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RFC 874                                            September 1982                                                                M82-50                            A CRITIQUE OF X.25                              M.A. PADLIPSKY                           THE MITRE CORPORATION                          Bedford, Massachusetts

                                 ABSTRACT          The widely touted network interface protocol, "X.25", and     its attendant conceptual framework, the International Standards     Organization's Reference Model for Open System Interconnection     (ISORM), are analyzed and found wanting.  The paper is a     companion piece to M82-48, and M82-51.                                     i

                            A CRITIQUE OF X.25                              M. A. Padlipsky     Introduction          According to some sources, the International Standards     Organization's (ISO) "Open System Interconnection" (OSI) effort     has adopted the International Consultative Committee on Telephony     and Telegraphy (CCITT) developed X.25 protocol(s) as its Levels     1-3. ("Loose constructionists" of the ISORM would hold that X.25     is a mechanization of L1-L3 rather than the mechanization, and at     least one British source holds that "we in the U.K. don't believe     that ISO have adopted X.25.")  In the U.S. Government arena,     where the author spends much of his time, the Government     Accounting Office (GAO) has suggested that the Department of     Defense (DoD) ought to consider adopting "X.25 networks,"     apparently in preference to networks based on protocols developed     by the DoD-sponsored intercomputer networking research community.     That intercomputer networking research community in turn has,     with a few recent exceptions, adhered to its commitment to the     Oral Tradition and not taken up the cudgels against X.25 in the     open literature, even though X.25 is an object of considerable     scorn in personal communications.          Although the DoD Protocol Standards Technical Panel has     begun to evolve a "Reference Model" different from ISO's for     reasons which will be touched on below, there seems to be a need     to address the deficiencies of X.25 on their own demerits as soon     as possible. Without pretending to completeness*, this paper will     attempt to do just that.          The overall intent is to deal with X.25 in the abstract;     because of who pays the bills, though, a necessary preliminary is     to at least sketch the broad reasons why the DoD in particular     should not     ________________     *  Various versions of X.25 and ISO documentation were employed;        one incompleteness of note, however, is that no attempt has        been made to do proper bibliographic citation.  Another        incompleteness lies in the area of "tutoriality"; that is,        appropriate prior knowledge is assumed on the part of the        reader.  (The author apologizes for the omissions but hasn't        the time or the energy to be overly scholarly.  Reference [3]        might be of use to the reader who feels slighted.)                                     1

RFC 874                                            September 1982     employ intercomputer networks which base their protocol suites on     the ISO Reference Model (ISORM) with X.25 as Levels 1-3.  (Note     that this is a different formulation from "use communications     subnetworks which present an X.25 interface.")  Very briefly, the     DoD has concerns with "survivability," reliability, security,     investment in prior art (i.e., its research community has a     working protocol suite in place on many different operating     systems), procurability (i.e., ISORM-related protocol suites do     not as yet fully exist even on paper and the international     standardization process is acknowledged even by its advocates to     require several years to arrive at full suite specification, much     less offer available interoperable implementation), and     interoperability with a much wider range of systems than are ever     likely to receive vendor-supplied implementations of ISORM     protocol suites.  Regardless of which particular concerns are     considered to dominate, the DoD cannot be expected to await     events in the ISO arena.  (Particularly striking is the fact that     DoD representatives are not even permitted under current doctrine     to present their specific concerns in the area of security in the     sort of unclassified environment the ISO arena constitutes.)          Some zealous ISORM advocates have suggested that the DoD     research community suffers from a "Not Invented Here" syndrome     with respect to ISORM-related protocols, though, so even if the     various reasons just cited were to prevail, there would still be     an open issue at some level.  At least one or two zealous members     of the research community have asserted that the problem is not     Not Invented Here, but Not Invented Right, so an assessment of     the apparent keystone of the ISORM suite, X.25, from the     perspective of whether it's "good art" ought to be appropriate.     That's what we're up to here.                                     2

