[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 119 (Wednesday, June 22, 1994)] [Unknown Section] [Page 0] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 94-15188] [[Page Unknown]] [Federal Register: June 22, 1994] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE [Docket No. 940550-4150] RIN No. 0693-AB28 Proposed Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) For SQL Environments AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Commerce. ACTION: Notice; Request for comments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: This proposed FIPS defines general purpose profiles that can be used by both vendors and users to specify exact requirements for how various products will fit into an SQL environment. An SQL environment is an integrated data processing environment in which heterogeneous products, all supporting some aspect of FIPS 127, SQL, are able to communicate with one another and provide shared access to data and data operations and methods under appropriate security, integrity, and access control mechanisms. The profiles in this proposed FIPS will enable Federal agencies to specify a subset of FIPS 127 to provide limited SQL access to legacy databases, or to support SQL gateways to specialized data managers such as Geographic Information Systems, full-text document management systems, or object database management systems. Prior to the submission of this proposed FIPS to the Secretary of Commerce for review and approval, it is essential to assure that consideration is given to the needs and views of manufacturers, the public, and State and local governments. The purpose of this notice is to solicit such views. This proposed FIPS contains two sections: (1) An announcement section, which provides information concerning the applicability, implementation, and maintenance of the standard; and (2) a specifications section. Only the announcement section of the standard is provided in this notice. Interested parties may obtain copies of the specifications section from the Standards Processing Coordinator (ADP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Building, room B64, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, telephone (301) 975-2816. An electronic version of this specification is available using Internet anonymous FTP protocols. Internet Node: speckle.ncsl.nist.gov User name: ftp Password:@ Change Directory to: isowg3/FIPSdocs Get File: fipseri.ps --Postscript version An ASCII text version of this document is also available in the same directory as above, but with file name ``fipseri.txt''. You will receive some sign-on messages. If these messages confuse your FTP client, you can turn them off when you sign-on again by preceding your password with a hyphen (-). DATES: Comments on this proposed FIPS must be received on or before September 20, 1994. ADDRESSES: Written comments concerning the proposed FIPS should be sent to: Director, Computer Systems Laboratory, ATTN: Proposed FIPS for SQL Environments, Technology Building, Room B154, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. Written comments received in response to this notice will be made part of the public record and will be made available for inspection and copying in the Central Reference and Records Inspection Facility, Room 6020, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW., Washington, DC 20230. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Leonard J. Gallagher, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, telephone (301) 975-3251. Dated: June 17, 1994. Samuel Kramer, Associate Director. Federal Information Processing Standards Publication XXX (Draft--April 1994) Announcing the Standard for SQL Environments Federal Information Processing Standards Publications (FIPS PUBS) are issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology after approval by the Secretary of Commerce pursuant to Section 111(d) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 as amended by the Computer Security Act of 1987, Public Law 100-235. 1. Name of Standard. SQL Environments (FIPS PUB XXX). 2. Category of Standard. Software Standard, Database. 3. Explanation. An SQL environment is an integrated data processing environment in which heterogeneous products, all supporting some aspect of the FIPS SQL standard (FIPS PUB 127), are able to communicate with one another and provide shared access to data and data operations and methods under appropriate security, integrity, and access control mechanisms. Some components in an SQL environment will be full-function SQL implementations that conform to an entire level of FIPS SQL and support all of its required clauses for schema definition, data manipulation, transaction management, integrity constraints, access control, and schema information. Other components in an SQL environment may be specialized data repositories, or graphical user interfaces and report writers, that support selected portions of the SQL standard and thereby provide a degree of integration between themselves and other products in the same SQL environment. This FIPS PUB is the beginning of a continuing effort to define appropriate conformance profiles that can be used by both vendors and users to specify exact requirements for how various products fit into an SQL environment. The emphasis in this first FIPS for SQL Environments is to specify general purpose, SQL external repository interface (SQL/ERI) profiles for non-SQL data repositories. These profiles specify how a subset of the SQL standard can be used to provide limited SQL access to legacy databases, or to support SQL gateways to specialized data managers such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), full-text document management systems, or object database management systems. All of the profiles specified herein are for server-side products, that is, products that control persistent data and provide an interface for users access to that data. Subsequent versions of this FIPS PUB may specify SQL environment profiles for client-side products, that is, products that access data and then present that data in graphical or report- writer style to an end user, or process the data in some other way on behalf of the end user. 4. Approving Authority. Secretary of Commerce 5. Maintenance Agency. