ISO/IEC 9579:2000

Overview

ISO/IEC 9579:2000 - Information technology - Remote database access for SQL with security enhancement (RDA/SQL) - defines a protocol and model for remote interaction between an SQL client and one or more SQL servers. The standard specifies message encoding, message semantics and facilities for mediating client–server SQL interactions. It also provides a mapping of the RDA protocol to common communication infrastructures such as TCP/IP and Transport Layer Security (TLS), and includes security analyses and protection facilities for remote database access.

Key topics and requirements

• RDA protocol model: Defines the interaction model between an SQL-client and an SQL-server, including identification of requests/responses and session management.
• Message encoding and ASN.1: Specifies encoding of protocol elements and includes ASN.1 specifications for the RDA protocol and multi-row encodings (informative annexes).
• Security enhancement: Identifies potential security vulnerabilities in remote SQL access and defines RDA facilities and security profiles that specify required protections for different threat levels.
• Transport mappings: Provides mappings of RDA to TCP/IP and TLS transport providers (how RDA uses underlying network and security services).
• Normative annexes: Include a Conformance Proforma, an optional language‑independent API in the notation of ISO/IEC 9075‑3 (SQL/CLI), optional mapping of SQL/CLI functions to RDA operations, and definitions of optional RDA Location and Support Servers to support heterogeneous environments and data distribution.
• Scope limitations: Explicitly does not define: specific cryptographic algorithms, protocols for confidentiality/integrity/authentication, digital signature mechanisms, query decomposition algorithms, distributed transaction recovery, storage encryption mechanisms, or DoS countermeasures.

Applications and who uses it

ISO/IEC 9579:2000 is intended for:

• Database vendors implementing remote access interfaces for SQL servers.
• Middleware and client-library developers building remote SQL clients or gateways (RDA clients and servers).
• Systems integrators deploying heterogeneous distributed database environments needing standardized remote access.
• Security architects evaluating and specifying security profiles for remote database access. Practical uses include standardized remote SQL execution, multi-vendor interoperability, and defining conformance for products that expose SQL services over networks using TCP/IP and TLS.

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 9075 (SQL) - core SQL language specifications relied upon by RDA.
• ISO/IEC 9075‑3 (SQL/CLI) - SQL Call-Level Interface; RDA provides optional API mappings using SQL/CLI notation.
• Transport and encoding technologies referenced: TCP/IP, TLS, and ASN.1 encodings.

Keywords: ISO/IEC 9579:2000, Remote Database Access, RDA, SQL, security enhancement, RDA protocol, TCP/IP, TLS, ASN.1, SQL/CLI, database interoperability.