RFC 874                                            September 1982     Problems With the Conceptual Model*          There is confusion even amongst its advocates as to the real     conceptual model of X.25-based ISO networking.  Some draw their     Reference  Model as two "highrises," others draw "parking     garages" beside each highrise.  That is, some draw the seven     ISORM layers in large rectangles (representing Hosts) next to one     another, showing each layer in communication with its "peer" in     the other Host/Open System; this implies an "end-to-end" view of     X.25.  Others draw smaller rectangles between the larger ones,     with Levels 1-3 having peer relationships from the Host-OS ("Data     Terminal Equipment") to the Comm Subnet Node ("Data Circuit     Terminating Equipment"); this implies a "link-by-link" view of     X.25.  This ambiguity does not engender confidence in the     architects, but perhaps the real problem is with the spectators.     Yet it is indisputable that when internetting with X.75, the     model becomes "hop-by-hop" (and it is likely it's meant to be     link-by-link even on a single comm subnet).          A major problem with such a model is that the designers have     chosen to construe it as requiring them to break the "virtual     circuit" it is supposed to be supporting whenever there is     difficulty with any one of the links.  Thus, if internetting, and     on some interpretations even on one's proximate net, rerouting of     messages will not occur when needed, and all the upper levels of     protocols will have to expend space-time resources on     reconstituting their own connections with their counterparts.     (Note that the success of the reconstitution under DCE failure     appears to assume a certain flexibility in routing which is not     guaranteed by the Model.)  This can scarcely be deemed sound     design practice for an intercomputer networking environment,     although many have conjectured that it probably makes sense to     telephonists.     ________________     *  Note that we are assuming an ISO-oriented model rather than a        CCITT-oriented one (X.25/X.28/X.29) because the latter appears        to offer only "remote access" functionality whereas the sort        of intercomputer networking we are interested in is concerned        with the full "resource-sharing" functionality the former is        striving for.  This might be somewhat unfair to X.25, in that        it is taking the protocol(s) somewhat out of context; however,        it is what ISO has done before us, and if what we're really        accomplishing is a demonstration that ISO has erred in so        doing, so be it.  As a matter of fact, it can also be argued        that X.25 is itself somewhat unfair--to its users, who are        expecting real networking and getting only communication; cf.        Padlipsky, M. A., "The Elements of Networking Style", M81-41,        The MITRE Corporation, October 1981, for more on the extremely        important topic of resource sharing vs. remote access.                                     3

RFC 874                                            September 1982          Indeed, it appears the virtual circuit metaphor is in some     sense being taken almost literally (with the emphasis on the     "circuit" aspect), in that what should be an environment that     confers the benefits of packet-switching is, at the X.25 level,     reduced to one with the limitations of circuit-switching.  On the     other hand, the metaphor is not being taken literally enough in     some other sense (with the emphasis on the "virtual" aspect), for     many construe it to imply that the logical connection it     represents is "only as strong as a wire."  Whether the whole     problem stems from the desire to "save bits" by not making     addresses explicitly available on a per-transmission basis is     conjectural, but if such be the case it is also unfortunate.          (As an aside, it should be noted that there is some evidence     that bit saving reaches fetish--if not pathological--proportions     in X.25:  For instance, there does not even appear to be a Packet     Type field in data packets; rather--as best we can determine--for     data packets the low order bit of the "P(R)" field, which     overlaps/stands in the place of the Packet Type is always 0,     whereas in "real" Packet Type fields it's always 1.  [That may,     by the way, not even be the way they do it--it's hard to tell ...     or care.])          There is also confusion even amongst its advocates as to     what implications, if any, the protocol(s) has (have) for comm     subnet node to comm subnet node (CSN) processing.  Those who draw     just two highrises seem to be implying that from their     perspective the CSN (or "DCE") is invisible.  This might make a     certain amount of sense if they did not assert that each floor of     a highrise has a "peer-relationship" with the corresponding floor     of the other highrise--for to do so implies excessively long     wires, well beyond the state of the wire-drawing art, when one     notices that the first floor is the physical level.  (It also     appears to disallow the existence of concatenated comm subnets     into an internet, or "catenet," unless the CSN's are all     identically constituted.  And those who hold that the ISORM     dictates single protocols at each level will have a hard time     making an HDLC interface into a Packet Radio Net, in all     probability.)          Those who, on the other hand, "draw parking garages," seem     to be dictating that the internal structure of the CSN also     adhere to X.25 link and physical protocols.  This implies that     Packet Radio or satellite CSNs, for example, cannot "be X.25."     Now that might be heartening news to the designers of such comm     subnets, but it presumably wasn't intended by those who claim     universality for X.25--or even for the ISO Reference Model.                                     4

