Directory Systems for Computer Mail in Internetworking Environments

摘要

In this paper we present design considerations of directory systems for computer mail. Directory systems are analyzed based on a hierarchical architecture for computer mail systems and the emphasis of the paper is on large systems and system interconnection. The paper describes the organization of the directory system's databases into (logical) levels according to the nature of the information stored in such databases, and discusses the design issues associated with the management of such a distributed database, These issues include: (a) How the information is structured and distributed, (b) How to control access to the data, (c) How to process identification queries, (d) How to ensure integrity and security of information, and (e) How to update the directory system.