Metadata Description Language: The iNET Metadata Standard Language

Abstract

In order to help manage the complexity in designing and configuring network-based telemetry systems, and to promote interoperability between equipment from multiple vendors, the integrated Network-Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) Metadata Standards Working Group (MDSWG) has developed a standard language for describing and configuring these systems. This paper will provide the community with an overview of Metadata Description Language (MDL), and describe how MDL can support the description of the requirements, design choices, and the configuration of devices that make up the Telemetry Network System (TmNS). MDL, an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) based language that describes a TmNS from various aspects, is embodied by an XML schema along with additional rules and constraints. Example MDL instance documents will be presented to illustrate how MDL can be used to capture requirements, describe the design, and configure the equipment that makes up a TmNS. Various scenarios for how MDL can be used will be discussed.