WebSVN – oidinfo_new_design – Diff – /trunk/faq.htm

                                                 <li><a href="#29">What are the duties of a Registration Authority?</a></li>
                                                 <li><a href="#size-limitations">Are there size limitations for OID encoding?</a></li>
                                                 <li><a href="#31">Are there binary encoders/decoders for OIDs?</a></li>
                                                 <li><a href="#cookies">Does this web site use cookies?</a></li>
                                                 <li><a href="#33">How does this web site protect users' privacy?</a></li>
+                                                <li><a href="#guidelines">What are the guidelines to adequately describe an OID in this OID repository?</a></li>
                                         </ol><br></td>
                         </tr>
                 </table>
         </div>
         <div id="table_answers_in_faq">
                                                                 so any OID described in this OID repository has to be officially allocated
                                                                 by the Registration Authority of its parent OID. There are at least
 ways of adding a new OID description to the repository: <br>a. Enter the OID value in the box under "Add a description for the
                                                                 following OID to the database" on the <a href="index.htm">main page</a> and
                                                                 click on the "Create" button; a new page will then be displayed with
-                                                                some boxes to fill. You can also enter the OID in the following box:<br><form method="post" action="/cgi-bin/manage" enctype="multipart/form-data">
+                                                                some boxes to fill (see <a href="#guidelines">guidelines for describing an OID</a>). You can also enter the OID in the following box:<br><form method="post" action="/cgi-bin/manage" enctype="multipart/form-data">
                                                                         <input type="hidden" name="a" value="create">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>{</strong>
                                                                         <input type="text" name="oid" size="30" value=""><strong>}</strong>
                                                                         <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Create"></form>
                                                                 b. Go to the parent OID of the OID that you want to add (i.e. the
                                                                 OID at the immediate upper level in the OID tree) and click on the
                                                                 "Create a child OID" link on the top right-hand side of the page;
-                                                                a new page will then be displayed with some boxes to fill.<br>c. Go to an OID at the same level as the OID that you want to add
+                                                                a new page will then be displayed with some boxes to fill (see <a href="#guidelines">guidelines for describing an OID</a>).<br>c. Go to an OID at the same level as the OID that you want to add
                                                                 (a.k.a. sibling OID) and click on the "Create a sibling OID" link
                                                                 on the top right-hand side of the page; a new page will then be displayed
-                                                                with some boxes to fill.<br>d. If you have a lot of OID descriptions to add, it is more convenient
+                                                                with some boxes to fill (see <a href="#guidelines">guidelines for describing an OID</a>).<br>d. If you have a lot of OID descriptions to add, it is more convenient
                                                                 to describe them in an XML document that conforms to our <a href="oid.xsd">XML
                                                                         Schema for OIDs</a> and <a href="submit.htm">submit</a> this document
                                                                 through the web interface. <br><em>
                                                                         Note: In all 4 cases, the person (if any) you mention as <a href="#registration-authorities">registrant</a>
                                                                         for the OID, and the person (if known) who is the <a href="#registration-authorities">registrant</a>
                                                         <div class="question">
                                                                 How many OIDs are currently described in this repository?<a name="9"></a>
                                                                 <a href="#top"><img src="images/page_top_fleche.png" width="27" height="17" border="0"></a>
                                                         </div>
                                                         <div class="answer">
-                                                                There are more than 950 000 OID descriptions stored in our repository
+                                                                There are close to 2 billion OID descriptions stored in this repository
                                                                 (see <a href="/cgi-bin/display?a=count_nodes">exact number</a>). The
                                                                 repository is well alive and updated as often as necessary; <a href="/cgi-bin/display?a=count_nodes">statistics</a>
                                                                 are available about the number of OIDs added to the repository (or
                                                                 updated) over the past 12 months. A (non-exhaustive) list of standards
                                                                 (and other documents that define OIDs) which have been captured in
                                                                 good idea is probably to look at <a href="country_oids.htm#agreements">how
                                                                         other countries have organized subsequent arcs beneath their country