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, (Computer Systems Laboratory) 6. Cross Index. --Federal Information Resources Management Regulations (FIRMR) subpart 201.303, Standards, and subpart 201.39.1002, Federal Standards, April 1992. --FIPS PUB 127-2, Federal Information Processing Standards Publication--Database Language SQL, adoption of ANSI SQL (ANSI X3.135-1992) and ISO SQL (ISO/IEC 0975:1992) for Federal use, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, June 2, 1993. --ANSI/ISO/IEC 9579, International Standard for Remote Database Access (RDA), Part 1: Generic RDA and Part 2: SQL Specialization, ISO/IEC 9579-1:1993 and ISO/IEC 9579-2:1993, published December, 1993. --ANSI/ISO/IEC CD 9075-3, (Committee Draft) International Standard for Database Language SQL, Part 3: Call Level Interface (SQL/CLI), JTC1 Committee Draft (CD), document SC21 N8436, February 1994. --ANSI/ISO/IE CD 9075-4, (Committee Draft) International Standard for Database Language SQL, Part 4: Persistent Stored Modules (SQL/ PSM), JTC1 Committee Draft (CD), document SC21 N8438, March 1994. 7. Related Documents. SQL Environment specifications will often depend upon existing Database Language SQL standards (see Cross Index above) and upon emerging SQL and SQL Multimedia standards. The following items identify formal ISO/IEC international standards projects for which preliminary specifications and base documents exist, but where the development effort has not yet reached a complete and stable stage (i.e. the Committee Draft (CD) stage). As these specifications mature and move through the standards process, they can referenced more reliably in procurement requirements. (Working Draft) Database Language SQL (SQL3) Part 1: Framework Part 2: Foundation--including Abstract Data Types and Object SQL Part 3: Call Level Interface--extensions to ISO/IEC CD 9075-3 identified above. Part 4: Persistent Stored Modules--extensions to ISO/IEC CD 9075-4 identified above. Part 5: Language Bindings--extensions to the binding clauses of ISO/ IEC 9075:1992. Part 6: Encompassing Transactions--to support X/Open XA-interface. (Working Draft) SQL Multimedia (SQL/MM) Part 1: Framework and General Purpose Facilities Part 3: Spatial Other Parts: Reserved for other SQL/MM sub-projects with no current base document (e.g., images, photographs, motion pictures, sound, music, video, etc.). For information on the current status of the above Working Drafts, contact NIST personnel working on SQL Standardization at 301-975-3251. For document references to the above and for additional related documents, see the References section of the SQL/ ERI Server Profiles specification. 8. Objective. The primary objective of this FIPS PUB for SQL Environments is to specify SQL profiles that can be used by Federal departments and agencies to support integration of legacy databases and other non-SQL data repositories into an SQL environment. The intent is to provide a high level of control over a diverse collection of legacy or specialized data resources. An SQL environment allows an organization to obtain many of the advantages of SQL without requiring a large, complex, and error-prone conversion effort; instead, the organization can evolve, in a controlled manner, to a new environment. 9. Applicability. This standard is applicable in any situation where it is desirable to integrate a client-side productivity tool or a server-side data repository into an SQL environment. It is a non-mandatory standard that may be invoked on a case-by-case basis subject to the integration objectives of the procuring department or agency. It is particularly suitable for specifying limited SQL interfaces to legacy databases or to specialized data repositories not under the control of a full-function SQL database management system. It can be used along with other procurement information to specify SQL interface requirements for a wide range of data management procurements. One special area of application envisioned for this standard is Electronic Commerce, a National Challenge Application area of the National Information Infrastructure. The primary objective of Electronic Commerce is to integrate communications, data management, and security services in a distributed processing environment, thereby allowing business applications within different organizations to interoperate and exchange information automatically. At the data management level, electronic commerce requires a logically integrated database of diverse data stored in geographically separated data banks under the management and control of heterogeneous database management systems. An over-riding requirement is that these diverse data managers be able to communicate with one another and provide shared access to data and data operations and methods under appropriate security, integrity, and access control mechanisms. FIPS SQL provides a powerful database language for