Another "why is this off-topic?" AWITOT? :-p

Question

I didn't really want to post a question on meta, but it appears that I have to in this case. A simple explanation in the comments would have sufficed but, after being on ServerFault for a long while, I'm at odds as to see why my question would be off-topic.

Here's the question: https://serverfault.com/questions/798963/are-there-any-uis-for-diameter

The question relates to managing security by administrating Diameter generally. It does not relate to a particular product or service. I'm not even asking for a particular type of interface (UI is a broad concept, and I've alluded to command-line ones also). Diameter is a protocol with multiple implementations, but my question relates to server and service management in a security context between a server administrator and the Diamater protocol.

I'm asking a binary question - does it exist? (And, subsequently, what should I be googling to get that information?)

There are multiple questions here with good responses on RADIUS administration. As far as my knowledge goes, Diameter is a development upon RADIUS. I don't see, therefore, why RADIUS questions are ok, but Diameter ones aren't.

I have spent over 20 hours googling and reading material related to the topic, but only low-level protocol descriptions are explained, and why it's "better" than RADIUS.

I have acknowledged that my understanding is poor, but that's due to the lack of material on the topic, protocol, and implementations, and nothing to do with effort. I have also acknowledged that I may be on the wrong track/asking the wrong question, but it seems appropriate since there are multiple interfaces to RADIUS, but apparently none for Diameter.

I really really really want to know. I spent considerable time compiling and getting a Diameter implementation running, but no real information on how I'm supposed to administrate it.

Why do multiple people consider this off-topic and worth down-voting?

Answer 1

Whilst I wasn't the moderator who put this question on hold, if I'd seen it first I would have, choosing the same close reason as was used. So, while I can't speak for Sven, here's why I would have nuked it:

• The literal question asked, both in the title and body, is a question which only has a yes/no answer. That means that, as literally written, the question is unanswerable because strlen("Yes") < MIN_ANSWER_LENGTH && strlen("No") < MIN_ANSWER_LENGTH (in case you're not aware, #define MIN_ANSWER_LENGTH 30).

  So, if you want that literal question answered, you're SOL. It'll get closed as "Unclear what you're asking", or perhaps a custom OT reason along the lines of "this question is unanswerable in its current form". However, despite appearances to the contrary, we do want to be helpful, so we tend to try and tease out a relevant subtextual question where it's not too much trouble, which leads us to...

• The subtextual question asked, "what UIs are there for administering Diameter servers?" is, straight-up-and-down a shopping question. That's going to get closed, nailed shut, boarded over, and bricked up. No way around it.

  However, based on your comments on this question (see what a discussion that turned into? Can you see why I recommended coming over here, rather than leaving all that cruft on the original question?) it looks like you might want to have asked something like, "why does there appear to not be any administrative tools for Diameter?", or perhaps "why is nobody using Diameter?". That's far, far too deep a layer of subtext in your original question to reasonably expect everyone to get that one of those is what you're really asking, so please don't be surprised that you're not getting answers to a question you really didn't ask.

  Personally, I wouldn't slam the door hard on either of those questions, if they were asked, however I wouldn't hold them up as exemplars of fine ServerFault questions. Others in the community with closing powers may well think either of them are questions not worthy of remaining open, and that is nothing more or less than collective moderation at work.

I hope that gives you some visibility into at least my personal thoughts on the subject of your question. The length of this answer might also show you why trying to address the question of "why is my question closed?" in a comment (which is limited to 600 characters) is less than entirely informative, and why I suggested you ask over here in meta. Thank you for doing so (or at least trying <grin>), rather than giving yourself the vapours as some people are wont to do when their questions are closed. Closures, like downvotes, aren't a reflection on you personally, merely the expressed opinion of the community on the topicality of a question.