations
• Add new relation "canProvidePort":
  For AdaptationService (add canProvidePort):
  - associate with static component:
    Port --(hasService)--> AdaptationService
  - associate which (client layer) ports CAN be created:
    AdaptationService --canProvidePort--> Port|PortGroup
  - associate which ports are already configured:
    AdaptationService --(providesPort)--> Port|PortGroup
• Remove all references to idRef
• Objects SHOULD have an id, instead of MUST have an id.
• Add description for all relations
• Cleaned definition of Label and hasLabel
• isAlias SHOULD only be between objects of the same concrete class (was: MUST). (I personally prefer MUST, but this brings the text in line with the shemas and text elsewhere).
• Section describing how to combine multiple descriptions of the same object.
• Text about unnamed objects (without id) (see issue #45)
• Allow encoding attribute for Bidirectional Port and Bidirectional Link

Editorial changes
-----------------
• ISO 8601 -> ISO 8601 combined date/timestamp in basic format (preferred over extended format), UTC ("Zulu") time.
• Add references to ISO 8601:2004, UN/LOCODE, WGS84, vCard.
• Add reference to Unicode for case folding, and note that it differs from case mapping.
• Each relation described in a subsection.
• Inconsistencies in relations: 
  "hasNode relates a Network Object to a Node" (relates from .. to ..)
  "existsDuring relates a LifeTime object to a Network Object" (relates to .. from ..)
• Incomplete relations: "hasNode relates a Network Object to a Node, meaning that a Node is part of a Topology." What Topology?
• An AdaptationServices describe that it can not describe an inverse multiplexing adaptation, use parallelCompoundLink for that.
• Use keywords for MUST, SHOULD and MAY in Identifiers section
• Use URI http://schemas.ogf.org/nml/2012/10/base# everywhere
• Added reference to G.800
• Relation names in italic instead of bold (as noted in the Notational Conventions)
• Check if OWL schema (for RDF) is complete (all Objects, relations, attributes and parameters)
• Reference to GFD.165 document (the NML context document)
• Add list of all attributes with pointer to where they are defined.
• Add list of all parameters with pointer to where they are defined.
• Explain how objects, attributes, parameters and relations are represented in XML
• Explain how objects, attributes, parameters and relations are represented in OWL
• Add internal links for most object. Especially for a "see ... section"
• Move Syntax section to a new chapter and extend it a bit.
• Consistent naming: List / Ordered List -> OrderedList
• Consistent naming: but UnidirectionalPort -> Unidirectional Port
• Consistent naming: "NetworkObject" -> "Network Object"

NML changes between Group Last Call and Public Last Call
========================================================

Changes in the schema
---------------------
• Add encoding to to SwitchingService
• start and end attributes in Lifetime are now optional
• 'choice' instead of 'sequence' in PortGroupRelationType in XSD schema
• Fix LabelGroup representation in OWL and describe this in the Syntax section. Previously, Label and LabelGroup in the examples used the same identifier, which may lead to naming conflicts.

Changes in the Examples
-----------------------
• New Example: distinction between Topology and Node (Topology is geographically disperse)
• New Example: VLAN description with noReturnTraffic
• New Example: subTopology
• New Example: patch panel & media convertor
• New Example: serial compound links
• New Example: example explaining the relation between version and Lifetime.
• New Example: Explaining how to distinguish between what is configured and what can be configured (for both Switching Service and Adaptation Service)
• Example: Add diagram for the syntax examples.
• Example: change port_X and port_X:1501 for crossconnect in link (more natural)
• Updated identifiers to match current date (schema URL, example URN and version number)
• Changed isSource & isSink for internal Link
• Added definition of external Link (linkB:YZ)
• linkA:XY transports data from X to Y instead of the other way around
• Fix rdf:about to rdf:resource for references
• Add adaptationFunction to AdaptionServices
• Update LabelGroup OWL example. This was previously a copy of the XML example.

Editorial Changes
-----------------
• Textual clarifications
• Change email address of Jason (keeping Internet2 affiliation)
• Update Acknowledgements

Open Issues
===========
• Check if XSD schema (for XML) is complete (all Objects, relations, attributes and parameters)
• More references to G.800
• Appendix with relation NML-G.800 terms
• Acknowledgements



Aaron Brown
Anand Patil
Chin Guok
Evangelos Chaniotakis
Fausto Vetter
Guy Roberts
Jeff W. Boote
Jerry Sobieski
John Vollbrecht
Martin Swany
Paola Grosso
Pascale Vicat-Blanc
Richard Hughes-Jones
Ralph Niederberger
Victor Reijs
Houssem Medhioub
Aurélien Cedeyn



- Port = Unidirectional Port
- Link = link connection / network connection / link
- SwitchingService = subnetwork
- AdaptationService = combined adaptation and termination function
- BidirectionalPort = Port
- Label = Resource label