RFC 874                                            September 1982          Even granting that ambiguities in the conceptual model do     not constitute prima facie grounds for rejecting the protocol(s),     it is important to note that they almost assuredly will lead to     vendor implementations based on differing interpretations that     will not interoperate properly. And the unambiguous position that     virtual circuits are broken whenever X.25 says so constitutes a     flaw at least as grave as any of the ambiguities.          Another, in our view extremely severe, shortcoming of the     X.25 conceptual model is that it fails to address how programs     that interpret its protocol(s) are to be integrated into their     containing operating systems.  (This goes beyond the shortcoming     of the X.25 specifications in this area, for even the advocates     of the ISORM--who, by hypothesis at least, have adopted X.25 for     their Levels 1-3--are reticent on the topic in their literature.)     Yet, if higher level protocols are to be based on X.25, there     must be commonality of integration of X.25 modules with operating     systems at least in certain aspects.  The most important example     that comes to mind is the necessity for "out-of-band signals" to     take place.  Yet if there is no awareness of that sort of use     reflected in the X.25 protocol's specification, implementers need     not insert X.25 modules into their operating systems in such a     fashion as to let the higher level protocols function properly     when/if an X.25 Interrupt packet arrives.          Yet much of the problem with the conceptual model might turn     out to stem from our own misunderstandings, or the     misunderstandings of others.  After all, it's not easy to infer a     philosophy from a specification.  (Nor, when it comes to     recognizing data packets, is it easy even to infer the     specification--but it might well say something somewhere on that     particular point which we simply overlooked in our desire to get     the spec back on the shelf rapidly.) What other aspects of X.25     appear to be "bad art"?     "Personality Problems"          When viewed from a functionality perspective, X.25 appears     to be rather schizophrenic, in the sense that sometimes it     presents a deceptively end-to-end "personality" (indeed, there     are many who think it is usable as an integral Host-Host, or     Transport, and network interface protocol, despite the fact that     its specification itself--at least in the CCITT "Fascicle"     version--points out several functional omissions where a     higher-level protocol is expected--and we have even spoken to one     or two people who say they actually do -- use it as an end-to-end     protocol, regardless); sometimes it presents a comm subnet     network interface personality (which all would agree it must);     and sometimes (according to some observers) it presents a                                     5

