draft #45: Unnamed NML objects - NML WG - Open Grid Forum

draft #45

Unnamed NML objects

Added by Jeroen van der Ham almost 10 years ago.

Status:

submitted

Start date:

11/30/2012

Priority:

Normal

Due date:

Assignee:

% Done:

Category:

Target version:

Description

Taken from: https://forge.ogf.org/sf/go/artf6582?nav=1

Currently, all NML Network Objects MUST have an id so that they can be referred to.

Proposal: Change this required to:

NML Network Objects MAY have an id so that they can be referred to.

Furthermore:

NML network objects MAY be unnamed.
NML network objects MAY have a local id, which is only valid in scope of one NML description and MUST NOT be referred
to from another NML description.

Rationale for unnamed network objects: Sometimes it is only needed to describe that an NML object exists without giving
it a name.

The following example combines two unidirectional Links to a BidirectionalLink without giving the BidirectionalLink an
explicit name:
<nml:BidirectionalLink>
<nml:Port idRef="urn:ogf:network:example.net:2012:link-A-B" />
<nml:Port idRef="urn:ogf:network:example.net:2012:link-B-A" />
</nml:BidirectionalLink>

Rationale for network objects with a local name: Sometimes a domain does not describe its Topology in detail, but
another Topology may want to refer to some detail of that Topology. Currently, it needs to create a full URI for an
object in another domain, which may be awkward (it seems strange to name something in someone else's Topology). In those
cases, a local name may suffice.

In the following example, the domain example.org likes to describe a end-to-end Link that uses a link through
otherdomain.net, but unfortunately otherdomain.net did not define a URI for this Link, only for the containing LinkGroup
. example.org can resolve this as follows:

&lt;nml:LinkGroup idRef="urn:ogf:network:otherdomain.net:2012:link-B-C:vlans20-100"&gt;
    &lt;nml:Link idRef="#890d0503fe"&gt;
      &lt;nml:label type="vlan"&gt;42&lt;/nml:label&gt;
    &lt;/nml:Link&gt;
  &lt;/nml:LinkGroup&gt;

&lt;nml:Link idRef="urn:ogf:network:example.org:2012:path-A-B-C"&gt;
    &lt;nml:Relation type="isSerialCompoundLink"&gt;
      &lt;nml:Link id="urn:ogf:network:example.org:2012:link-A-B"&gt;
        &lt;nml:Relation type="next"&gt;
          &lt;nml:Link idRef="#890d0503fe" /&gt;
        &lt;/nml:Relation&gt;
      &lt;/nml:Link&gt;
      &lt;nml:Link idRef="#890d0503fe" /&gt;
    &lt;/nml:Relation&gt;
  &lt;/nml:Link&gt;

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draft #45

Unnamed NML objects