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Registration Procedures for Private Enterprise Numbers (PENs)
draft-pti-pen-registration-04

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 9371.
Authors Michelle Cotton , Amanda Baber , Paul E. Hoffman
Last updated 2019-03-27
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draft-pti-pen-registration-04
Network Working Group                                          M. Cotton
Internet-Draft                                                  A. Baber
Intended status: Informational                                       PTI
Expires: September 28, 2019                                   P. Hoffman
                                                                   ICANN
                                                          March 27, 2019

     Registration Procedures for Private Enterprise Numbers (PENs)
                      draft-pti-pen-registration-04

Abstract

   This document describes how Private Enterprise Numbers (PENs) are
   registered by IANA.  It shows how to request a new PEN and how to
   request an update to a current PEN.  It also gives a brief overview
   of PEN uses.

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
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   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 28, 2019.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2019 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
   (https://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

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   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Uses of PENs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  PEN Assignment  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Requesting a PEN Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  Modifying an Existing Record  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.3.  Deleting a PEN Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  PEN Registry Specifics  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   Private Enterprise Numbers (PENs) are identifiers that can be used
   anywhere that an ASN.1 object identifier (OID) [ASN1] can be used.
   Originally, PENs were developed so that organizations that needed to
   identify themselves in Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
   [RFC3411] Management Information Base (MIB) configurations could do
   so easily.  PENs are also useful in any application or configuration
   language that needs OIDs to identify organizations.

   The IANA Functions Operator, referred to in this document as "IANA",
   manages and maintains the PEN registry in consultation with the IESG.
   PENs are issued from an OID prefix that was assigned to IANA.  That
   OID prefix is 1.3.6.1.4.1.  Using the (now archaic) notation of
   ownership names in the OID tree, that corresponds to:

   1   3   6   1        4       1
   iso.org.dod.internet.private.enterprise

   A PEN is an OID that begins with the PEN prefix.  Thus, the OID
   1.3.6.1.4.1.32473 is a PEN.

1.1.  Uses of PENs

   Once a PEN has been assigned to an organization, that organization
   can use the PEN by itself (possibly to represent the organization) or
   as the root of other OIDs associated with the organization.  For
   example, if an organization is assigned the PEN 1.3.6.1.4.1.32473, it
   might use 1.3.6.1.4.1.32473.7 to identify a protocol extension and

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   use 1.3.6.1.4.1.32473.12.3 to identify a set of algorithms that it
   supports in a protocol.

   Neither IANA nor the IETF can control how an organization uses its
   PEN.  In fact, no one can exert such control: that is the meaning of
   "private" in "private enterprise number".  Similarly, no one can
   prevent an organization that is not the registered owner of a PEN
   from using that PEN, or any PEN, however they want.

   A very common use of PENs is to give unique identifiers in IETF
   protocols.  SNMP MIB configuration files use PENs for identifying the
   origin of values.  Some protocols that use PENs as identifiers of
   extension mechanisms include RADIUS [RFC2865], DIAMETER [RFC3588],
   Syslog [RFC5424], RSVP [RFC5284], and vCard [RFC6350].

2.  PEN Assignment

   Private Enterprise Numbers (PENs) are assigned by IANA.  Requests for
   new assignments and for the modification of existing assignments can
   be submitted through the IANA web site.

2.1.  Requesting a PEN Assignment

   IANA maintains the PEN registry in accordance with the "First Come
   First Served" registration policy described in [RFC8126].  Values are
   generally assigned sequentially.

   First Come First Served registries require the identification of a
   "change controller," as described in [RFC8126].  In this registry,
   the assignee is understood to be the change controller, unless the
   requester specifies otherwise.  The assignee may be an individual, an
   organization, a project, or some other entity.  In addition,
   requesters must supply contact information that can be used to verify
   an attempt to modify or delete the registration.

   ASCII text representations are required, but requesters may provide
   additional non-ASCII representations.

   Parties may request more than one PEN, but in most cases it is more
   appropriate to obtain a sub-assignment of the existing registration.
   Sub-assignments are maintained by the assignee.  They are not
   recorded by IANA.

   IANA may refuse to process abusive requests.

