scope:

ISO/IEC 9646 is a multi-part Intemational Standard which specifies a general methodology for testing the conformance of products to OS1 specifications which the products are claimed to implement. The methodology applies to testing conformance to a) the specification of an OS1 protocol; b) the specification of a transfer syntax used in combination with a specific OS1 protocol; c) the specification of an OS1 protocol profile, including the testing of conformance to any specified information objects used in combination with one or more of the protocols, as specified in the profile; d) the specifications of a combination of OS1 protocols, possibly used in combination with a specified transfer syntax and/or one or more specified information objects. The OS1 specification to which conformance is tested may be contained in an International Standard, an ITU-T Recommendation, or an International Standardized Profile. 1.2 ISO/IEC 9646 is in principle, applicable to conformance testing for Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). 1.3 ISO/IEC 9646 is applicable to conformance testing for those implementations of a protocol or set of protocols that require communication between two or more real open systems to achieve their purpose (e.g. Message Handling Service (MHS)), Directory Services, ISDN, Transaction Processing, Routeing, and Systems Management). 1.4 ISO/IEC 9646 is applicable to the different phases of the confomiice testing process, these phases being characterized by three major activities. These activities are: a) the specification of Abstract Test Suites (ATSs) for particular OS1 protocols and Profile Test Specifications (PTSs) for particular OS1 profiles; b) realization of a Means of Testing (MOT) able to run an executable form of an Abstract Test Suite; c) the conformance assessment process carried out by a test laboratory for a specific client on the basis of an Implementation Conformance Statement (ICs), culminating in the production of a System Conformance Test Report (SCTR) and one or more Protocol Conformance Test Reports (PCTR), one for each ATS used: the results are given in terms of the relevant protocol specification(s) and test suite(s) used. This part is applicable to ail three activities, providing tutorial introductory material, together with definitions of common terms and concepts. NOTE - ISOAEC 9646-2 deals with the requirements and guidance for the specification of ATSs, independent of test notation. ISO/IEC 9646- 3 defines the recommended test notation. ISO/IEC 9646-4 deals with requirements and guidance for realization of the means of testing. ISOI IEC 9646-5 deals with requirements and guidance for test laboratories and their clients for the conformance assessment process. ISO/IEC 9646- 6 deals with the requirements and guidance for PTSs based upon ATSs for each of the protocols involved. ISOIIEC 9646-7 deals with the requirements and guidance for ICSs, System Conformance Statements (SCSs), their proforinas and Requirements Lists (RLs). 1.5 ISOLEC 9646 specifies the requirements for and gives guidance on the procedures to be followed in OS1 conformance testing. 1.6 ISO/IEC 9646 includes only such information as is necessary to meet the following objectives: a) to achieve an adequate levei of confidence in the tests as a guide to conformaiice; b) to achieve comparability between the results of the corresponding tests on a particular OS1 implementation applied in different places at different times; c) to facilitate communication between the parties responsible for the activities described in 1.4 above.

This part of ISO/IEC 9646 includes tutorial introductory material which provides a) an exposition of the meaning of conformance in the context of OSI; b) a description of the major categories of conformance tests; c) an introduction to the conformance assessment process; d) an introduction to the Abstract Test Methods and their applicability: e) an introduction to the concepts of test suite design. In addition, this part describes the relationship between the other parts of ISO/IEC 9646 and the activities involved in conformance testing, and introduces the concept of compliance with respect to the other parts of ISO/IEC 9646. 1.8 The following are outside the scope of ISO/IEC 9646: a) certification, an administrative procedure which may follow conformance testing; b) requirements for procurement and contracts; c) testing by means of test methods which are specific to particular applications, protocols or systems; d) testing by means other than PDU exchange; NOTE - ISOAEC 9646 does not apply fully to Physical layer protocols. Nevertheless, many of the concepts apply to all protocols.