Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) Object Tagging
draft-hollenbeck-regext-rdap-object-tag-01

Registration Protocols Extensions                          S. Hollenbeck
Internet-Draft                                             Verisign Labs
Updates: 7484 (if approved)                                    A. Newton
Intended status: Best Current Practice                              ARIN
Expires: May 25, 2017                                  November 21, 2016

        Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) Object Tagging
               draft-hollenbeck-regext-rdap-object-tag-01

Abstract

   The Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) includes a method that
   can be used to identify the authoritative server for processing
   domain name, IP address, and autonomous system number queries.  The
   method does not describe how to identify the authoritative server for
   processing other RDAP query types, such as entity queries.  This
   limitation exists because the identifiers associated with these query
   types are typically unstructured.  This document describes an
   operational practice that can be used to add structure to RDAP
   identifiers that makes it possible to identify the authoritative
   server for additional RDAP queries.

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on May 25, 2017.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of

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   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
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   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Object Naming Practice  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Bootstrap Service Registry for RDAP Service Providers . . . .   7
     3.1.  Registration Procedure  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     4.1.  Bootstrap Service Registry for RDAP Service Providers . .   9
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     7.3.  URIs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   Appendix A.  Change Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10

1.  Introduction

   The Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) includes a method
   ([RFC7484]) that can be used to identify the authoritative server for
   processing domain name, IP address, and autonomous system number
   (ASN) queries.  This method works because each of these data elements
   is structured in a way that facilitates automated parsing of the
   element and association of the data element with a particular RDAP
   service provider.  For example, domain names include labels (such as
   "com", "net", and "org") that are associated with specific service
   providers.

   As noted in Section 9 of RFC 7484 [RFC7484], the method does not
   describe how to identify the authoritative server for processing
   entity queries, name server queries, help queries, or queries using
   certain search patterns.  This limitation exists because the
   identifiers bound to these queries are typically not structured in a
   way that makes it easy to associate an identifier with a specific
   service provider.  This document describes an operational practice
   that can be used to add structure to RDAP identifiers that makes it
   possible to identify the authoritative server for additional RDAP
   queries.

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2.  Object Naming Practice

   Tagging object identifiers with a service provider tag makes it
   possible to identify the authoritative server for processing an RDAP
   query using the method described in RFC 7484 [RFC7484].  A service
   provider tag is constructed by concatenating the Unicode COMMERCIAL
   AT character '@' (U+0040) to an IANA-registered value that represents
   the service provider.  For example, a tag for a service provider
   identified by the string value "ARIN" is represented as "@ARIN".

   Service provider tags are concatenated to the end of RDAP query
   object identifiers to unambiguously identify the authoritative server
   for processing an RDAP query.  Building on the example from
   Section 3.1.5 of RFC 7482 [RFC7482], an RDAP entity handle can be
   constructed that allows an RDAP client to bootstrap an entity query.
   The following identifier is used to find information for the entity
   associated with handle "XXXX" at service provider "ARIN":

   XXXX@ARIN

   Clients that wish to bootstrap an entity query can parse this
   identifier into distinct handle and service provider identifier
   elements.  Handles can themselves contain COMMERCIAL AT characters;
   the service provider identifier is found following the last (reading
   from left to right) COMMERCIAL AT character in the tagged identifier.
   The service provider identifier is used to retrieve a base RDAP URL
   from an IANA registry.  The base URL and entity handle are then used
   to form a complete RDAP query path segment.  For example, if the base
   RDAP URL "https://example.com/rdap/" is associated with service
   provider "YYYY" in an IANA registry, an RDAP client will parse a
   tagged entity identifier "XXXX@YYYY" into distinct handle ("XXXX")
   and service provider ("YYYY") identifiers.  The service provider
   identifier "YYYY" is used to query an IANA registry to retrieve the
   base RDAP URL "https://example.com/rdap/".  The base RDAP URL is
   concatenated to the entity handle to create a complete RDAP query
   path segment of "https://example.com/rdap/entity/XXXX@YYYY".

