IntelliGrid Architecture

Policy Exchange

Allow service requestors and providers to exchange dynamically security (among other) policy information to establish a negotiated security context between them. Such policy information can contain authentication requirements, supported functionality, constraints, privacy rules etc.

Typically, there has been no defined framework or policy exchange mechanism available that is technology neutral and therefore such exchanges have not occurred or have been performed manually. There are several issues that have prevented the development of such a framework:

·       Agreement in regards to what constitutes security policy varies. Therefore, such an exchange mechanism would need to provide basic attribute definitions and also allow for a large amount of customization.

·       There has not been a single secure and ubiquitous technology available over which to perform such an exchange.

Technology Assessment and Relevant Specifications

When analyzing how to exchange policies in IntelliGrid Architecture environment, the problem of having a ubiquitous technology has not been solved. There still does not appear to be a solution that can solve policy exchange issues in the Transmission & Distribution environment (especially serially connected devices), spanning to databases, to web technology. However, there are emerging specifications in how to perform such exchanges when web services/SOAP infrastructures are available.

For policy exchanges via SOAP, it is recommended that the WS-Policy, WS-PolicyAssertions, and WS-PolicyAttachment specifications form the basis of such exchanges. It is also recommended that customizations be kept to a minimum in order to maximize interoperability and interworkability.

Table 24: Relevant Specification regarding Policy Exchange