Internet-Draft                                                Ryan Moats
draft-ietf-svrloc-wpyp-04.txt                                       AT&T
Expires in 8/31/99                                         February 1999




                The 'wp' and 'yp' Abstract Service Types
                Filename: draft-ietf-svrloc-wpyp-04.txt


Status of This Memo

      This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
      all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.  Internet-Drafts are
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Abstract

   This document presents definitions for the "wp" and "yp" abstract
   services.  The "wp" service is for finding people, while the "yp"
   service if for finding general things (including people).

1. Introduction

   In "Advertising Services" [1], several abstract services are
   proposed. As specified in [2], the "wp" and "yp" abstract services
   are documented here.  The "wp" service is intended for finding
   people, while the "yp" service is a superset that is intended for
   finding objects.







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2. The "wp" Abstract Service

   The "wp" abstract service is for locating people via a directory.
   Version 0.0 of this service specifies four protocols for accessing
   such services: LDAP, WHOIS++, CCSO/Ph and HTTP.

   ---------------------------template begins here-----------------------
    template-type = wp

    template-version = 0.0

    template-language = EN

    template-description =
    The WP Abstract Service is for locating people using either LDAP, WHOIS, CCSO/Ph or HTTP

    template-url-syntax =
    url-path       = ldapurl / whoisppurl / phurl / httpurl
    ldapurl        = url as defined in [3]
    whoisppurl     = url as defined in [4]
    httpurl        = url as defined in [5]
    phurl          = "ph://" hostport
    hostport       = host [ ":" port ]
    host           = hostname / hostnumber
    hostname       = *( domainlavel "." ) toplabel
    domainlabel    = alphanum / alphanum * [alphanum / "-"] alphanum
    toplabel       = alpha / alpha * [alphanum / "-"] alphanum
    hostnumber     = ipv4-number / ipv6-number
    ipv4-number    =   1*3digit 3*3("." 1*3digit)
    ipv6-number    =   32*hex
    3digit         =   digit digit digit
    port           =   1*digit
                       ; A port number must be included if the
                       ; protocol field does not have an IANA
                       ; assigned port number.
    alphanum       =   alpha / digit
    alpha          =   "a" / "b" / "c" / "d" / "e" / "f" / "g" /
                       "h" / "i" / "j" / "k" / "l" / "m" / "n" /
                       "o" / "p" / "q" / "r" / "s" / "t" / "u" /
                       "v" / "w" / "x" / "y" / "z" /
                       "A" / "B" / "C" / "D" / "E" / "F" / "G" /
                       "H" / "I" / "J" / "K" / "L" / "M" / "N" /
                       "O" / "P" / "Q" / "R" / "S" / "T" / "U" /
                       "V" / "W" / "X" / "Y" / "Z"
    digit          =   "0" / "1" / "2" / "3" / "4" / "5" / "6" /
                       "7" / "8" / "9"
   ---------------------------template ends here-------------------------




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3. The "yp" Abstract Service

   The "yp" abstract service is for locating resources on the Internet
   and is a superset of the "wp" abstract service. Version 0.0 specifies
   the following protocols for accessing such services in addition to
   those specified for the "wp" abstract service:  Z39.50 and WHOIS++.

   ---------------------------template begins here-----------------------
    template-type = yp

    template-version = 0.0

    template-language = EN

    template-description =
    The yp Abstract Service is for locating general resources on the internet