   Implementation of this practice requires tagging of unstructured
   potential query identifiers in RDAP responses.  Consider these elided
   examples from Section 5.3 of RFC 7483 [RFC7483] in which the handle
   identifiers have been tagged with a service provider tag:

   {
     "objectClassName" : "domain",
     "handle" : "XXXX@RIR",
     "ldhName" : "0.2.192.in-addr.arpa",
     "nameservers" :
     [

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       ...
     ],
     "secureDNS":
     {
       ...
     },
     "remarks" :
     [
       ...
     ],
     "links" :
     [
       ...
     ],
     "events" :
     [
       ...
     ],
     "entities" :
     [
       {
         "objectClassName" : "entity",
         "handle" : "XXXX@RIR",
         "vcardArray":
         [
           ...
         ],
         "roles" : [ "registrant" ],
         "remarks" :
         [
           ...
         ],
         "links" :
         [
           ...
         ],
         "events" :
         [
           ...
         ]
       }
     ],
     "network" :
     {
       "objectClassName" : "ip network",
       "handle" : "XXXX@RIR",
       "startAddress" : "192.0.2.0",
       "endAddress" : "192.0.2.255",

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       "ipVersion" : "v4",
       "name": "NET-RTR-1",
       "type" : "DIRECT ALLOCATION",
       "country" : "AU",
       "parentHandle" : "YYYY@RIR",
       "status" : [ "active" ]
     }
   }

                                 Figure 1

   {
     "objectClassName" : "domain",
     "handle" : "XXXX@DNR",
     "ldhName" : "xn--fo-5ja.example",
     "unicodeName" : "foo.example",
     "variants" :
     [
       ...
     ],
     "status" : [ "locked", "transfer prohibited" ],
     "publicIds":
     [
       ...
     ],
     "nameservers" :
     [
       {
         "objectClassName" : "nameserver",
         "handle" : "XXXX@DNR",
         "ldhName" : "ns1.example.com",
         "status" : [ "active" ],
         "ipAddresses" :
         {
           ...
         },
         "remarks" :
         [
           ...
         ],
         "links" :
         [
           ...
         ],
         "events" :
         [
           ...
         ]

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       },
       {
         "objectClassName" : "nameserver",
         "handle" : "XXXX@DNR",
         "ldhName" : "ns2.example.com",
         "status" : [ "active" ],
         "ipAddresses" :
         {
           ...
         },
         "remarks" :
         [
           ...
         ],
         "links" :
         [
           ...
         ],
         "events" :
         [
           ...
         ]
       }
      ],
      "secureDNS":
      {
        ...
      },
      "remarks" :
      [
        ...
      ],
      "links" :
      [
        ...
      ],
      "port43" : "whois.example.net",
      "events" :
      [
        ...
      ],
      "entities" :
      [
        {
          "objectClassName" : "entity",
          "handle" : "XXXX@8",
          "vcardArray":
          [

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            ...
          ],
          "status" : [ "validated", "locked" ],
          "roles" : [ "registrant" ],
          "remarks" :
          [
            ...
          ],
          "links" :
          [
            ...
          ],
          "events" :
          [
            ...
          ]
        }
      ]
   }

                                 Figure 2

   As described in Section 5 of RFC 7483 [RFC7483], RDAP responses can
   contain "self" links.  Service provider tags and self references
   SHOULD be consistent.  If they are inconsistent, the service provider
   tag is processed with higher priority when using these values to
   identify a service provider.

3.  Bootstrap Service Registry for RDAP Service Providers

   The bootstrap service registry for the RDAP service provider space is
   represented using the structure specified in Section 3 of RFC 7484
   [RFC7484].  The JSON output of this registry contains alphanumeric
   identifiers that identify RDAP service providers, grouped by base
   RDAP URLs, as shown in this example.

