info on X.500

[Kristoff Bonne <[e-mail]>]

Greetings to All.

This is a message I posted some days ago in comp.protocols.iso, but I didn't
get much  responds over there. Hence, I try it here once more.

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I would like to ask some questions on X.500. I hope I am at the right
place for that. I am quite a novice to X.500, so please excuse my
(probably) misuse of words.

1: There already seems to exist an X.500 space. I can browse thru it
using one of the public-domain X.500 dua's. (e.g. pixie, wax, wdua,
..).

I did notice there are quite a differences between certain parts of
the X.500 tree. Some countries (like belgium) have very few
organisations, each with only 1 or 2 people in it, while others (like
Denmark) have a lot of them.

Now, is this the final X.500 space where all organisations will be
linked to, or is this just a 'test' and has the 'real' X.500 space
still to be build?
Are there any other X.500 spaces?

Is there already a way to 'register' one-self into the X.500 space?

Also, I found -at some point of the X.500 tree- an entry called
'internet', which looked like a 'gateway' between the X.500 space and
internet 'services'. (?)
Can anybody give any info on that?


2: In the documentation I've read on X.500, there always was a strict
hierarchie: country -> organisation -> OrganisationUnit.
If I look at the X.500 space, as it exists now, there are a lot of
different hierarchies. Some examples:
- l=europe, o=eunet,
- c=be, st=west-vlaanderen, l=oostende
- ...
I even found people, right under the 'world'-level. (?)

Now, did the documentation I read oversimpify things, or are that only
'irregularities' in the X.500 space?

If the non-existance of a hierarchy is a fact, hao does one how about
the search such a 'database'?

Also, say I want to set up a X.500 server, and make it parts of the
X.500 space. Where does one 'register' the server? Where does one
'connect' the server to the X.500 space? What part of the 'tree' a put
myself under?

3: How does X.500 handle the fact that an object can/should be at more
places in the X.500 space? (Can it?)

E.g. Is there a way to register a person (as an example of an object)
twice: once as an employee of a firm (c=be, o=belgacom, cn=Kristoff
Bonne), and as a 'private' person (c=be, s=west-vlaanderen,
l=oostende, cn=Kristoff Bonne).
Is there a way to 'link' those two objects, but still have a
distinction between them?

4: How does X.500 handle the fact that object can 'move'? Is there a
mechanisme to find back an objects (say a person), after they have
moved to another location in the X.500 tree? (say she/he went to work
for another company, or moved to another town??)

Same questions for when a complete 'branch' of the tree moves? How
does one X.500 handle the fact that (e.g.) a company can be taken over
by another company and should be moved from (c=XX, o=YY) to (c=AA,
o=BB, ou=YY)?

5: I have heard somewhere there is being worked on 'extentions' to
X.500 (called X.509 (?)), which can/will be used to set up a worldwide ,
public/private-keysystem. Can anybody give any info on that and say
how far X.509 is from a practical use?


Many thanks in advance. 
Cheerio! Kr. Bonne.

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work: [e-mail]
      (c=be, a=rtt, p=rttipc, s=bonne, g=kristoff)