Pete,
one of the uses of a MAC address could be a "standardised" way to identify a
piece of equipment in a simple way. Obviously there is a vendorIdentifier
element for this purpose, but its contents are rather "non-standard"
(OCTET STRING), which makes it a bit harder to determine the piece of
equipment. Furthermore, I would expect the vendorIdentifier field to be
identical for every product of the same type, so the only thing a could
infer from this element is the type of the product and not the specific
piece of equipment.
Why would I want to know the MAC address? Since the MAC address is tightly
coupled to a piece of equipment, I could use this information to do something
equipment specific. This can also be achieved through the vendorIdentifier
element, but this would mean that any piece of equipment of this type would
qualify and not a specific piece of equipment.
If I want to do something based on the physical location of the equipment,
then the vendorIdentifier is no great help. If I keep some administration
about the location of equipment and their MAC addresses,then I could e.g.
pinpoint the location from which a call was placed.
Since Aliases usually represent users, they are rather loosely coopled to
a specific piece of equipment.
Frank
pete(a)tech-know-ware.com on 07-06-2001 15:09:23
To: ITU-SG16@mailbag.cps.INTEL.COM@SMTP
Frank Derks/HVS/BE/PHILIPS@EMEA2
cc:
Subject: Re: Using a MAC address as the Alias
Classification:
I think the main reason is simply that no one has so far made a case for
them!
(I can't see the value myself, but then no one has explained it to me! I'm
prepared to be enlightened.)
What I would say is that, if you do want to add it as a new alias type, then
I would suggest that it be added as a URL. Something like:
.mac:blah-blah-blah
(where l=0 and h=5 !!!)
I've preceded it with a dot to indicate that it is a 323 defined URL and so
avoid any conflicts with officially defined URLs.
Any new aliases should probably also include what steps should be taken to
enable backwards compatible operation with entities that do not understand
the alias.
Pete.
=============================================
Pete Cordell
Tech-Know-Ware
pete(a)tech-know-ware.com
+44 1473 635863
=============================================
----- Original Message -----
From: Frank Derks <frank.derks(a)PHILIPS.COM>
To: <ITU-SG16(a)mailbag.cps.INTEL.COM>
Sent: 07 June 2001 08:00
Subject: Re: Using a MAC address as the Alias
> Paul,
>
> it's good to know that I am not the only person that considers the use of
a
> MAC address as an "alias" as being useful. It therefore strikes me as
being
> somewhat odd that this is not included in the massive amount of options
that
> H.323 already has. Any ideas why this was never included?
>
> Frank
>
>
>
>
>
> paulej@PACKETIZER.COM@SMTP@MAILBAG.INTEL.COM on 07-06-2001 05:45:35
> Please respond to paulej@PACKETIZER.COM@SMTP
> Sent by: ITU-SG16(a)MAILBAG.INTEL.COM
> To: ITU-SG16@MAILBAG.INTEL.COM@SMTP
> cc:
> Subject: Re: Using a MAC address as the Alias
> Classification:
>
>
> Frank,
>
> Yes, I have, and there are very valid cases for doing this.
>
> Paul
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Frank Derks" <frank.derks(a)PHILIPS.COM>
> To: <ITU-SG16(a)mailbag.cps.INTEL.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 10:05 AM
> Subject: Using a MAC address as the Alias
>
>
> > Today, there are many possibilities for a H.323 User/Terminal to
register
> with a GK. Many of these
> > Aliases are an alias for the user. When the MobileUIM structure is used,
> it is also possible to specify
> > an equipment identifier. Has anybody ever given any thought to the
> possibility of specifying the MAC
> > address of Terminal as an Alias?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Frank
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> > listserv(a)mailbag.intel.com
> >
>
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