Back to front page
|
 Submit XML descriptions of many OIDs
|
|
|
Warning: This OID repository is a kind of wiki where any user can add information
about any OID (pending validation by the OID repository admin), but this
OID repository is not an official registration authority for OIDs, so
an OID can only be described in this OID repository if it has been officially
allocated by the registration authority of its parent OID. For more information,
see
"What is an OID repository?"
Disclaimer:
The owner of this site does not warrant or assume any liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information available on this page (for more information, please read the complete disclaimer).
All rights reserved, Orange SA ©
Back to front page
|
An object identifier (OID) is an extensively used identification mechanism
jointly developed by ITU-T and
ISO/IEC
for naming any type of object, concept or "thing"
with a globally unambiguous name which requires a persistent name (long
life-time). It is not intended to be used for transient naming. OIDs,
once allocated, should not be re-used for a different object/thing.
It is based on a hierarchical name structure based on the "OID
tree". This naming structure uses a sequence of names, of which
the first name identifies a top-level "node" in the OID tree,
and the next provides further identification of arcs leading to sub-nodes
beneath the top-level, and so on to any depth.
A critical feature of this identification mechanism is that it makes
OIDs available to a great many organizations and specifications for
their own use (including countries, ITU-T Recommendations, ISO and IEC
International Standards, specifications from national, regional or international
organizations, etc.).
|
Back to front page
| |
How are OIDs allocated and what is a registration authority?
|
|
|
At each node, including the root, there is a requirement
for some organization or standard to be responsible for allocating arcs
to sub-nodes and recording that allocation
(together with the organization the subordinate node has been allocated
to), not necessarily publicly. This activity is called a Registration
Authority (RA).
In the OID tree, RAs are generally responsible only for allocation of
sub-arcs to other RAs that then control their own sub-nodes. In general,
the RA for a sub-node operates independently in allocating further sub-arcs
to other organizations, but can be constrained by rules imposed by its
superior, should the superior so wish.
The registration tree is indeed managed
in a completely decentralized way (a node gives full power to its children).
The registration tree is defined and managed following the ITU-T
X.660 & X.670 Recommendation series (or the ISO/IEC 9834 series
of International Standards).
|
|
|
Back to front page
|
What is an OID repository?
|
|
|
Initially, it was left for each Registration Authority (RA)in the hierarchy
to maintain its own record of allocation beneath that RA, and to keep
those allocations private if it so chose. There was never any policing
of this. An RA in the hierarchy was its own master and operated autonomously.
In the early 1990s Orange developed software for their internal use
which was generic enough to provide a publicly available repository
of OID allocations.
Information on OIDs is often buried inside the databases (perhaps sometimes
paper) maintained by an immense number of RAs. The information can be
hard to access and is sometimes private. Today this OID repository is
regarded as the easiest way to access a large amount of the publicly
available information on OIDs: Many
OIDs are recorded but it does not contain all existing OIDs.
This OID repository is not an official Registration Authority, so any
OID described on this web site has to be officially allocated by the
RA of its parent OID. The accuracy and completeness of this OID repository
rely on crowdsourcing, i.e., each user is welcome to contribute
data.
|
|
|