RFC 874                                            September 1982     "Host-Front End Protocol" personality.  Not to push the "bad art"     methaphor too hard, but this sort of violation of "the Unities"     is, if demonstrable, grounds for censure not only to literary     critics but also to those who believe in Layering.  Let's look at     the evidence for the split-personality claim:          X.25 is not (and should not be) an "end-to-end" protocol in     the sense of a Transport or Host-to-Host protocol.  Yet it has     several end-to-end features.  These add to the space-time expense     of implementation (i.e., consume "core" and CPU cycles) and     reflect badly on the skill of its designers if one believes in     the design principles of Layering and Least Mechanism.  (Examples     of end-to-end mechanisms are cited below, as mechanisms     superfluous to the network interface role.)  The absence of a     datagram mode which is both required and "proper" (e.g., not Flow     Controlled, not Delivery Confirmed, not Non-delivery mechanized)     may also be taken as evidence that the end-to-end view is very     strong in X.25.  That is, in ISO Reference Model (ISORM) terms,     even though X.25 "is" L1-3, it has delusions of L4-ness; in     ARPANET Reference Model (ARM) terms, even though X.25 could "be"     L I, it has delusions of L II-ness.*          X.25 is at least meant to specify an interface between a     Host (or "DTE") and a comm subnet processor (or "DCE"),     regardless of the ambiguity of the conceptual model about whether     it constrains the CSNP "on the network side."  (Aside:  that     ambiguity probably reflects even more badly on certain X.25     advocates than it does on the designers, for there is a strong     sense in which "of course it can't" is the only appropriate     answer to the question of whether it is meant to constrain     generic CSN processors (CSNP's) in the general case.  Note,     though, that it might well be meant to constrain specific DCE's;     that is, it started life as a protocol for PTT's--or Postal,     Telephone, and Telegraph monopolies--and they are presumably     entitled to constrain themselves all they want.)  Yet the     end-to-end features alluded to above are redundant to the     interfacing role, and, as noted, extraneous features have     space-time consequences. There are also several features which,     though not end-to-end, seem superfluous to a "tight" interface     protocol.  Further, the reluctance of the designers to     incorporate a proper "datagram" capability in the protocol (what     they've got doesn't seem to be     ________________     *  For more on the ARM, see Padlipsky, M. A., "A Perspective on        the ARPANET Reference Model", M82-47, The MITRE Corporation,        September 1982; also available in Proc. INFOCOM '83.  (Some        light may also be cast by the paper on the earlier-mentioned        topic of Who Invented What.)                                     6

RFC 874                                            September 1982     usable as a "pure"--i.e., uncontrolled at L3 but usable without     superfluous overheard by L4--datagram, but instead entails     delivery confirmation traffic like it or not; note that "seem" is     used advisedly:  as usual, it's not easy to interpret the     Fascicle) suggests at least that they were confused about what     higher-level protocols need from interfaces to CSNP's, and at     worst that there is some merit to the suggestion that, to     paraphrase Louis Pouzin, "the PTT's are just trying to drum up     more business for themselves by forcing you to take more service     than you need."          Examples of mechanisms superfluous to the interface role:           1.  The presence of a DTE-DTE Flow Control mechanism.           2.  The presence of an "interrupt procedure" involving the               remote DTE.           3.  The presence of "Call user data" as an end-to-end item               (i.e., as "more" than IP's Protocol field).           4.  The "D bit" (unless construed strictly as a "RFNM" from               the remote DCE).           5.  The "Q bit" (which we find nearly incomprehensible, but               which is stated to have meaning of some sort to               X.29--i.e., to at least violate Layering by having a               higher-level protocol depend on a lower level               machanism--and hence can't be strictly a network               interface mechanism).                                     7