                                                                         arc</a> as well as reading the ITU handbook on &quot;<a href="http://www.itu.int/pub/T-HDB-LNG.4-2010"><em>
                                                                                 Object
                                                                                 identifiers (OIDs) and their registration authorities
-                                                                        </em></a>&quot;.<br><br></div>
+                                                                        </em></a>&quot;. You can also take benefit from the
+                                                                        <a href="#guidelines">guidelines to adequately describe an OID in this OID repository</a>.<br><br></div>
                                                 </li>
                                                 <li>
                                                         <div class="question">
                                                                 What is the Internet OID?<a name="13"></a>
                                                                 <a href="#top"><img src="images/page_top_fleche.png" width="27" height="17" border="0"></a>
                                                                 The <a href="display-example.htm">description page</a> for each OID
                                                                 offers the ability to:
                                                                 <ul type="disc">
                                                                         <li>
                                                                                 have a synthetic <a href="/cgi-bin/display?tree=">graphical
-                                                                                        view</a> of the tree (click on the<img src="images/pm.gif" width="19" height="18">and<img src="images/mm.gif" width="19" height="18">icons to
+                                                                                        view</a> of the tree (click on the<img src="images/pm.gif" width="19" height="18" alt="Unfolding the subtree">and<img src="images/mm.gif" width="19" height="18" alt="Folding the subtree">icons to
                                                                                 fold and unfold arcs);
                                                                         </li>
                                                                         <li>display the description of another OID (the &quot;Go&quot; button);</li>
                                                                         <li>
                                                                                 use the &quot;remote control&quot; to display the description
                                                                 According to clause 8.2 f of <a href="http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-X.660/en">Recommendation
                                                                         ITU-T X.660 | ISO/IEC 9834-1</a>, the registration record for an OID
                                                                 shall include at least:<br>a) the definition of the object (when the registration authority of
                                                                 the parent OID performs a technical role, it checks that the objet
                                                                 can be registered under the parent OID);<br>b) when applicable, the identifier (beginning with a lowercase letter)
-                                                                assigned to the object (in addition to the unique number);<br>b) the name and contact information of the organization that proposed
+                                                                assigned to the object (in addition to the unique number);<br>c) the name and contact information of the organization that proposed
                                                                 the entry (usually it is the &quot;<a href="#registration-authorities">First
-                                                                        registration authority</a>&quot; for the requested OID);<br>c) the dates of submission/registration.<br><br></div>
+                                                                        registration authority</a>&quot; for the requested OID);<br>d) the dates of submission/registration.<br><br></div>
                                                 </li>
                                                 <li>
                                                         <div class="question">
                                                                 Is there a particular OID that can be used for documenting
                                                                 examples of object identifiers?<a name="22"></a><a name="example"></a>
                                                         </div>
                                                         <div class="answer">
                                                                 The constraints are gathered in sections 4.6.5, 4.6.6, and Appendix
                                                                 D of IETF <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4181">RFC 4181</a>
                                                                 (updated by <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4841">RFC 4841</a>)
-                                                                which makes references to <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2578">RFC
+                                                                which makes references to IETF <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2578">RFC
 </a>, sections 3.5, 3.6, 5.6, 7.10, and <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3416">RFC
 </a>, section 4.1.<br>
-                                                                - According to <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2578">RFC 2578</a>, section 3.5, all OIDs are limited to 128 child OIDs and each OID has a maximum (integer) value of 2<sup>32</sup>-1 (<code>4294967295</code>).<br>
+                                                                - According to IETF <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2578">RFC 2578</a>, section 3.5, all OIDs are limited to 128 child OIDs and each OID has a maximum (integer) value of 2<sup>32</sup>-1 (<code>4294967295</code>).<br>