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{
  "version": "1.0",
  "publication": "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ",
  "description": "RDAP bootstrap file for service provider allocations",
  "services": [
    [
      ["YYYY"],
      [
        "https://example.com/rdap/"
      ]
    ],
    [
      ["ZZ54"],
      [
        "http://rdap.example.org/"
      ]
    ],
    [
      ["1754"],
      [
        "https://example.net/rdap/",
        "http://example.net/rdap/"
      ]
    ]
  ]
 }

                                 Figure 3

   Alphanumeric service provider identifiers conform to the syntax
   specified in the IANA registry of Extensible Provisioning Protocol
   (EPP) Repository Identifiers [1], with one exception: identifiers
   always start with a letter to avoid confusion with network handles of
   the form "NET-192-0-0-0-1" that always end with a HYPHEN-MINUS
   character followed by a number.

3.1.  Registration Procedure

   The service provider registry is populated using the "First Come
   First Served" policy defined in RFC 5226 [RFC5226].  Provider
   identifier values can be derived and assigned by IANA on request.
   Registration requests include the requested service provider
   identifier (or an indication that IANA should assign an identifier)
   and the base RDAP URL to be associated with the service provider
   identifier.

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4.  IANA Considerations

   IANA is requested to create the RDAP Bootstrap Services Registry
   listed below and make it available as JSON objects.  The contents of
   this registry is described in Section 3, with the formal syntax
   specified in Section 10 of RFC 7484 [RFC7484].

4.1.  Bootstrap Service Registry for RDAP Service Providers

   Entries in this registry contain at least the following:

   o  An alphanumeric value that identifies the RDAP service provider
      being registered.
   o  One or more URLs that provide the RDAP service regarding this
      registration.

5.  Security Considerations

   This practice helps to ensure that end users will get RDAP data from
   an authoritative source using a bootstrap method to find
   authoritative RDAP servers, reducing the risk of sending queries to
   non-authoritative sources.  The method has the same security
   properties as the RDAP protocols themselves.  The transport used to
   access the IANA registries can be more secure by using TLS [RFC5246],
   which IANA supports.  Additional considerations associated with RDAP
   are described in RFC 7481 [RFC7481].

6.  Acknowledgements

   The author would like to acknowledge the following individuals for
   their contributions to the development of this document: Tom
   Harrison, and Marcos Sanz.  In addition, the authors would like to
   recognize the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) operators (AFRINIC,
   APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC, and RIPE) that have been implementing and using
   the practice of tagging handle identifiers for several years.  Their
   experience provided significant inspiration for the development of
   this document.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC5226]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
              IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5226, May 2008,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5226>.

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   [RFC7484]  Blanchet, M., "Finding the Authoritative Registration Data
              (RDAP) Service", RFC 7484, DOI 10.17487/RFC7484, March
              2015, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7484>.

7.2.  Informative References

   [RFC5246]  Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
              (TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5246, August 2008,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5246>.

   [RFC7481]  Hollenbeck, S. and N. Kong, "Security Services for the
              Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)", RFC 7481,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7481, March 2015,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7481>.

   [RFC7482]  Newton, A. and S. Hollenbeck, "Registration Data Access
              Protocol (RDAP) Query Format", RFC 7482,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7482, March 2015,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7482>.

   [RFC7483]  Newton, A. and S. Hollenbeck, "JSON Responses for the
              Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)", RFC 7483,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7483, March 2015,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7483>.

7.3.  URIs

   [1] http://www.iana.org/assignments/epp-repository-ids/epp-
       repository-ids.xhtml#epp-repository-ids-1

Appendix A.  Change Log

   00:  Initial version.
   01:  Changed separator character from HYPHEN MINUS to COMMERCIAL AT.
      Added a recommendation to maintain consistency between service
      provider tags and "self" links (suggestion received from Tom
      Harrison).  Fixed a spelling error, and corrected the network
      example in Section 2 (editorial erratum reported for RFC 7483 by
      Marcos Sanz).  Added acknowledgements.

Authors' Addresses

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   Scott Hollenbeck
   Verisign Labs
   12061 Bluemont Way
   Reston, VA  20190
   USA

   Email: shollenbeck@verisign.com
   URI:   http://www.verisignlabs.com/

   Andrew Lee Newton
   American Registry for Internet Numbers
   PO Box 232290
   Centreville, VA  20120
   US

   Email: andy@arin.net
   URI:   http://www.arin.net

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