RFC 874                                            September 1982          The final "personality problem" of X.25 is that some of its     advocates claim it can and should be used as if it were a     Host-Front End protocol.*  Yet if such use were intended, surely     its designers would have offered a means of differentiating     between control information destined for the outboard     implementation of the relevant protocols and data to be     transmitted through X.25, but there is no evidence of such     mechanisms in the protocol.  "Borrowing" a Packet Type id for     H-FP would be risky, as the spec is subject to arbitrary     alteration.  Using some fictitious DTE address to indicate the     proximate DCE is also risky, for the same reason.  Further, using     "Call user data" to "talk to" the counterpart H-FP module allows     only 15 octets (plus, presumably, the 6 spare bits in the 16th     octet) for the conversation, whereas various TCP and IP options     might require many more octets than that.  Granted that with     sufficient ingenuity--or even by the simple expedient of     conveying the entire H-FP as data (i.e., using X.25 only to get     channels to demultiplex on, and DTE-DCE flow control, with the     "DCE" actually being an Outboard Processing Environment that gets     its commands in the data fields of X.25 data packets)--X.25 might     be used to "get at" outboard protocol interpreters, but its     failure to address the issue explicitly again reflects badly on     its designers' grasp of intercomputer networking issues.     (Another possibility is that the whole H-FP notion stems from the     use of X.25 as a Host-Host     ________________     *  That is, as a distributed processing mechanism which allows        Host operating systems to be relieved of the burden of        interpreting higher level protocols "inboard" of themselves by        virtue of allowing Host processes to manipulate "outboard"        interpreters of the protocols on their behalf.  Note that the        outboarding may be to a separate Front-End processor or to the        CSNP itself.  (The latter is likely to be found in        microprocessor-based LAN "BIU's.")  Note also that when        dealing with "process-level" protocols (ARM L III;        approximately ISORM L5-7), only part of the functionality is        outboarded (e.g., there must be some Host-resident code to        interface with the native File System for a File Transfer        Protocol) and even when outboarding Host-Host protocols (ARM L        II; approximately ISORM L4 plus some of 5) the association of        logical connections (or "sockets") with processes must be        performed inboard--which is why, by the way, it's annoying to        find ISO L5 below ISO L6: because, that is, you'd like to        outboard "Presentation" functionality but its protocol expects        to interact with the "Session" protocol, the functionality of        which can't be outboarded.  (Although this approach, not the        proper context for a full treatment of the H-FP approach, it        is also of interest that the approach can effectively insulate        the Host from changes in the protocol suite, which can be a        major advantage in some environments.)                                     8

RFC 874                                            September 1982     protocol so that some might think of it in its Host aspect as     "simply" a way of getting at the H-HP.  This interpretation does     give rise to the interesting observation that DCE's seem to need     a protocol as strong as TCP amongst themselves, but doesn't     strike the author as particularly convincing evidence for viewing     X.25 as anything like a proper H-FP--if for no other reason than     that a central premise of Outboard Processing is that the     Host-side H-FP module must be compact relative to an inboard     generic Network Control Program.)          X.25, then, is rather schizophrenic:  It exceeds its brief     as an  interface protocol by pretending to be end-to-end     (Host-Host) in some respects; it is by no means a full end-to-end     protocol (its spec very properly insists on that point on several     occasions); it's at once too full and too shallow to be a good     interface; and it's poorly structured to be treated as if it were     "just" an H-FP.  (Some would phrase the foregoing as "It's     extremely ill layered"; we wouldn't argue.)     A Note on "Gateways"*          Although it was at least implied in the discussion of     conceptual model problems, one aspect of X.25/X.75 internetting     is sufficiently significant to deserve a section of its own:  Not     only does the link-by-link approach taken by CCITT make it     unlikely that alternate routing can take place, but it is also     the case that ARPANET Internet Protocol (IP) based internetting     not only permits alternate routing but also could alt-route over     an "X.25 Subnet."  That is, in IP's conceptual model, Gateways     attach to two or more comm subnets "as if they (the Gateways)     were Hosts."  This means that they interpret the appropriate     Host-comm subnet processor protocol of whatever comm subnets     they're attached to, giving as the "proximate net address" of a     given transmission either the ultimate (internet addressed)     destination or the address of another Gateway "in the right     direction."  And an implementation of IP can certainly employ an     implementation of ("DTE") X.25 to get a proximate net, so ... at     least "in an emergency" X.25 interface presenting Public Data     Networks can indeed carry IP traffic.  (Note also that only the     proximate net's header has to be readable by the nodal processor     of/on the proximate net, so if some appropriate steps were taken     to render the data portion of such transmissions unintelligible     to the nodal processors, so much the better.)     ________________     *  This section was added to address the ill-founded concerns of        several ISORMites that "TCP/IP won't let you use Public Data        Nets in emergencies."                                     9

