Glossary

Directory Services Markup Language (DSML)

A set of standards that allows directory information to be represented and accessed using XML. DSML consists of two separate specifications.

DSML V1

An OASIS standard that provides a means of representing directory information in XML.

DSML V2

An OASIS standard that provides a means for querying and modifying directory information in XML.

DSML Services for Windows

The Microsoft implementation of the DSML V2 standard.

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

A markup language that provides a format for describing structured data. XML is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specification, and is a subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).

IETF

See Internet Engineering Task Force

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)

An open community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. Technical work is performed by working groups organized by topic areas (such as routing, transport, and security) and through mailing lists. Internet standards are developed in IETF Requests for Comments (RFCs), which are a series of notes that discuss many aspects of computing and computer communication, focusing on networking protocols, programs, and concepts.

LDAP

See Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

The primary access protocol for Active Directory. LDAP is an industry-standard protocol, established by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), that allows users to query and update information in a directory service. Active Directory supports both LDAP version 2 and LDAP version 3.

OASIS

See Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS)

A consortium of technology companies formed to develop guidelines for use of XML and related information standards.

SGML

See Standard Generalized Markup Language

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

An XML/HTTP-based protocol for platform-independent access to objects and services on the web. SOAP defines a message format in XML that travels over the Internet using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). By using existing web protocols (HTTP) and languages (XML), SOAP runs over the existing Internet infrastructure without being tied to any operating system, language, or object model.

SOAP

See Simple Object Access Protocol

Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)

An information management standard adopted by the International Organization for Standardization in 1986 as a means of providing platform- and application-independent documents that retain formatting, indexing, and linked information. SGML provides a grammar-like mechanism for users to define the structure of their documents and the tags they will use to denote the structure in their individual documents.

W3C

See World Wide Web Consortium

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

A standards body based in the United States, European Union, and Japan. The W3C is dedicated (in part) to encouraging the development of open web standards, such as the HTML and XML document markup languages, to promote interoperability and assist the web in achieving its potential.

XML

See Extensible Markup Language