data definition, data manipulation, and integrity management to satisfy many of these requirements. It is unrealistic to expect that every data manager involved in electronic commerce will conform to even the Entry SQL level of the FIPS SQL standard; however, it is not unrealistic to require that they support a limited SQL interface, even a read-only interface, provided by one of the SQL/ERI Server profiles. New procurements to add components to the National Information Infrastructure, or to upgrade existing components, can define the necessary SQL schemas and point to appropriate SQL/ERI Server profiles as procurement requirements. This standard may also be applicable, on a case-by-case basis, in many of the following areas: Legacy databases Full-Text document databases Geographic Information Systems Bibliographic information retrieval Object database interfaces Federal data distribution Operating system file interface Open system directory interface Electronic mail repositories CASE tool repositories XBase repositories C++ sequence class repositories Object Request Broker interface repository Real-time database interface Internet file repositories Further detail on each of these potential application areas can be found in Section 8, ``Applicability'', of the FIPS specification of SQL Environments. 10. Specifications. See the Specifications for SQL Environments--SQL External Repository Interface (SQL/ERI)--Server Profiles (Affixed). 11. Implementation. Implementation of this standard involves four areas of consideration: the effective date, acquisition of conforming implementations, interpretation, and validation. 11.1 Effective date. This publication is effective immediately upon publication. Since it is a nonmandatory specification, based on the established FIPS SQL standard, and used at the discretion of individual Federal procurements, no transitional period or delayed effective date is necessary. 11.2 Acquisition. All conforming implementations of a specific SQL/ERI profile will support some aspects of the FIPS SQL standard. However, such implementations will not normally be full function database management systems and conformance will often be dependent upon SQL schema definitions and other requirements provided as part of each individual procurement. In most cases, a procurement will not be able to simply point to an SQL/ERI profile and demand conformance to it. Instead, successful procurements will normally use an appropriate SQL/ERI profile, together with an application- specific schema definition, as one aspect of overall procurement requirements. In many cases, vendors of products that provide a limited SQL interface will define their interfaces in terms of a fixed SQL schema definition. In those cases, procurements can point to the vendor-provided schema definition and to an appropriate SQL/ ERI profile as a procurement requirement. In some cases, especially in those situations where schema definitions and requirements are not known in advance, a request for a proposal (RFP) many require that an SQL schema, and adherence to one of the SQL/ERI Server profiles, be presented as part of the response proposal. 11.3 Interpretation. NIST provides for the resolution of questions regarding specifications and requirements of the FIPS for SQL Environments, and issues official interpretations as needed. Procedures for interpretations are specified in FIPS PUB 29-3. All questions about the interpretation of FIPS SQL Environments should be addressed to: Director, Computer Systems Laboratory, Attn: SQL Environments, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, Telephone: (301) 975-2833 11.4 Validation. Implementations of the FIPS for SQL Environments may be validated in accordance with NIST Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL) validation procedures for FIPS SQL (FIPS PUB 127). Recommended procurement terminology for validation of FIPS SQL is contained in the U.S. General Services Administration publication Federal ADP & Telecommunications Standards Index, Chapter 4 Part 2. This GSA publication provides terminology for three validation options: Delayed Validation, Prior Validation Testing, and Prior Validation. The agency may select the appropriate validation option and may specify appropriate time frames for validation and correction of nonconformities. Implementations may be evaluated using the NIST SQL Test Suite, a suite of automated validation tests for SQL implementations. Although this test suite was designed to test conformance of full- function SQL database management systems, it can be modified to accommodate testing of SQL/ERI Server implementations. The results of validation testing by the SQL Testing Service are published on a quarterly basis in the Validated Products List, available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Current information about the NIST SQL Validation Service and the status of validation testing for SQL Environments is available from: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Computer Systems Laboratory, Software Standards Validation Group, Building 225, Room A266, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, (301) 975-2490. 12. Where to Obtain Copies. Copies of this publication are for sale by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161, telephone 703-487-4650. When ordering, refer to Federal Information Processing Standards Publication XXX (FIPSPUBXXX), SQL Environments. Payment may be made by check, money order, or deposit account. [FR Doc. 94-15188 Filed 6-21-94; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-CN-M