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2.2.  Modifying an Existing Record

   Assignees can request the modification of any of the information
   associated with a registered value, including the name of the
   assignee.

   Modification requests require authorization by the change controller.
   Authorization will be validated either with information kept on file
   with IANA or with other identifying documentation, if necessary.

2.3.  Deleting a PEN Record

   Although such requests are rare, an assignee can ask IANA to delete a
   registration.  Values associated with deleted registrations will not
   become available for re-assignment until all other unassigned values
   have been exhausted.

3.  PEN Registry Specifics

   The range for values after the PEN prefix is 0 to 2**32-1.  The
   values 0 and 4294967295 (2**32-1) are reserved.  Note that while the
   original PEN definition had no upper bound for the value after the
   PEN prefix, there is now an upper bound due to some IETF protocols
   limiting the size of that value.  For example, DIAMETER [RFC3588]
   limits the value to 2**32-1.

   There is a PEN number, 32473, reserved for use as an example in
   documentation.  This reservation is described in [RFC5612].

   Values in the registry that have unclear ownership are marked
   "Reserved".  These values will not be reassigned to a new company or
   individual without consulting the IESG.

   The PEN registry has some missing assignments.  These numbers will be
   available for assignment, but will only be assigned with the
   permission of the IESG.  At the time of publication of this document,
   the list of missing assignments is: 2187, 2188, 3513, 4164, 4565,
   4600, 4913, 4999, 5099, 5144, 5201, 5683, 5777, 6260, 6619, 14827,
   16739, 26975 and the range from 11670 to 11769.

4.  IANA Considerations

   This entire document consists of considerations for IANA and for its
   customers who want to apply for, modify, or delete a PEN.

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5.  Security Considerations

   Registering PENs does not introduce any significant security
   considerations.

   There is no cryptographic binding of a registrant in the PEN registry
   and the PEN(s) assigned to them.  Thus, the entries in the PEN
   registry cannot be used to validate the ownership of a PEN in use.
   For example, if the PEN 1.3.6.1.4.1.32473 is seen in a protocol as
   indicating the owner of some data, there is no way to securely
   correlate that use with the name and organization of the owner listed
   in the PEN registry.

6.  Acknowledgements

   An earlier version of this document was authored by Pearl Liang and
   Alexey Melnikov.  Additional significant contributions have come from
   Dan Romascanu, Bert Wijnen, David Conrad, and Benoit Claise.

7.  Informative References

   [ASN1]     ITU-T, "ITU-T X.690: Information technology - ASN.1
              encoding rules", 2016, <https://www.itu.int/itu-
              t/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=x.690>.

   [RFC2865]  Rigney, C., Willens, S., Rubens, A., and W. Simpson,
              "Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS)",
              RFC 2865, DOI 10.17487/RFC2865, June 2000,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2865>.

   [RFC3411]  Harrington, D., Presuhn, R., and B. Wijnen, "An
              Architecture for Describing Simple Network Management
              Protocol (SNMP) Management Frameworks", STD 62, RFC 3411,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC3411, December 2002,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3411>.

   [RFC3588]  Calhoun, P., Loughney, J., Guttman, E., Zorn, G., and J.
              Arkko, "Diameter Base Protocol", RFC 3588,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC3588, September 2003,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3588>.

   [RFC5284]  Swallow, G. and A. Farrel, "User-Defined Errors for RSVP",
              RFC 5284, DOI 10.17487/RFC5284, August 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5284>.

   [RFC5424]  Gerhards, R., "The Syslog Protocol", RFC 5424,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5424, March 2009,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5424>.

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   [RFC5612]  Eronen, P. and D. Harrington, "Enterprise Number for
              Documentation Use", RFC 5612, DOI 10.17487/RFC5612, August
              2009, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5612>.

   [RFC6350]  Perreault, S., "vCard Format Specification", RFC 6350,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6350, August 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6350>.

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

Authors' Addresses

   Michelle Cotton
   PTI, an affiliate of ICANN

   Email: michelle.cotton@iana.org

   Amanda Baber
   PTI, an affiliate of ICANN

   Email: amanda.baber@iana.org

   Paul Hoffman
   ICANN

   Email: paul.hoffman@icann.org

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