Internet DRAFT - draft-saintandre-iana-urn
draft-saintandre-iana-urn
Network Working Group P. Saint-Andre
Internet-Draft Cisco Systems, Inc.
Intended status: Informational M. Cotton
Expires: August 17, 2013 ICANN
February 13, 2013
A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for IANA Registries
draft-saintandre-iana-urn-01
Abstract
This document defines a Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace for
uniquely identifying information contained in registries maintained
by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
Status of This Memo
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Specification Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Namespace Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Community Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Appendix A. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Introduction
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) allocates and
maintains unique codes and numbering systems that are used in the
context of Internet protocols. Most of the constants and other well-
known values maintained by the IANA are contained in registries that
are accessible over the Internet, where each registry is hosted at
iana.org and identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
[RFC3986] whose resources are retrieved using the Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP) [RFC2616].
Some Internet protocols need persistent identifiers for the entries
contained in IANA registries. However, currently such identifiers do
not exist, for several reasons:
1. Each IANA registry is located at an HTTP URI (e.g., "http://
www.iana.org/assignments/sdp-security-descriptions/sdp-security-
descriptions.xml"), but there are no "pointers" to specific
entries in each registry (e.g., the "AES_256_CM_HMAC_SHA1_80"
entry in the SRTP Crypto Suite registry located at that URI).
2. From time to time, the IANA might change the URIs for its
registries (as was done not long ago when the IANA changed all of
its registries to use Extensible Markup Language [XML] files
instead of plain text files).
It is desirable that names for the entries in IANA registries can be
persistent and location-independent, which is not necessarily the
case with names that are also HTTP URIs. However, Uniform Resource
Names (URNs) [RFC2141] are designed to be both persistent and
location-independent. For example, a URN for the foregoing registry
entry might be:
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urn:iana:sdp-security-descriptions:AES_256_CM_HMAC_SHA1_80
Therefore, in accordance with the process defined in [RFC3406], this
document defines a formal namespace identifier (NID) that could be
used to assign URNs representing the information contained in IANA
registries.
2. Specification Template
Namespace ID:
The Namespace ID "iana" is requested.
Registration Information:
Version 1
Date: [[to be assigned by the RFC Editor]]
Declared Registrant of the Namespace:
Registering organization
Organization:
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
Address:
12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536 USA
Designated contact
Role: IANA Department
Email: iana@iana.org
Declaration of Syntactic Structure:
The Namespace Specific String (NSS) of all URNs that use the
"iana" NID shall have the following structure:
urn:iana:{RegistryString}:{EntryName}
The keywords have the following meaning:
(1) the "RegistryName" is a required ASCII string that
conforms to the URN syntax (RFC 2141) and defines a
particular registry maintained by the IANA.
(2) the "EntryName" is a required ASCII string that
conforms to the URN syntax (RFC 2141) and defines a
particular entry in the relevant registry.
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The IANA is responsible for managing the assignment of both
"RegistryName" and "EntryName" strings.
Relevant Ancillary Documentation:
Information about IANA registration procedures can be found
on the IANA website and in RFC 5226.
Identifier Uniqueness Considerations:
The IANA ensures the uniqueness of all IANA URNs by checking
RegistryNames and EntryNames against existing names for both
registries and entries. The IANA directly ensures the
uniqueness of the assigned strings and does not assign
secondary responsibility for management of any sub-trees.
In no case will the resulting URNs be re-assigned.
Identifier Persistence Considerations:
Through its existing registration procedures, the IANA
ensures that registrants provide clear documentation of
the entries in IANA registries.
Process of Identifier Assignment:
The processes and procedures for identifier assignment are
documented on the IANA website and in RFC 5226.
Process for Identifier Resolution:
The namespace is not currently listed with a Resolution
Discovery System (RDS). However, nothing about the namespace
prohibits the future definition of appropriate resolution
methods or listing with an RDS.
Rules for Lexical Equivalence:
No special considerations; the rules for lexical
equivalence specified in RFC 2141 apply.
Conformance with URN Syntax:
No special considerations.
Validation Mechanism:
None specified.
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Scope:
Global.
3. Namespace Considerations
The IANA is one of the Internet's oldest institutions, with its
activities dating back to the 1970s. The use of Uniform Resource
Names with an appropriate Namespace ID will enable the IANA to assign
cleaner, more general, more permanent, more reliable, and more
controllable names for the parameters used by Internet protocols and
applications.
4. Community Considerations
The Internet community will benefit from this namespace by having
more permanent and reliable names for parameters used in the context
of Internet protocols and applications.
The registries maintained by the IANA are open to contributions from
any interested individual or organization. See the IANA website and
documentation of its registration procedures [RFC5226] for detailed
descriptions of the registration procedures.
5. Security Considerations
This document introduces no additional security considerations beyond
those associated with the use and resolution of URNs in general.
6. IANA Considerations
This document defines a URN NID registration of "iana" and thus opens
the possibility that the IANA can use that namespace if desired.
However, this document does not stipulate that the IANA is to create
names for every entry in every registry that it maintains. The
IANA's use of the namespace is a matter for IANA policy, which is
outside the scope of this document.
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[RFC2141] Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.
[RFC3406] Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom,
"Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition
Mechanisms", BCP 66, RFC 3406, October 2002.
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7.2. Informative References
[RFC2616] Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H.,
Masinter, L., Leach, P., and T. Berners-Lee, "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2616, June 1999.
[RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC
3986, January 2005.
[RFC5226] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
May 2008.
[XML] Maler, E., Yergeau, F., Sperberg-McQueen, C., Paoli, J.,
and T. Bray, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth
Edition)", World Wide Web Consortium Recommendation REC-
xml-20081126, November 2008,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126>.
Appendix A. Acknowledgements
Thanks to Martin Duerst for his feedback.
Authors' Addresses
Peter Saint-Andre
Cisco Systems, Inc.
1899 Wynkoop Street, Suite 600
Denver, CO 80202
USA
Phone: +1-303-308-3282
Email: psaintan@cisco.com
Michelle Cotton
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536
USA
Phone: +1-310-823-9358
Email: michelle.cotton@icann.org
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