Directory Assistance service
RFC 1202
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RFC - Informational
(February 1991; No errata)
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Author |
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Marshall Rose
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Last updated |
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2013-03-02
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Legacy stream
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IESG |
IESG state |
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RFC 1202 (Informational)
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Telechat date |
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Network Working Group M. Rose
Request for Comments: 1202 Performance Systems International, Inc.
February 1991
Directory Assistance Service
Status of this Memo
This document defines a mechanism by which a user-interface may
access a textual DAP-like interface over a TCP/IP connection. This
is a local mechanism. This memo provides information for the
Internet community. It does not specify any standard. Distribution
of this memo is unlimited.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction .......................................... 1
1.1 An Aside ............................................ 3
2. Protocol .............................................. 3
2.1 Control Connection .................................. 4
2.1.1 Initialization .................................... 4
2.1.2 Transactions ...................................... 4
2.1.2.1 INTR command .................................... 4
2.1.2.2 STAT command .................................... 5
2.1.2.3 QUIT command .................................... 5
2.2 Data Connection ..................................... 5
2.2.1 Transactions ...................................... 5
2.2.2 Responses ......................................... 6
2.2.2.1 Numeric Responses ............................... 6
2.2.2.2 'm' Response .................................... 6
2.2.2.3 'y' Response .................................... 6
2.2.2.4 'p' Response .................................... 7
2.2.2.5 'e' Response .................................... 7
2.2.2.6 'l' Response .................................... 7
2.2.2.7 'd' Response .................................... 8
2.2.2.8 'P' Response .................................... 8
3. Example Interaction ................................... 9
4. References ............................................ 10
5. Security Considerations............................... 11
6. Author's Address...................................... 11
1. Introduction
The OSI Directory [1] provides a powerful infrastructure for the
retrieval of information objects. This infrastructure can be used to
support, e.g., white pages applications, application entity lookup,
and so on.
Rose [Page 1]
RFC 1202 Directory Assistance Service February 1991
The Directory service is provided to applications through the
Directory Access Protocol (DAP), which binds a Directory User Agent
(DUA) to a Directory System Agent (DSA).
| Directory Service
| provided via DAP
|
+-----------+ | +-----------+
| | | | |
| DUA | <----------+----------> | DSA |
| | | | |
+-----------+ | +-----------+
|
Directory User |
The DAP is an OSI application layer protocol which uses the rich OSI
upper-layer infrastructure. Unfortunately, the coding investment to
implement the DAP is significant. As such, it is difficult to host
applications using the Directory on smaller workstations and personal
computers.
This memo details a local mechanism which has been successfully used
to separate the functionality of the DAP from the complexity of
implementing the DAP. That is, a split-DUA model is used: the DAP is
implemented on an entity (the "Directory Assistant"), which resides
on a capable workstation or mainframe and exports a simpler
interface, the "Directory Assistance" (DA) protocol, to other end-
systems where the user-interface resides, termed the DA-client.
Since this mechanism provides assistance to applications wishing to
access the Directory, it is termed the "Directory Assistance" (DA)
service:
Rose [Page 2]
RFC 1202 Directory Assistance Service February 1991
| Directory Service
split-DUA | provided via DAP
|
+-----------+ | +-----------+
| | | | |
| Directory | <----------+----------> | DSA |
| Assistant | | | |
| | | +-----------+
+-----------+ |
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