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Private Enterprise Number (PEN) practices and Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) registration considerations
draft-liang-iana-pen-03

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Expired".
Authors Pearl Liang , Alexey Melnikov , David R. Conrad
Last updated 2014-03-13
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draft-liang-iana-pen-03
Network Working Group                                           P. Liang
Internet-Draft                                                     ICANN
Intended status: Informational                               A. Melnikov
Expires: September 14, 2014                                    Isode Ltd
                                                               D. Conrad

                                                          March 13, 2014

Private Enterprise Number (PEN) practices and Internet Assigned Numbers
              Authority (IANA) registration considerations
                        draft-liang-iana-pen-03

Abstract

   Private Enterprise Numbers (PENs) are a technical protocol parameter
   frequently assigned for use in the management of network connected
   equipment or software via SNMP-based network management systems,
   LDAP, DIAMETER or GSS-API.  This document discusses what a Private
   Enterprise Number (PEN) is, common uses of PENs, and registration
   procedures for IANA Considerations.  The registration procedures
   include instructions and requirements for obtaining a new Private
   Enterprise Number, modifying existing numbers, and the removal of
   existing numbers.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on September 14, 2014.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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   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
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Example of use for Private Enterprise Numbers . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Who can get a Private Enterprise Number?  . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Other useful things to know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Syntax for Private Enterprise Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.1.  New Private Enterprise Numbers  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.2.  Modification of Private Enterprise Numbers  . . . . . . .   7
     7.3.  Removals of Private Enterprise Numbers  . . . . . . . . .   8
     7.4.  Historical Assignments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10

1.  Introduction

   A Private Enterprise Number (also known as a "PEN"), is a subtree of
   Object Identifiers (OIDs ) with prefix
   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise (1.3.6.1.4.1)).  The Private
   Enterprise Number OID was originally defined in [RFC1065].  A PEN is
   a non-negative integer, unique within the
   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise subtree, that can be used to
   reference an organization ("enterprise") in protocols that require
   numeric values instead of a human readable organization name.

   Currently, procedures for assignment of new PENs and the modification
   of existing PENs are not clearly documented.  Private Enterprise
   Numbers are referenced in RFCs [RFC1157] [RFC1213] and [RFC2578].
   These documents mostly define Simple Network Management Protocol
   (SNMP), Management Information Base (MIB) and Structure of Management
   Information (SMI) structures.  However, none of these RFCs clearly
   describe PENs and define their registration procedures.

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   Additionally, updates to existing Private Enterprise Numbers can be
   challenging due to the lack of clear registration requirements and
   difficulties in validation, particuarly in cases such as organization
   name or legal ownership changes, changes in email addresses of the
   registered PEN owner, etc.

   This purpose of this document is to describe the basics of PENs, how
   they are most commonly used, and to define PEN registration and
   update procedures.

2.  Example of use for Private Enterprise Numbers

   PENs are frequently embedded in OIDs (Object Identifiers) , which are
   most often used in Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
   Management Information Base (MIB) configurations.  However, PENs are
   not designed to be used exclusively for SNMP purposes, but rather
   they can be and are used by a variety protocols and Data Manipulation
   Languagess.  These other uses include:

   Distinguished Names and other components in X.509 certificates;

   Various schema elements in X.500/LDAP directories;

   GSS-API

   extensions to DIAMETER

   PA-TNC [RFC5792] and PB-TNC [RFC5793]

   Various healthcare related standards, including HL7.

3.  Who can get a Private Enterprise Number?

   PENs are assigned through a "First Come First Served" registration
   policy as described in [RFC5226].  A new request can be submitted to
   IANA by individuals or organizations in order to obtain a unique
   value for their "enterprise".  In order to facilitate appropriate
   registration, a small amount of information is required including the
   requesting organization (or individual's) name, the name of the
   contact person for the PEN, and an e-mail address of the contact.  In
   some cases, users submit a program name, product, project, and random
   abbreviation as the organization name to apply for a new
   registration.  However this should be discouraged since the program
   name is not and should not be considered the name of the Registrant
   (Company/Organization) as described in Section 7.

   In other cases, applicants that already have a PEN make requests for
   new PENs for subsidiaries claiming the subsidiaries are completely

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   independent of the parent organization, the subsidiaries are located
   in different locations, or other reasons why the subsidiaries cannot
   use existing the existing PEN allocation.  However, this does not
   justify new allocations as the parent company is able to create sub-
   trees and allocate the sub-numbers themselves.  IANA does not
   allocate new numbers to companies that are subsidiaries of existing
   registrations.

   However, joint ventures of business enterprises may request new
   allocations if the joint venture is considered a new legal body.  In
   addition, open resource forums and individuals may request new
   allocations under the registration requirement as describe in
   Section 7.