RFC 874                                            September 1982          (Further evidence that X.75 internetting is undesirable is     found in the fact that the U.S. National Bureau of Standards has,     despite its nominal adoption of the ISORM, inserted IP at     approximately L3.5 in its version of the Reference Model.)     The Off-Blue Blanket          Although touched on earlier, and not treatable at much     length in the present context, the topic of security deserves     separate mention.  We are familiar with one reference in the open     literature [1] which appears to make a rather striking point     about the utility of X.25 in a secure network.   Dr. Kent's point     that the very field sizes of X.25 are not acceptable from the     point of view of encryption devices would, if correct (and we are     neither competent to assess that, nor in a position to even if we     were), almost disqualify X.25 a priori for use in many arenas.     Clearly, uncertified "DCE's" cannot be permitted to read     classified (or even "private") data and so must be "encrypted     around," after all.          It would probably be the case, if we understand Dr. Kent's     point, that X.25 could be changed appropriately--if its     specifiers were willing to go along.  But this is only one     problem out of a potentially large number of problems, and,     returning briefly to our concern with the interplay of X.25 and     the DoD, those persons in the DoD who know best what the problems     are and/or could be are debarred from discussing them with the     specifiers of X.25.  Perhaps a sufficiently zealous ISORM     advocate would be willing to suggest that Professor Kuo's     publisher be subsidized to come out with a new edition whenever a     problem arises so that if Dr. Kent happens to spot it advantage     can continue to be taken of his ability to write for the open     literature--but we certainly hope and trust that no ISORMite     would be so tone-deaf as to fail to recognize the facetiousness     of that suggestion.          In short, it appears to be difficult to dispute the     assertion that whatever sort of security blanket X.25 could     represent would at best be an off shade of blue.     Space-Time Considerations          Another topic touched on earlier which deserves separate     mention, if only to collect the scattered data in a single     section, is that of what have been called space-time     considerations.  That is, we are concerned about how well X.25 in     particular and the ISORM-derived protocols in general will     implement, both in terms of size of protocol interpreters (PI's)     and in terms of execution and delay times.                                    10

RFC 874                                            September 1982          On the space heading, certainly the fact that X.25 offers     more functionality in its end-to-end guise than is required to     fulfill its network interface role suggests that X.25 PI's will     be bigger than they need be.  As an aside--but a striking one--it     should be noted that X.25's end-to-end functions are at variance     with the ISORM itself, for the "peer entity" of a DTE X.25 entity     must surely be the local DCE X.25.  Perhaps a later version of     the ISORM will introduce the polypeer and give rise to a whole     new round of Layering-Theologic controversy.*  Speaking of the     ISORM itself, those who hold that each layer must be traversed on     each transmission are implicitly requiring that space (and time)     be expended in the Session and Presentation Levels even for     applications that have no need of their services.  The Well-Known     Socket concept of the ARM's primary Host-Host protocol, the     Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), lets Session functionality     be avoided for many applications, on the other hand--unless ISORM     L5 is to usurp the Host's user identification/authentication role     at some point.  (Yes, we've heard the rumors that "null layers"     might be introduced into the ISORM; no, we don't want to get into     the theology of that either.)          On the time heading, X.25's virtual circuit view can be     debilitating--or even crippling--to applications such as     Packetized Speech where prompt delivery is preferred over ordered     or even reliable delivery.  (Some hold that the X.25 datagram     option will remedy that; others hold that it's not "really     datagrams"; we note the concern, agree with the others, and pass     on.)  Speaking of reliable delivery, as noted earlier some     observers hold that in order to present an acceptable virtual     circuit X.25 must have a protocol as strong as TCP "beneath"     itself; again, we're in sympathy with them.  Shifting focus again     to the ISORM itself, it must be noted that the principle that     "N-entities" must communicate with one another even in the same     Host via "N-1 entities" even in the same Host is an over-zealous     application of the Principle of Layering that must consume more     time in the interpreting of the N-1 protocol than would a direct     interface between N-level PI's or such process-level protocols as     FTP and Telnet, as is done in the ARPANET-derived model.          Other space-time deficiencies could be adduced, but perhaps     a shortcut will suffice.  There is a Law of Programming     (attributed to Sutherland) to the effect that "Programs are like     waffles: you should always throw the first one out."  Its     relevance should become     ________________     *  And perhaps we now know why some just draw the highrises.                                    11

