Approval of Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 193, SQL Environments

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No. 940550-4335]

RIN 0693-AB28

Approval of Federal Information Processing Standards Publication

193, SQL Environments

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce that the Secretary

of Commerce has approved a new standard, which will be published as

FIPS Publication 193, SQL Environments. On June 22, 1994 (59 FR 32186-

32188) notice was published in the Federal Register that a Federal

Information Processing Standard for SQL Environments was being proposed

for Federal use.

NIST reviewed written comments submitted by interested parties and

other available material. On the basis of this review, NIST recommended

that the Secretary approve the standard as a Federal Information

Processing Standard (FIPS), and prepared a detailed justification

document for the Secretary's review in support of that recommendation.

The detailed justification document which was presented to the

Secretary, and which includes an analysis of the written comments

received, is part of the public record and is available for inspection

and copying in the Department's Central Reference and Records

Inspection Facility, Room 6020, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th Street

between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW., Washington, DC

20230.

This 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, which

deals with the technical requirements of the standard. Only the

announcement section of the standard is provided in this notice.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This standard is effective February 1, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may purchase copies of this standard,

including the technical specifications section, from the National

Technical Information Service (NTIS). Specific ordering information

from NTIS for this standard is set out in the Where to Obtain Copies

Section of the announcement section of the standard.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. Leonard Gallagher, (301) 975-3251, Computer Systems Laboratory,

National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

Dated: January 30, 1995.

Samuel Kramer,

Associate Director.

Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 193

(Date)

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 193).

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 of schema definition, data

manipulation, transaction management, integrity constraints, access

control, and schema information. Other components in an SQL environment

may be specialized data repositories, lagecy databases, or graphical

user interfaces and report writers, all of which 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 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/ERL) 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 user 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)

[[Page 6699]] subpart 201.20.303, Standards, and subpart 201.39.1002,

Federal Standards, April 1992.

--FIPS PUB 127-2, Fedeal Information Processing Standards Publication--

Database Language SQL, adoption of ANSI SQL (ANSI X3.135-1992) and ISO

SQL (ISO/IEC 9075:1992) 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 DIS 9075-3, (Draft) International Standard for Database

Language SQL, Part 3: Call Level Interface (SQL/CLI), JTC1 Draft

International Standard (DIS), document SC21 N9117, 13 October 1994.

--ANSI/ISO/IEC CD 9075-4, (Draft) International Standard for Database

Language SQL, Part 4; Persistent Stored Modules (SQL/PSM), JTC1,

Committee Draft (CD), CD Ballot document SC21 N8897, August 1994.

7. Related Documents. SQL Environment specifications depend upon

existing standards and stable specifications (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 be 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

Part 2: Full Text

Part 3: Spatial

Part 4: General Purpose Facilities

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 (attached).

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 integrated

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 of 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 without human intervention. 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 specified herein. 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 for

SQL Environments.

10. Specifications. See the Specifications for SQL Environments--

SQL External Repository Interface (SQL/ERI)--Server Profiles

(attached).

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 beginning

February 1, 1995. Since it is a non-mandatory specification, based on

the established [[Page 6700]] 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) may 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 193

(FIPSPUB193), SQL Environments. Payment may be made by check, money

order, or deposit account

[FR Doc. 95-2688 Filed 2-2-95; 8:45 am]

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