Overview
ISO/IEC 10166-2:1991 defines the Document Filing and Retrieval (DFR) - Part 2: Protocol specification. It specifies the DFR access protocol that implements the abstract DFR service (defined in ISO/IEC 10166-1) for distributed office systems. The standard describes the protocol’s abstract syntax (ASN.1), how it maps to underlying OSI application services, and the conformance rules for DFR client/server implementations. An annex provides formal assignment of Object Identifiers (OIDs) used by the protocol.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Abstract syntax and notation
- Protocol defined using ASN.1 and Remote Operations Notation (ROSE).
- Includes formal ASN.1 modules for the DFR access protocol and OID assignments.
- Access protocol model
- Introduces the DFR Service Element (DFRSE) as the ASE that mediates DFR user (consumer) and DFR server (supplier).
- Relies on OSI ASEs: ROSE (remote operations), ACSE (association control), and optionally RTSE (reliable transfer).
- Defines application-contexts: normal access and reliable access (with RTSE).
- Operations supported
- Core operations: DFR-bind / DFR-unbind, Create, Delete, Copy, Move, Read, Modify, List, Search, Reserve, Abandon.
- Remote error types: AttributeError, NameError, AccessError, UpdateError, SecurityError, ServiceError, etc.
- Conformance
- Static requirements: conform to the ASN.1 abstract syntax, Basic-Attribute-Set, and the defined application-contexts.
- Dynamic requirements: implement operations per ISO/IEC 10166-1; support mapping onto underlying services (e.g., ROSE → RTSE when reliable access is used); follow underlying service rules in ISO/IEC 9072-1.
- Object Identifiers
- Annex A formally assigns OIDs for application-contexts, abstract syntaxes, and the DFRSE ASE.
Applications and who uses it
ISO/IEC 10166-2 is intended for vendors and architects building:
- Distributed document storage servers and DFR clients in office automation systems
- Document management middleware that needs standardized protocol-level interoperability
- Enterprise systems requiring standardized document attributes, search, retrieval, versioning, reservation and concurrent access controls
Typical users: software architects, protocol implementers, systems integrators, and standards compliance testers deploying DFR-capable systems in multi-vendor distributed-office environments.
Related standards
Keywords: ISO/IEC 10166-2, Document Filing and Retrieval, DFR access protocol, DFRSE, ROSE, RTSE, ACSE, ASN.1, object identifiers, document storage, office automation, protocol conformance.