RFC 1249 (rfc1249) - Page 2 of 10
DIXIE Protocol Specification
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1249 DIXIE August 1991 2.2.8.2 Bind Reply ........................................... 8 2.3 Operation Code Summary ................................... 8 2.4 Return Code Summary ...................................... 8 3. References ................................................ 9 4. Available Implementations ................................. 9 5. Security Considerations.................................... 9 6. Authors' Addresses ........................................ 10 1. Introduction OSI Directory Service defines a powerful mechanism for storing and retrieving information about objects, and for arranging those objects in a hierarchical structure. Many types of objects and information can be stored in The Directory, including white pages information, application information, service information, etc. The OSI protocol defined to allow access to this information is the Directory Access Protocol (DAP). The DAP, being an OSI application-layer program, is fairly heavy-weight and requires a substantial amount of computing power and coding investment to implement. The DIXIE protocol is designed for use by smaller hosts (e.g., Macintoshes and PCs) that do not have the computing power or necessary software to implement a full OSI protocol stack. The DIXIE protocol is also useful for any Internet application that wants a simple interface to X.500 that requires very little coding investment. The basic idea behind DIXIE is the same as that described in RFC 1202 for the Directory Assistance Protocol. DIXIE offers both UDP and TCP access to The Directory. While the Directory Assistance Protocol exports something of a user interface, DIXIE provides a more direct protocol translation. 1.1 History The DIXIE protocol has evolved over time, slowly growing into the protocol described by this document. Without an understanding of the circumstances surrounding this evolution, the wisdom of some of the DIXIE design decisions may not be apparent. 2. Protocol This section describes the DIXIE protocol in detail. DIXIE follows a client-server request and response paradigm. Clients send request packets to a DIXIE server, and the server sends reply packets in return. Communication may be over UDP or TCP, depending upon the needs of the client. All modification operations (ADD, REMOVE, MODIFY, MODIFYRDN) must be performed over a TCP connection, which Howes, Smith, & Beecher
