3.1.4.1 Catalog Version Negotiation

All COMA servers MUST support catalog version negotiation. Catalog version negotiation is initiated by the client and is performed as follows:

• The client sends the server the lowest and highest catalog version number it supports in a call to ICatalogSession::InitializeSession (section 3.1.4.5.1).

• The server selects the negotiated catalog version and returns this catalog version in the response to ICatalogSession::InitializeSession.

Each COMA server supports an implementation-specific range of catalog versions.<280> However, not all possible supported ranges are recommended. In particular, the differences in the configuration state models between catalog version 3.00 and version 4.00 are large enough such that no standard mapping between these state models is defined. In addition, catalog version 4.00 does not provide a reliable mechanism for clients to determine whether multiple-partition support (see section 3.1.4.3) is enabled on the server. If the catalog server supports multiple partitions, supporting both catalog version 4.00 and version 5.00 is recommended for maximum interoperability.

In summary, a server's supported range of catalog versions SHOULD be one of the following combinations.

Versions	Comments
3.00
4.00	Not recommended for servers that are capable of supporting multiple partitions.
4.00, 5.00