SSSWG
November 1997 Minutes
Preliminary Meeting Minutes for November 1997
IEEE Storage Systems Standards Working Group (P1244)
Held at Hotel St. Francis, Santa Fe, NM November 11-13, 1997
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IEEE Sponsor Merritt Jones
SSSWG Chair Jack Cole
Technical Editor Sam Coleman
Co-Treasurer Joel Williams
SSSWG Site Geoff Peck
Attendance (9).
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Curtis Anderson SGI curtis@sgi.com
Jack Cole ARL jack.cole@ieee.org
Sam Coleman LLNL scoleman@llnl.gov
Dixon Hutchinson EXABYTE hutch@exabyte.com
Merritt Jones MITRE merritt@mitre.org
Jan Klier HP jan_klier@hp.com
Geoff Peck QUANTUM geoff@sgi.com
Eric Stouffer IBM stouffer@us.ibm.com
Joel Williams SES joel.williams@ses-inc.com
Administrative.
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The meeting began at 8:30 am on Tuesday with the usual business of
attendance and registration. Minutes from the Timberline Lodge meeting
were approved along with the agenda for this meeting. The meeting ended
at noon on Thursday.
POINTS of DISCUSSION
("MMS" = "Media Management System")
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o MMS Requirements (DRAFT)
o Data Model
o MMS Architecture (DRAFT)
o Selection of Acronyms, Abbreviations
o Language Requirements
o Media Changer Service Standard (MCS) Draft Status
o IEEE Project Authorization Requests (PARs)
o Web site and E-Mail Reflector
o NASD, NASA/Goddard Mass Storage Conference
o Action Items
o Timeline
o Next Meeting
o Future Meetings
MMS Requirements (DRAFT, Sam Coleman)
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Sam conducted a review of the fourth version of this draft, and
will make a revised version available to the group after the meeting.
As in previous meetings, the purpose of this document was
re-examined, and again determined to be that of a guide for the group's
development of other MMS components.
The decision of the group after completing this review was that
the draft will be opened to public review at or shortly after the next
(January 98) meeting.
Discussion of terms used in the requirements consumed significant
time. Joel offered for consideration definitions he previously had
gathered. Some revision of the requirements draft definitions resulted,
but there remained a desire to examine the "official" IEEE definitions
for the same terms. That will be accomplished before the next meeting.
Data Model (Curtis Anderson)
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Curtis presented an updated version of the SGI OpenVault data
model (objects and attributes) in an overview meant to stimulate thought
for the group's effort. Although the presenter did an excellent job,
the presentation was not organized in a way to easily communicate
information about the data model to those who had not been part of the
development team for OpenVault. Curtis will work between meetings to
reorganize the presentation with Geoff's assistance.
MMS Architecture (DRAFT, Geoff Peck)
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This was a review of the first draft of the MMS architecture
document, and only minor changes were made.
This draft architecture contained a set of definitions similar to
the one used by the MMS Requirements draft. The group will investigate
IEEE definitions, and arrive at a common set of definitions before the
January meeting. The two drafts (Requirements and Architecture) will
follow a closely coordinated evolutionary path, recognizing that the
documents will have considerable overlap and that the requirements
document will not be made into a standard.
The group determined that there will be sufficient time at and
between the next two meetings to refine the MMS architecture draft so
that it may be opened to public review at the March 1998 meeting.
Selection of Acronyms, Abbreviations
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Acronyms/abbreviations for components of the MMS were suggested by
Geoff, and accepted by the group with minor changes. Some of these are
shown in the Project Authorization Requests below.
Language Requirements
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There was very little in-meeting discussion on the topic, other
than a few of coordination between Curtis and Joel about work they will
do offline.
Media Changer Service (MCS) Standard Draft Status
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It was the consensus of the participants that work will cease on
the MCS, and that the MCS PAR will be withdrawn. The decision was made
on the basis that a downscale version of MMS will offer the same
functionality as MCS.
IEEE Project Authorization Requests (PARs)
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Several PARs will be developed and submitted for approval:
Media Management System Architecture
Media Manager Initialization Protocol (MMIP)
Media Manager Protocol (MMP)
Abstract Device Protocol (ADP)
Abstract Library Protocol (ALP)
PARs to be submitted after later development:
Media Manager Interchange Protocol
User Mount Commands (to be defined later)
Standard Administrative Commands (to be defined later)
PAR to be developed much later:
Media Manager Metadata Management Protocol
Web site and E-Mail Reflector
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The SSSWG paid for its own domain name ("ssswg.org"), and Geoff
has moved documents and web pages to machines associated with that name
that he is providing. Geoff and Dixon set up an email reflector for the
smaller working group.
A reflector to replace ieee+mss@larc.nasa.gov will be established
before the January meeting. Current subscribers to the NASA sponsored
reflector will be given the opportunity to subscribe to the new
reflector.
The www.arl.mil/IEEE will become a single page with a link
pointing to www.ssswg.org. Some immediate work needs to be done at
www.ssswg.org, but even more work is required in the longer term to
significantly rework the site.
NASD, NASA/Goddard Mass Storage Conference
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Various other groups and meetings were discussed, including THIC,
AIIM, and SNIA. Geoff is attending NASD meetings for the SSSWG, and
Geoff and Curtis will give presentations at the NASA Goddard Mass
Storage Conference in March20
(http://esdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/msst/msst.html).
Action Items
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o Review revised versions of the Requirements and Architecture
Drafts, Terms and Definitions before the January meeting (ALL)
o Collect and Incorporate Reviews to the MMS Requirements (Sam)
o Investigate IEEE Dictionary definitions for SSSWG terms (Jack)
o Arrange the January meeting in Las Vegas (Geoff)
o Write PARs in time for the next IEEE approval cycle (Jack)
o Reorganize OpenVault Data Model Description (Curtis, Geoff)
o Revise, Rebuild SSSWG.ORG, Reflectors (Geoff, Jack)
o Develop Language Components for MMS (Joel, Curtis)
Timeline
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Approve, Open MMS Requirements to Public Review at January Meeting
Submit PARs to IEEE by end of January 98 Meeting
Approve, Open MMS Architecture to Public Review at March 98 Meeting
Submit MMS to IEEE Ballot Process by September 98 Meeting
Next Meeting.
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January 13-15, 1998, Caesers Palace, Las Vegas, NV
http://www.ssswg.org/next_meeting_arrangements.html
http://www.caesars.com/palace/win/
Future Meetings.
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March 10-12, 1998 Boulder, CO (John Merrill/NCAR)
May 12-14, 1998 East Coast Location (Jack)
July 14-16, 1998 Redmond, WA (Jonathon Otis/ADIC)
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