RFC 874                                            September 1982     clear when it is realized that (with the possible exception of     X.25) ISORM PI's are in general either first implementations or     not even implemented yet (thus, the batter, as it were, is still     being mixed).  Contrast this with the iterations the     ARPANET-derived PI's--and, for that matter, protocols--have gone     through over the years and the grounds for our concern over     X.25/ISORM space-time inefficiency become clear irrespective of     corroborative detail. Factor in the consideration that space-time     efficiency may be viewed as contrary to the corporate interests     of the progenitors of X.25 ("the PTT's") and at least the current     favorite for ISORM Level 4 (ECMA--the European Computer     Manufacturers' Association), and it should become clear why we     insist that space-time considerations be given separate mention     even though touched upon elsewhere.*     Getting Physical          Still another area of concern over X.25 is that it dictates     only one means of attaching a "DTE" to a "DCE."  That is, earlier     references to "the X.25 protocol(s)" were not typographical     errors. Most of the time, "X.25" refers to ISORM Level 3;     actually, though, the term subsumes L2 and L1 as well.  Indeed,     the lowest levels constitute particular bit serial interfaces.     This is all very well for interfacing to "Public Data Nets"     (again, it must be recalled that X.25's roots are in CCITT), but     is scarcely appropriate to environments where the communications     subnetwork may consist of geosynchronous communications satellite     channels, "Packet Radios," or whatever.  Indeed, even for     conventional Local Area Networks it is often the case that a     Direct Memory Access arrangement is desired so as to avoid     bottlenecking--but DMA isn't HDLC, and the "vendor supported X.25     interface" so prized by some won't be DMA either, one imagines.     (Speaking of LAN's, at least the evolving standard in that     arena--"IEEE 802"--apparently will offer multiple physical     interfaces depending on comm subnet style [although there is some     disagreement on this point amongst readers of their draft specs];     we understand, however, that their Level 2 shares X.25's end-end     aspirations--and we haven't checked up on DMA capability.)  X.25,     then, imposes constraints upon its users with regard to interface     technology that are inappropriate.     ________________     *  The broad issue of design team composition is amplified in        Padlipsky, M. A., "The Illusion of Vendor Support", M82-49,        The MITRE Corporation, September 1982.                                    12

RFC 874                                            September 1982     Other Observers' Concerns          This paper owes much to conversations with a number of     people, although the interpretations of their concerns are the     author's responsibility.  Mention should be made, however, of a     few recent documents in the area:  The Defense Communications     Agency (DCA Code J110) has sent a coordinated DoD position [2] to     NBS holding that X.25 cannot be the DoD's sole network interface     standard; Dr. Vinton Cerf of the ARPA Information Processing     Technology Office made a contribution to the former which     contains a particularly lucid exposition of the desirability of     proper "datagram" capability in DoD comm subnets [3]; Mr. Ray     McFarland of the DoD Computer Security Evaluation Center has also     explored the limitations of X.25 [4]. Whether because these     authors are inherently more tactful than the present author, or     whether their positions are more constraining, or even whether     they have been more insulated from and hence less provoked by     uninformed ISORMite zealots, none has seen fit to address the     "quality" of X.25.  That this paper chooses to do so may be     attributed to any one of a number of reasons, but the author     believes the key reason is contained in the following:     Conclusion          X.25 is not a good thing.     References     [1] Kent, S. T., "Security in Computer Networks," in Kuo, F.,         Ed., Protocols and Techniques for Data Communications         Networks, Prentice-Hall, 1981, pp. 369-432.     [2] Letter to NBS from P. S. Selvaggi, Chief, Interoperability         and Standards Office, 7 April 1982.     [3] Cerf, V. G., "Draft DoD Position Regarding X.25" in undated         letter to P. S. Selvaggi.     [4] Personal communications.                                    13

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