-                                                                - The last arc of an OID assigned to any object (be it table, row, column, or scalar) must not be equal to 0.<br>- In some cases, a final arc 0 is used to translate between SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 notification parameters as explained in <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2576">RFC 2576</a>, section 3.<br>One example of a MIB module whose OID assignments follow the recommended scheme is the <code>POWER-ETHERNET-MIB</code> defined in <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3621">RFC 3621</a>.<br>MIBs use a notation like "<code>.2.999</code>" where the leading dot shows that this OID is absolute while "<code>2.999</code>" might be considered as a relative OID by some tools which would then add a root OID in front of it.<br><br></div>
+                                                                - The last arc of an OID assigned to any object (be it table, row, column, or scalar) must not be equal to 0.<br>- In some cases, a final arc 0 is used to translate between SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 notification parameters as explained in IETF <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2576">RFC 2576</a>, section 3.<br>One example of a MIB module whose OID assignments follow the recommended scheme is the <code>POWER-ETHERNET-MIB</code> defined in <a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3621">RFC 3621</a>.<br>MIBs use a notation like "<code>.2.999</code>" where the leading dot shows that this OID is absolute while "<code>2.999</code>" might be considered as a relative OID by some tools which would then add a root OID in front of it.<br><br></div>
                                                 </li>
                                                 <li>
                                                         <div class="question">
                                                                 Is there a way to look up an OID in the OID repository from my web browser?<a name="25"></a><a name="lookup"></a>
                                                                 <a href="#top"><img src="images/page_top_fleche.png" width="27" height="17" border="0"></a>
                                                                 only be used by the OID repository administrator to explain or undo
                                                                 changes if needed.<br>For any other question related to data protection or to request the
                                                                 rectification or erasure of your personal data, you can <a href="/helper">contact
                                                                         the webmaster</a>. Repetitive, disproportionate or impracticable requests
                                                                 may be rejected.
+                                                        <br><br></div>
+                                                </li>
+                                                <li>
+                                                        <div class="question">
+                                                                What are the guidelines to adequately describe an OID in this OID repository?<a name="34"></a><a name="guidelines"></a>
+                                                                <a href="#top"><img src="images/page_top_fleche.png" width="27" height="17" border="0"></a>
+                                                        </div>
+                                                        <div class="answer">
+                                                                The following rules are followed by the OID repository administrator to validate OID descriptions:
+                                                        <ul>
+                                                                <li>The description shall be as short as possible (usually, not more than one line) and focus on <em>what</em> (i.e., which object) is identified by the OID. The description shall not be a sentence (with a verb). Consequently, the description does not end up with a full stop "." (except when the full stop is part of an abbreviation). See also the <a href="#syntax-rules">syntax rules</a>.</li>
+                                                                <li>The description should be easily understandable by any user of the OID repository. Substantives should not be put one after the other without inserting small words like "for", "of", etc. This helps understanding the description and avoids ambiguities when translating to other languages.</li>
+                                                                <li>Useless expressions like "OID for", "OID identifying", "Root OID for", "Top arc for", "Arc for", "This OID describes", "This arc describes", etc., are forbidden.</li>
+                                                                <li>Words are not capitalized (contrarily to what is usually done for paper or book titles in English) except for an abbreviation or acronym which is put between parentheses after the expression that defines it (with each letter of the abbreviation being capitalized in its definition), e.g., Meaning of My Abbreviation (MMA).</li>
+                                                                <li>Any text (e.g., how it is used, how child OIDs are allocated, etc.) which is not related to <em>what</em> is identified by the OID shall be moved to the "Information" part. Any text which can be assimilated to a publicity or a company description shall be avoided (a URL can be associated to the company name).</li>
+                                                        </ul>
-                                                        </div>
+                                                </div>
                                                 </li>
                                         </ol>
                                 </td>
                         </tr>
                 </table>
               d=new Date(document.lastModified)
               month=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec")
               if (Date.parse(document.lastModified) != 0)
                 document.write(d.getDate()+" "+month[d.getMonth()]+" "+d.getFullYear());
               </script>-->
-Jul 2022
+Nov 2022
             </font>
           </td>
           <td width="24" align="center"><img src="images/pointorange_small.gif" width="14" height="10"></td>
           <td align="center" width="409">
             <font size=-1>

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