4.  Other useful things to know

   As some examples documented on Wikipedia, the most common OIDs seen
   "in the wild" usually belong to the private enterprise numbers
   allocated by IANA under the 1.3.6.1.4.1
   (iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise) tree.  However,
   increasingly, an OID with health care and public health informatics
   in the United States is being used.  Health Level Seven (HL7), a
   standards-developing organization in the area of electronic health
   care data exchange is an assigning authority at the 2.16.840.1.113883
   (joint-iso-itu-t.country.us.organization.hl7) tree.

   It is important to note that PENs do not always represent a
   manufacturer or Vendor ID.

   The registrant of a Private Enterprise Number can create sub-trees by
   appending a "." along with unique numbers at the end of their PEN,
   i.e. to perform its own sub-allocations.  For example, for LDAP, the
   registrant of PEN <PEN> can use:

   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise.<PEN>.1 for LDAP Object
   Classes

   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise.<PEN>.2 for LDAP attribute
   types

   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise.<PEN>.3 for LDAP syntaxes

   A particular Object class can have OID:

   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise.<PEN>.1.100

   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise.<PEN>.1.200 for subsidiaries
   an/or divisions

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   In general any number of additional levels are permitted, for
   example:

   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise.<PEN>.1.1 can be used as a
   parent OID for all email related object classes, and

   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise.<PEN>.1.2 can be used for web
   related object classes, etc.

5.  Syntax for Private Enterprise Numbers

   Valid information for the Registrant (Company/Organization) Name for
   PEN registrations are normatively defined as follows:

   o Maximum value for PENs is hereby defined within 2**32-1 with 0 and
   0xFFFFFF (in hex) marked as Reserved.

   o TBD: Subset of ASCII character (at least ALPHA, DIGIT and "-", SP)

   o TBD: Special characters (Use LetterDigits from draft-ietf-precis-
   framework?)

   o MUST NOT begin or end with a hyphen

   o Values "Reserved" MUST NOT be allocated

   o Value "Unassigned" SHOULD NOT be re-assigned unless specified
   otherwise, i.e. when the available pool of PENs runs out.

6.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Dan Romascanu, Michelle Cotton, and
   Bert Wijnen for their contributions to this document.

7.  IANA Considerations

7.1.  New Private Enterprise Numbers

   New Private Enterprise Numbers are assigned on a First Come First
   Served basis [RFC5226] and are assigned sequentially.  There is no
   opportunity to request a particular private enterprise number.  The
   requester can submit an online application form.  Information to be
   included:

   Registrant (Company/Organization) Name (REQUIRED)

   Registrant (Company/Organization) E-mail Address (REQUIRED)

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   Registrant Postal Address (REQUIRED)

   Registrant Phone Number (Optional)

   Registrant Fax Number (OPTIONAL)

   Contact Name (REQUIRED)

   Contact E-mail Address (REQUIRED)

   Contact Postal Address (OPTIONAL)

   Contact Phone Number (OPTIONAL)

   Reference (OPTIONAL)

   Registrant (Company/Organization) Name: The name of the organization
   or individual responsible for the registration of Private Enterprise
   Number.  If the organization is a company, it should be the full
   legal name including "Inc.", "Ltd.", etc.

   Registrant (Company/Organization) E-mail Address: The e-mail address
   of the organization that requests the PEN.  This e-mail address will
   be publicly available in the IANA PEN Registry.  The E-mail address
   should be a valid email address and can be a role account e-mail
   address.

   Registrant Postal Address: The full postal address of the
   organization/individual requesting the PEN, including state/province,
   zip/postal code, country, etc.

   Registrant Phone: The main telephone number of the organization/
   individual requesting the PEN, including the country code.

   Registrant Fax Number: The facsimile number of the organization/
   individual responsible for the PEN, including the country code.

   Contact Name: The full name of the individual who will be responsible
   for the PEN on behalf of the company.

   Contact Postal Address: The full postal address of the individual
   responsible the PEN, including state/province, zip/postal code,
   country, etc.

   Contact Phone: The telephone number (with extension where
   appropriate) of the individual responsible for the PEN, including
   country code.

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   Contact E-Mail Address: The e-mail address of the individual
   responsible for the PEN.  The e-mail address must be one the Contact
   person can email confirmation from.  This e-mail address will be
   publicly available in the IANA PEN Registry.  The Contact E-mail
   Address can be the same one as the Registrant's E-mail address.

   Reference: A document associated with the implementation of the OID
   can be referenced with the registration.

   It is recommended that a single PEN is granted per organization.
   IANA does not expect to allocate additional PENs to the same
   Registrants (Companies/Organizations) that have existing PEN records
   listed in the IANA PEN registry.

7.2.  Modification of Private Enterprise Numbers

   Modification of existing Private Enterprise Numbers:

   Registrant (Company/Organization) Name can be modified with
   verification.  When a Company/Organization has been merged or
   acquired by another enterprise, the Registrant (Company/Organization)
   Name can be annotated in the registry with the new owner.  Note that
   such annotations would require emails from the both existing Contact
   and proposed Contact, and, if it deems to be necessary, official
   letters from the existing owner (if applicable) to provide proofs of
   the changes to IANA.  If either the existing owner or Contact is
   obsoleted, an official letter from the proposed Registrant (Company/
   Organization) Name will be required and be supplied to IANA for
   verifications.  Additional documentations will be required subject to
   the conditions of the changes of the numbers in questions.  It is not
   guarantee that the request will be granted if IANA does not have
   sufficient information to verify the changes, or if there is legacy
   use of the PEN out in the wild.

