Redudancy

[Tristan Louis <tristan@dorsai.org>]

I just thought about this off the top of my head but would like some 
comments on it:

1. The problem with Netscape is showing some clear vulnerability in the use 
of XML as it relies on everyone pointing to a single DTD. When that DTD is 
gone, problems ensue.
2. The only way to ensure redundancy is to make a number of copies of the 
same DTD and make sure that they are hosted at multiple points on multiple 
servers across the net so that if one server goes down, others can be 
pointed to.
3. There is an issue related to discovery of those DTDs. Creating a 
directory is one solution but once again if both the directory and main DTD 
are hosted on the same server, we could have a problem with a single 
directory point.

Now, if we are to believe the three statements above, we need to ensure 
redundancy across the network as a whole. From there, I would suggest:

1. Multiple copies of the same DTD on a number of servers (scripting.com, 
meerkat, tnl.net, yourserverhere, etc ). Here, I'd recommend that if you 
use RSS, you make a copy of the DTD on your server and make it available to 
the community as a whole by including a link to it in the DTD directory.
2. A directory of DTDs that is duplicated. Maybe we can talk to the people 
at the open directory project (http://dmoz.org) about enhancing the DTD 
section of their site. My logic for this is that many of us maintain copies 
of the dmoz directory on our own servers. This create the potential for 
replication of the directory structure for DTDs.
3. Moving forward, we might want to look at an automated discovery 
mechanism for DTDs. Maybe we could use XML-RPC or SOAP for that purpose? 
This tool would offer a DTD write a chance to not only populate the 
directory but also distribute updated copies of a DTD.

Thoughts, comments?

TNL


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