Using the Standards Information Base and Linked Resources

Introduction    Examples    Summary of Resources

Introduction

The entries in the Standards Information Base are linked either to other Open Group databases and resources, in particular those relating to Product Standards and Registered Products, or, where relevant, to the web sites of other de facto and de jure standards organizations.

In this way, the SIB provides the architect with a gateway to a uniquely powerful set of tools for defining the standards that an architecture is to mandate, and for checking the availability in the market place of products guaranteed to conform to those standards.

Examples

Getting Started

First, go to the Standards Information Base home page. (It opens in a new window, to enable you to keep these instructions visible.) You may want to bookmark the home page after following the hyperlink.

The home page provides three hyperlinks:

• Search it - generates a form to guide the search for specific standards or sets of standards
• View it - generates a listing of the entire Standards Information Base, structured according to the TOGAF Technical Reference Model taxonomy
• Learn more about it - links to this page in the TOGAF document

The following examples are intended to provide an initial guide through the different resources available, and to provide readers with an understanding of the wide range of information available, starting from the SIB home page.

The examples are far from exhaustive, and readers are encouraged to investigate further for themselves after following the examples.

Example 1 - The Entire SIB

From the Standards Information Base home page, click the View it hyperlink. The system may take some time to respond - it is compiling the entire contents of the Standards Information Base.

The result is a series of tables, one for each of the major service categories in the TOGAF Technical Reference Model taxonomy. The hyperlinks at the head of the page provide links to the start of each service category table.

• If you want to, save this page for off-line viewing later. (Size is ~200K.)

As you can see, the SIB contains hyperlinks to the web sites of many different standards organizations, both de jure and de facto.

The standards listed in the various tables are all Open Group standards - that is, standards endorsed by The Open Group as fit for purpose in architecture specification and procurement.

Example 2 - Referenced Standards

The majority of the standards listed in the SIB have been developed and published by The Open Group itself. However, there are also many Referenced Standards - standards developed and published by other organizations, and referenced from the SIB.

Data Interchange in particular is an area where The Open Group has elected not to duplicate the excellent work done in other organizations, and instead has adopted from those organizations the relevant standards with demonstrated industry consensus.

1. From the Standards Information Base home page, click the Search it hyperlink. The search form appears, which allows you to specifiy several criteria to help you find what you want.
2. From the Service Category drop-down box, select the Data Interchange Services category (but don't click the Search button just yet).
3. Click the Service drop-down box. You will see that it now lists all the individual services within the Data Interchange category.
4. Select Hypertext, and then click the Search button.
5. When the search results appear, look under the Reference and Status column and locate the HTML 4.0 entry. Click on Details in the Other Views column. This displays the full SIB entry for HTML 4.0.
6. In the full SIB entry, click the hyperlink shown against URL (you could also have clicked the HTML 4.0 hyperlink in the previous page). This takes you to the HTML 4.0 Specification on the W3C public web site.
7. Go back to the Open Group web site, and go back again to the search results for Hypertext.
8. Locate the entry for IETF RFC 2068 and click the Details link. This displays the full SIB entry for IETF RFC 2068. The full entry explains the relationship of HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0, and (under See Also) gives a link to the SIB entry for the corresponding IETF RFC (1945).
9. Again, click the hyperlink shown against URL. This takes you to the text of the HTTP/1.1 specification as approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force.
10. Go back to the Open Group web site, and go back again to the search results for Hypertext. Browse the remaining links at your leisure. Note that all organizations whose standards are referenced from the SIB make the full text freely available.

Example 3 - Open Group Technical Standards

Now we will look at the facilities available in the SIB for the Technical Standards developed and published by The Open Group itself.

