scope:

Provide a conceptual and terminological framework for the other ITU-T X.500 Series Recommendations/parts of ISO/IEC 9594 which define various aspects of the Directory. The functional and organizational models define ways in which the Directory can be distributed, both functionally and administratively. The security model defines the framework within which security features, such as access control, are provided in the Directory. The information model describes the logical structure of the DIB. From this viewpoint , the fact that the Directory is distributed, rather than centralized, is not visible. The other parts of ISO/IEC 9594 make use of the concepts of the information framework. Specifically: a. the service provided by the Directory is described (in ISO/IEC-3) in terms of the information framework: this allows the service provided to be somewhat independent of the physical distribution of the DIB; b. the distributed operation of the Directory is specified (in ISO/IEC 9594-4) so as to provide that service, and therefore maintain that logical information structure, given that the DIB is in fact highly distributed. c. replication capabilities offered by the componenet parts of the Directory to improve overall Directory performance are specified (ISO/IEC 9594-9).