X.500 Directory Schema management

The X.500 Directory Service provides a powerful mechanism for storing and retrieving information about objects in a distributed computing environment. This requires the functional components of the Directory Service to have knowledge of the structure and representation, or schema, of the information held within the directory. The management of the Directory Schema is a subject requiring further research and development. We identify the three major technical elements required for properly managing the Directory Schema. We then focus on one of these elements; propagation of the schema between functional components of the Directory Service. Three subproblems from within schema propagation are presented, along with several alternative solutions.<>