VidMid Technical Recommendations

Tyler Miller Johnson

May 28, 2001

 

 

Possible Additions to EduPerson Schema

 

H.323 URL.

This is the ITU standard (h.323 version 4) that specifies a URL of the form h323:user@gatekeeper.domain. This will allow the publication of individual’s direct H.323 contact information.

Recommendation: Include.

 

H.323 Private Numeric Identifier

This field holds a numeric address that can be used to contact h.323 endpoints outside of the E.164 address space. An example is ViDeNet.

Recommendation: For Further Study.

 

E.164 Review for EduPerson

Recommendation: Review accuracy of E.164 data in EduPerson for possible use in signaling or ENUM.

 

H.235 Authentication Information

Several fields may hold private keys or ID/password pairs for authentication purposes.

Recommendation: A security expert should be retained to study the degree to which h.235 authentication can be built on top of existing kerberos or PKI deployments, or will require a separate authentication infrastructure. This information will point toward the appropriate data structure for the schema.

 

Call Accounting

It may be desirable in some cases to use the directory services infrastructure as the primary key against which to track usage data and ultimately bill for services. It may be necessary to have a key for cross-referencing an existing billing system.

Recommendation: For Further Study.

 

DNS Name Resolution Issues

 

Domain Aliasing

It may be desirable in some cases to have an h.323 URL of the form h323:user@domain that actually resolves to h323:user@gatekeeper.domain in order to create friendly addresses. H.225 appendix IV describes a way this might be accomplished, but falls short of specifying it explicitly.

Recommendation: Obtain a DNS expert to verify our understanding of this operation and assist in the writing of a detailed procedure for this mapping. Submit to ITU under h.323 Annex O.

 

ENUM

Investigate ways that ENUM might be used that will enable trees or subtrees to exist outside the bounds of the e164.arpa administrative tree. This may be useful for supporting private dial plans.

Recommendation: Obtain a DNS expert to explore this issue.

 

Reference Gatekeeper Operation

 

Gatekeeper Specifications

Create a set of specifications that a gatekeeper should meet in order to effectively use the EduPerson schema.

Status: Underway by Tyler Miller Johnson.

 

Vendor Support for Gatekeeper Specifications

Once a specification is determined, it is important to perform outreach to the vendor community to create gatekeepers capable of using the schema.

Recommendation: RADVision is currently the only vendor actively engaged. Describe the market opportunity and seek further support from additional gatekeeper providers, including openh323 forum.