NDMP.org Mission Statement

NDMP.org provides a forum for the discussion and advancement of the Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) Specification. NDMP provides a framework for the management of backups between backup applications (DMAs - Data Management Applications) and data servers (DSPs - data service providers). NDMP.org will enhance the protocol to provide generic support for widely desired features and excise the biases that limit the protocol's interoperability. Furthermore, the Working Group will work on refining the NDMP Specification to eliminate vagueness, verbosity, and complexity in the document. Vendor interoperability and extensibility are the goals of NDMP. Simplicity and explicitness are the goals of the NDMP Specification.

The NDMP Working Group will advance NDMP to become the standard for backup data management. NDMP will address local, TCP, and SAN backups. The protocol will, without bias, allow all types of backup stream format and stream modification. Furthermore, it will provide the framework by which any type of backup application and data server can negotiate a backup through NDMP.

NDMP.org will not directly address issues on the periphery of NDMP. NDMP considers a number of areas outside its focus (e.g. tape formats and multiplexing formats). As such, the group is expected not to address those issues directly. Instead, NDMP should be designed to support all types of formats. Furthermore, NDMP,org will not address issues pertaining to managing NDMP implementations. For example, the group will not define common NDMP variables for such protocols as SNMP and LDAP.

Current Priority

NDMP.org's current priority is the design and definition of NDMP v4.0. The major targets for NDMP v4.0 are: support for SAN, support for data stream modification, support for snapshots, NDMP session administration, and specification cleanup. NDMP version 4.0 was submitted to the IETF as a Internet Draft in December 2000.

NDMP version 4.0l improves interoperability by supporting SAN data service providers, just as the previous version supports local and network attached data storage servers.

NDMP version 4.0 improves extensibility by adding the framework for stream "translation." This translator service enables functionality such as multiplexing, encryption, and compression by enabling a "translator" to modify the data stream between data storage servers.

NDMP version 4.0 improves service by creating a snapshot interface. enabling backup applications to create, label, utilize, and destroy snapshots.

NDMP version 4.0 improves service by enhancing session administration.