[sldev] Open Grid Identifier Notation draft proposal

[Cenji Neutra]

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 6:49 PM, Vex Streeter <vexstreeter at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, the implication is that the organization running grid X would both own
> the domain name X and IFF they want the grid to be publicly resolvable would
> put a grid description document at X.

Right, which is something we don't want to *require* in order to
facilitate adoption, but something that should be the defacto case if
the scheme is adopted in the future (and hence the 'fast path').  That
is to say, we want public grids to be resolvable even if the
organization running the grid hasn't implemented the scheme (provided
the resolver service knows about it of course).
Right now, based on the feedback received, we're leaning toward a URN
syntax for the 2nd draft.

As for URN resolution (not encompassed by the current spec), having
the URN be a URL would certainly be simplest, but to satisfy my
requirement above, there has to be more to it than that.  As you say,
having any kind of complex lookup in the critical path of client
startup should be avoid if possible.  However, the resolution process
we'll propose separately and implement will almost certainly use DNS
in some way.

Thanks,
-Cenji.

>
> For instance
> case 1: public SL grid
> id = "http://grid.secondlife.com/agni"
> resolved contents of id:
>   <grid>
>      <name>Second Life</name>
>      <login>https://login.agni.lindenlab.com/cgi-bin/login.cgi</login>
>      <publickey>...</publickey>
>      etc
>
>
> case 2: my private grid
> id="http://myprivatemetaverse.org/"
> resolved contents of id:  HTTP 404 error
>
>
>> Perhaps it is possible to have the advantages of both systems.
>> Perhaps we can use URIs and specifications that layer above that can
>> require that for lookup, applications first query an extended DNS
>> name.
>
> Two recommendations:
> - that there be no "search" required to resolve - it either resolves or it
> doesn't.  You might do it on initial discovery, but generally it is a way to
> advertise your grid in a more structured and useful way than a wiki page,
> definitely not in the critical path for client boot.
> - if published, the grid information should be *static*, that is, as a
> design goal, it ought to define the specific grid in a pretty deep way so
> you don't need to retrieve it ever again.  Use dns to resolve major grid
> services, etc.  Most clients would ship with a set of grid references, e.g.
> something like Gareth Ellison's supergrid
> (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Gareth_Ellison/Supergrid)
>
> Cheers,
>   Vex
>