Practical Perspectives on OSI Networking

Marshall T. Rose
Performance Systems International, Inc.

Introduction

     This two day course provides a practical perspective on the
     issues involved in developing and deploying OSI networks.
     Organized for those with a basic familiarity with OSI and with
     practical networking experience, the presentation will provide a
     more comprehensive understanding of the OSI Reference Model, OSI
     application and network services as well as a detailed
     understanding of various transition strategies which may be
     utilized in the realization of OSI networks from existing
     technology, in particular TCP/IP-based networks.

     After completion, you will achieve a thorough understanding of the
     technology involved in developing OSI applications, building OSI
     networks, and transiting to (or coexisting with) TCP/IP-based networks.


Overview

     Based on international cooperative work, it is commonly
     acknowledged that protocols based on the Open Systems
     Interconnection (OSI) model and promulgated by the International
     Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International
     Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) will eventually achieve dominance
     and enjoy even greater success than current networking
     technologies.  OSI enjoy substantial political and marketing
     support, and its use has even been mandated for procurement for use
     in various national governments.  It not enough to simply mandate
     the use of OSI.  Rather, OSI must be implemented before it can be
     used!  Whilst a rather self-evident statement, the history of OSI,
     starting in the late '70s, has not been particularly successful in
     this regard.

     This course focuses on the technical, pragmatic aspects of OSI which
     are critical if OSI is to ever be realized in production
     environments of meaningful size.  In order to emphasize this
     practical perspective, throughout the course, a widely-used
     implementation will be used to provide insights into what works in OSI.


Audience

     This tutorial is intended for professionals interested in planning,
     implementing, or managing OSI networks.  A basic familiarity with
     networking and OSI is assumed: this course is NOT an introduction
     to, or a tutorial on, OSI.  Detailed knowledge of the protocols is
     not required, but experience with implementing networking protocols
     is very helpful.  Experience with the "C" programming language is also
     useful.


Course Outline

     - End-to-End Services

       A discussion of current OSI network and transport technologies
       and how they may be used to build networks.

	- Concepts:  basic terminology, network service, transport service

	- Building Blocks:  address formats, network binding, transport
	  protocols, application use of end-to-end services, emulation
	  of OSI end-to-end services

	- Comparison with relevant TCP/IP technology:  network service,
	  transport service.


     - Application Services

       A discussion of current OSI application support and how they are used
       to construct OSI applications.

	- Application Layer Structure:  upper layer infrastructure,
	  application contexts, application entities

	- Application Service Elements:  association control, reliable
	  transfer, remote operations, use of application services


     - Building an OSI application:

       A discussion on the use of remote operations to design and implement
       an applications in an OSI framework.

	- A Model for Distributed Applications:  abstract data types,
	  operations, reliability characteristics

	- The RO-Notation:  an annotated example

	- Static Facilities:  stub generator, structure generator,
	  element parser

	- Dynamic Facilities:  run-time environment, boilerplate for
	  consumers, boilerplate for providers


     - Transition and Coexistence with TCP/IP

       A discussion of how existing, production TCP/IP-based networks
       may either transition to OSI, or coexist with OSI for maximal
       functionality.

	- Motivation and Background:  concepts, terminology, history,
	  metrics of comparison

	- Protocol-based Approaches:  dual stack, application gateways,
	  transport gateways

	- Service-based Approaches:  transport-service bridges, network
	  tunnels 

	- Examples: DoD OSI implementation plan, generic example


Required Text

     The Open Book: A Practical Perspective on OSI by Rose, published by
     Prentice-hall (available at the Computer Literacy Bookstore, Techmart).


Instructor

     Marshall T. Rose is Principal Scientist at Performance Systems
     International, Inc., where he works on OSI protocols and network
     management.  He is the principal implementor of the ISO Development
     Environment (ISODE), an openly available implementation of the
     upper layers of the OSI protocol suite.  He is the author of "The
     Open Book: A Practical Perspective on OSI", a professional text
     discussing OSI in both theory and practice, published by Prentice-hall.
     Rose received the Ph.D. degree in Information and Computer Science
     from the University of California, Irvine, in 1984.


Dates

     Two meetings, July 16-17, Monday-Tuesday, 9AM-5PM