   All information associated with existing PEN records, excluding the
   Registrant (Company/Organization) Name, shall be updated if the
   information is obsoleted.  (See the preceding section to update the
   Registrant (Company/Organization) Name.)  A request to update Contact
   information associated with an existing PEN record shall be submitted
   to IANA using an online submission.  Requests can only be fulfilled
   upon verification by IANA and/or subject matter experts.  Additional
   documentations will be required if it deems to be necessary to
   validate the request.

   A change to the Contact Name of existing PEN records can be made to
   IANA in case of personnel changes, change of employment,
   acquisitions, etc.  It would be ideal that new requests shall be
   completed by the existing Contacts for the PEN records.  E-mail

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   verifications of the requested changes are required.  Alternatively,
   supplemental documentations and/or letters issued by the Company/
   Organization (Registrant Name) will be required if E-mail
   verifications cannot be fulfilled and if it deems to be necessary.

   Letters and documentations can be in forms of e-documents, PDF, fax
   however feasible to the applicants.  The documents can be supplied to
   IANA via an email message or in facsimile.

   Requests can only be fulfilled upon verification by IANA and/or
   subject matter experts if it deems to be necessary.

7.3.  Removals of Private Enterprise Numbers

   Such request does not happen often and regularly.

   Considering the fact that there might be legacy uses by an existing
   allocation, it is NOT recommended to remove the registration.

   A Contact Name can request to remove the corresponding Contact
   information if the company is no longer in operation, the Contact
   does not wish to be listed in the IANA PEN registry and if the PEN is
   no longer believed to be in use.  The Modification procedure
   described above SHOULD be followed.

   Requests can only be fulfilled upon verification by IANA and/or
   subject matter experts if it deems to be necessary.

   IF the removal request is honoured, the entry is marked as "Reserved"
   and annotated as "returned on yyyy-mm-dd by xxxxxxx".  A future
   update to this document can allow IANA to reallocate such returned
   PEN, however this document doesn't allow for that.

7.4.  Historical Assignments

   This document will correct the missing historical assignments that
   predates ICANN's management of the existing registry.  These entries
   will be marked as "Reserved" and annotated as "Returned on yyyy-mm-
   dd".  These numbers MAY be re-assigned when the available pool of
   PENs runs out.

   2187, 2188, 3513, 4164, 4565, 4600, 4913, 4999, 5099, 5144, 5201,
   5683, 5777, 6260, 6619, 14827, 16739, 26975

   The range from 11670 to 11769

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8.  Security Considerations

   See the Security Considerations section in BCP 26 [RFC5226], and note
   that improper definition and application of IANA registration
   policies can introduce both interoperability and security issues.  It
   is critical that registration policies be considered carefully and
   separately for each registry.  Overly restrictive policies can result
   in the lack of registration of code points and parameters that need
   to be registered, while overly permissive policies can result in
   inappropriate registrations.  Striking the right balance is an
   important part of document development.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC5226]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
              IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
              May 2008.

9.2.  Informative References

   [RFC1065]  Rose, M. and K. McCloghrie, "Structure and identification
              of management information for TCP/IP-based internets", RFC
              1065, August 1988.

   [RFC1157]  Case, J., Fedor, M., Schoffstall, M., and J. Davin,
              "Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)", STD 15, RFC
              1157, May 1990.

   [RFC1213]  McCloghrie, K. and M. Rose, "Management Information Base
              for Network Management of TCP/IP-based internets:MIB-II",
              STD 17, RFC 1213, March 1991.

   [RFC2578]  McCloghrie, K., Ed., Perkins, D., Ed., and J.
              Schoenwaelder, Ed., "Structure of Management Information
              Version 2 (SMIv2)", STD 58, RFC 2578, April 1999.

   [RFC5792]  Sangster, P. and K. Narayan, "PA-TNC: A Posture Attribute
              (PA) Protocol Compatible with Trusted Network Connect
              (TNC)", RFC 5792, March 2010.

   [RFC5793]  Sahita, R., Hanna, S., Hurst, R., and K. Narayan, "PB-TNC:
              A Posture Broker (PB) Protocol Compatible with Trusted
              Network Connect (TNC)", RFC 5793, March 2010.

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Authors' Addresses

   Pearl Liang
   ICANN
   12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300
   Los Angeles, CA  90094
   USA

   Email: pearl.liang@icann.org

   Alexey Melnikov
   Isode Ltd
   5 Castle Business Village
   36 Station Road
   Hampton, Middlesex  TW12 2BX
   UK

   Email: Alexey.Melnikov@isode.com

   David Conrad
   CA
   US

   Email: drc@virtualized.org

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