Editor's Note: Minutes received 12/7/92 CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_ Reported by Scott Newman/DEC Minutes of the Network Database Working Group (NETDATA) The NETDATA Working Group met for a single session at the November IETF meeting. The meeting was lightly attended, but the interest level was high among most of the attendees. The meeting was chaired by Scott Newman because the regular Chair, Daisy Shen, could not attend. The entire meeting was spent discussing the approach of The SQL Access Group to remote database access. Scott presented a very quick overview of The SQL Access Group and its efforts. A more technical discussion was facilitated by a longer presentation that provided a more detailed description of ISO RDA, the SQL Access subset and extensions to RDA and SQL Access' approach to using RDA on an IP-based network. (Copies of these presentations are available in Postscript format, and they are expected to appear in the IETF proceedings). In general, the participants were very supportive of the SQL Access approach. The most significant issues and comments were as follows: o Currently, none of the specifications required to implement the SQL Access approach are available on-line. SQL Access references X/Open and ISO documents, so the issue is somewhat involved. It is important to address this issue, in order to make the specifications accessible on-line for the Internet community. o As discussed last month, additional work is required in the area of security. There are several potential ways to address enhancements in this area. o No one was concerned that the SQL Access approach for mapping to TCP/IP used a direct mapping approach, instead of using RFC 1006. In fact, several participants much preferred the simplicity of the direct mapping approach. There was general feedback that RFC 1006 was not seeing a lot of action at this point in time. In summary, there is one logistical/legal issue with regard to getting the required specifications on-line, and there was one technical/requirements issue in the area of enhancing security. The Group felt that they would prefer to base their work on SQL Access' work because it has the support of many more companies and organizations than the existing netdata approach, and the specifications are mature. However, it unanimously agreed that due to the meeting's light attendance, and the absence of the regular Chair, there should be further discussion over e-mail. A decision on whether to continue with the existing approach or begin adapting the SQL Access work should be made via e-mail, prior to the next meeting. The following action items resulted from the meeting: 1 o Scott and Russ are to arrange for Russ to address the SQL Access Board of Directors (i.e., the managers' meeting) in early 1993. o Scott will write-up his notes that compare the existing netdata approach with the SQL Access approach. This write-up will be posted to the NETDATA list. Attendees Harald Alvestrand Harald.Alvestrand@delab.sintef.no Bryan Beecher bryan@umich.edu Letha Dugas 4371362@mcimail.com Russ Hobby rdhobby@ucdavis.edu Scott Newman newman@broke.enet.dec.com Richard Schmalgemeier rgs@merit.edu 2