The deployment of DMS Release 3.0 Gold presented some technical challenges. The most significant challenges were:
- The transition from MISSI v1 certificates to X.509 version 3 certificates,
- The deployment of a directory infrastructure capable of supporting ACP 120 attributes with no disruption
of the existing Message Security Protocol (MSP) 3.0 system, and
- The initial implementation of MGS coexistent with DMS HGS.
The requirement to upgrade every organizational user's software at the desktop, including upgrading
servers and the backbone infrastructure, increased the challenge of deploying Release 3.0 Gold. The DMS
Release 3.0 Deployment Methodology concentrated on providing the logical steps and sequences of events that
enabled a successful deployment of DMS Release 3.0. Ultimately the successful deployment was dependant
upon each individual's skill and knowledge base.
Medium Grade Services coexist with DMS HGS with the installation of DMS Release 3.0 in that the DMS User
Agent will contain coexistent High Grade Service and Medium Grade Service capability. MGS will use DoD PKI
class 3 certificates for security services, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) as the transport protocol,
and the Global Directory Service. The transport for MGS will be the DISN network, but not as part of the
DMS Message Transfer System (MTS). The directory and security services are provided separately. Although
MGS implementation is a DMS site issue, the DMS program office will assist in ensuring that messaging,
directory, and security services are available to DMS MGS users, but is not directly responsible for the
implementation of these services.
For Release 3.0 Gold, proposed Operational Assessment (OA)/Operational Test (OT) sites received new DMS
software in Developmental Testing (DT) Phase III when the products were sufficiently mature. This provided
an expanded operational test user base in a structured, disciplined manner. New software was applied to an
appropriate number of Network Operations Center’s and Regional Nodes to support the OA/OT event.
Deployment to a specified number of Sensitive but Unclassified (SBU), Secret, and Top Secret/Collateral
(TS/C) operational sites was permitted to support expanded operational testing in a realistic environment.
Full-scale deployment to the remaining operational or new installation sites was dependent on the conduct
and assessment of the OA/OT event and endorsement by the Joint Evaluation Group (JEG). The Operational
Test Agency (OTA) and Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) reported the effectiveness and
suitability of the new release to the MDA/IT OIPT, users, and the DMS Program Management Office (PMO).
Based on these results, the Milestone Decision Authority/Information Technology Overarching Integrated
Product Team (MDA/IT OIPT) and users made a decision regarding full deployment to all remaining DMS sites.
This procedure will be repeated for each major DMS release in the future