1. From the Standards Information Base home page, click the Search it hyperlink.
2. When the search form appears, under Service Category select System and Network Management Services (but don't click the Search button just yet).
3. Click the Service drop-down box. You will see that it now lists all the individual services within the System and Network Management category.
4. Leave the Any entry in place under Service, and press the Search button. The table displayed as a result shows all the standards in the SIB under the System and Network Management Services category.
5. Search down the table under the Reference and Status column to locate the entry for C701(XDSA). This is the ‘Systems Management: Distributed Software Administration (XDSA)’ Technical Standard. This time, click on the C701 hyperlink.
6. This links to the Open Group Publications database (a separate database from the SIB). The next table displayed shows full publication details of the Technical Standard, and links to a range of further information. Options at this point:
   • Press the SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT hyperlink. This provides a page of structured hyperlinks to all Open Group Systems Management publications (not just standards).
   • Go back to the previous page. The two hyperlinks under Availability offer two different ways of obtaining a copy of the standard, including free access to an HTML version; and an order form for a hard copy version.  Investigate these links at your leisure.

Example 4 - Open Group Product Standards

This time we will look at the facilities for the Product Standards developed and published by The Open Group.

1. From the Standards Information Base home page, click the Search it hyperlink.
2. When the search form appears, under Service Category select Operating System Services, and press the Search button.
3. The table displayed as a result shows all the standards in the SIB under the Operating System Services category. As you can see, there are a lot!
4. Search down the table under the Reference and Status column to locate the entry X/Open XX. This is the UNIX 98 Product Standard. Click on the X/Open XX hyperlink.
5. The next table displayed shows all the products registered as conformant to the UNIX 98 Product Standard, organized by vendor. Select a vendor's registered product and click on the hyperlink.
6. The next table shows details of the product registration, and links to a range of further information. Options at this point:
   1. Click the vendor's company name to go the vendor's own web site, either for general information on the vendor, or for information on the specific registered product.
   2. Click the Brand Certificate link to display a copy of the actual Brand Certificate (in PDF)
   3. Click the Go to the completed Conformance Statement hyperlink. (The Conformance Statement is a document, compiled from the answers to a Conformance Statement Questionnaire (CSQ), that the vendor supplies as part of the registration process, giving full details of the conformance of the product to the relevant Product Standard.)
      • The resultant table offers three levels of detail, available from the three icons in the left-hand column. (If required, click on the Help button for an explanation of the icons, in addition to other help information; then return to this table.) Click one of the icons.
      • The next table shows the Conformance Statement for the overall Product Standard, most of which is effectively a compilation of the Conformance Statements for each of the individual Open Group standards that the Product Standard comprises. Select a particular question, and click on an icon.
      • The final table shows the full details of the Conformance Statement for that Open Group standard.
   4. Click the manual search of the CSQ System hyperlink.
      • The resultant search form provides access to the complete Conformance Statement Library.
      • Clicking the Search the completed Conformance Statements hyperlink enables you to search the complete library by individual Product Standard and/or by vendor, and to select how you want the results organized, and the level of detail displayed. Options now:
        • Select a particular Product Standard, and leave the vendor column as Any, to show all the vendor products registered as conforming to that Product Standard.
        • Select a particular vendor, and leave the Product Standard column as Any, to show all the Product Standards for which that vendor has registered a conforming product.
        • Select a particular Product Standard, and a particular vendor, to show whether that vendor has a product registered as conforming to that Product Standard.
        • Click the select here for an extended selection hyperlink for an even more detailed search form, allowing selection of individual vendor products as well as Product Standards and vendors.
      • Clicking the View the Conformance Statements Questionnaires hyperlink provides access to a complete list of (blank) Conformance Statements Questionnaires, so you can see the questions that vendors have to answer as part of the product registration process. 
   5. Click the More information about UNIX 98 hyperlink to display details of the UNIX 98 Product Standard, including:
      • the full text of the Product Standard definition,
      • a list of all the component standards,
      • links to each of the individual specifications,
      • links to the corresponding Conformance Statement Questionnaires
      • links to information on the test suites used as the indicator of compliance

As you can see, there is a wealth of information underpinning the entries for Open Group developed standards, particularly the Product Standards.

For this reason, Open Group Product Standards should be the first point of departure when considering open industry standards for architecture specifications and procurements.

Where Open Group Product Standards do not exist, individual Open Group standards will often be the next best thing.

Summary of Open Group Databases and Resources

A summary of URLs to key Open Group resources relevant to the architect is given below.

Copyright (c) The Open Group, 1999, 2000