    template-url-syntax =
    url-path       = z3950url / httpurl / whoisppurl / ldapurl
                     phurl
    z3950url       = url as defined in [6]
    httpurl        = url as defined in [5]
    whoisppurl     = url as defined in [4]
    ldapurl        = url as defined in [3]
    phurl          = "ph://" hostport
    hostport       = host [ ":" port ]
    host           = hostname / hostnumber
    hostname       = *( domainlavel "." ) toplabel
    domainlabel    = alphanum / alphanum * [alphanum / "-"] alphanum
    toplabel       = alpha / alpha * [alphanum / "-"] alphanum
    hostnumber     = ipv4-number / ipv6-number
    ipv4-number    =   1*3digit 3*3("." 1*3digit)
    ipv6-number    =   32*hex
    3digit         =   digit digit digit
    port           =   1*digit
                       ; A port number must be included if the
                       ; protocol field does not have an IANA
                       ; assigned port number.
    alphanum       =   alpha / digit
    alpha          =   "a" / "b" / "c" / "d" / "e" / "f" / "g" /
                       "h" / "i" / "j" / "k" / "l" / "m" / "n" /
                       "o" / "p" / "q" / "r" / "s" / "t" / "u" /
                       "v" / "w" / "x" / "y" / "z" /
                       "A" / "B" / "C" / "D" / "E" / "F" / "G" /
                       "H" / "I" / "J" / "K" / "L" / "M" / "N" /
                       "O" / "P" / "Q" / "R" / "S" / "T" / "U" /
                       "V" / "W" / "X" / "Y" / "Z"
    digit          =   "0" / "1" / "2" / "3" / "4" / "5" / "6" /



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                       "7" / "8" / "9"
   ---------------------------template ends here-------------------------


4. Contact Information

   The contact point for version 0.0 of both of these templates is the
   author.


5. Security Considerations

   Both of these abstract services inherit the security considerations
   of the "service:" URL scheme as specified in [2].  As these services
   are both abstract, they further inherit considerations from the
   protocol used to provide the underlying concrete services as
   discussed below.

5.1 Considerations for the "wp" service

   Since the "wp" abstract service can use any of LDAP, HTTP, WHOIS or
   CCSO/Ph, it inherits the security considerations for each of these
   protocols.  See [3] and [8] for LDAP, [9] and [10] for HTTP, [4] and
   [11] for WHOIS, and [12] for CCSO/Ph.

5.2 Considerations for the "yp" service Since the "yp" abstract service
is a superset of the "wp" service, it inherits all the considerations
from the above section.  In addition, it inherits the security
considerations from [6] for Z39.50.

6. Acknowledgments

   This work described in this document is partially supported by the
   National Science Foundation, Cooperative Agreement NCR-9218179.

7. References

   Request For Comments (RFC) and Internet Drafts documents are
   available from <URL:ftp://ftp.internic.net> and numerous mirror sites

         [1]         R. Moats, M. Hamilton, "Advertising Services,"
                     Internet Draft (work in progress), September 1998.

         [2]         C. Perkins, E. Guttman, J. Kempf, "Service Tem-
                     plates and 'service:' Schemes," Internet Draft
                     (work in progress), February 1999.

         [3]         T. Howes, M. Smith, "An LDAP URL Format," RFC 1959,



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                     June 1996.

         [4]         M. Hamilton, "WHOIS++ URL Specification," Internet
                     Draft (work in progress), March 1998.

         [5]         T. Berners-Lee, R. Fielding, and L. Masinter, "Uni-
                     form Resource Locators (URL): Generic Syntax and
                     Semantics," RFC1738 as amended by RFC1808 and
                     updated by draft-fielding-url-syntax-09.txt, May
                     1997.  (work in progress).

         [6]         R. Denenberg, J. Kunze, D. Lynch, "Uniform Resource
                     Locators for Z39.50," RFC 2056, November 1996.

         [7]         J. Veizades, E. Guttman, C. Perkins, S. Kaplan,
                     "Service Location Protocol," RFC 2165, June 1997.

         [8]         W. Yeong, T. Howes, S. Kille, "Lightweight Direc-
                     tory Access Protocol", RFC 1777, March 1995.

         [9]         T. Berners-Lee, R. Fielding, H. Frystyk, "Hypertext
                     Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.0", RFC 1945, May 1996.

         [10]        R. Fielding (et.al.), "Hypertext Transfer Protocol
                     -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2068, January 1997.

         [11]        P. Deutsch, R. Schoultz, P. Faltstrom, C. Weider,
                     "Architecture of the WHOIS++ Service", RFC 1835,
                     August 1995.

         [12]        P. Pomes, R. Hedberg, "The CCSO Nameserver (Ph)
                     Architecture", RFC 2378, August 1998.

8. Author's addresses

   Ryan Moats
   AT&T
   15621 Drexel Circle
   Omaha, NE 68135-2358
   USA

   Phone:  +1 402 894-9456
   EMail:  jayhawk@att.com


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