Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms
RFC 3406
Document | Type |
RFC - Best Current Practice
(October 2002; Errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 8141
Obsoletes RFC 2611
Also known as BCP 66
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Authors | Dirk-Willem van Gulik , Patrik Fältström , Leslie Daigle , Renato Iannella | ||
Last updated | 2020-01-21 | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized with errata bibtex | ||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 3406 (Best Current Practice) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group L. Daigle Request for Comments: 3406 Thinking Cat Enterprises BCP: 66 D.W. van Gulik Obsoletes: 2611 WebWeaving Category: Best Current Practice R. Iannella IPR Systems P. Faltstrom Cisco October 2002 Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms Status of this Memo This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This document lays out general definitions of and mechanisms for establishing Uniform Resource Names (URN) "namespaces". The URN WG has defined a syntax for URNs in RFC 2141, as well as some proposed mechanisms for their resolution and use in Internet applications in RFC 3401 and RFC 3405. The whole rests on the concept of individual "namespaces" within the URN structure. Apart from proof-of-concept namespaces, the use of existing identifiers in URNs has been discussed in RFC 2288. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ................................................. 2 2.0 What is a URN Namespace? ..................................... 3 3.0 URN Namespace (Registration) Types ........................... 3 3.1 Experimental Namespaces ..................................... 4 3.2 Informal Namespaces ......................................... 4 3.3 Formal Namespaces ........................................... 4 4.0 URN Namespace Registration, Update, and NID Assignment Process ..................................................... 6 4.1 Experimental ................................................ 6 4.2 Informal .................................................... 6 4.3 Formal ...................................................... 7 5.0 Security Considerations ..................................... 9 Daigle, et. al. Best Current Practice [Page 1] RFC 3406 URN Namespace Definition Mechanisms October 2002 6.0 IANA Considerations ......................................... 9 7.0 References .................................................. 9 Appendix A -- URN Namespace Definition Template ................. 11 Appendix B -- Illustration ...................................... 15 B.1 Example Template ............................................ 15 B.2 Registration steps in practice .............................. 17 Appendix C -- Changes from RFC 2611 ............................. 18 C.1 Detailed Document Changes ................................... 19 Authors' Addresses .............................................. 21 Full Copyright Statement ........................................ 22 1.0 Introduction Uniform Resource Names (URNs) are resource identifiers with the specific requirements for enabling location independent identification of a resource, as well as longevity of reference. URNs are part of the larger Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) family [RFC3305] with the specific goal of providing persistent naming of resources. There are 2 assumptions that are key to this document: Assumption #1: Assignment of a URN is a managed process. I.e., not all strings that conform to URN syntax are necessarily valid URNs. A URN is assigned according to the rules of a particular namespace (in terms of syntax, semantics, and process). Assumption #2: The space of URN namespaces is managed. I.e., not all syntactically correct URN namespaces (per the URN syntax definition) are valid URN namespaces. A URN namespace must have a recognized definition in order to be valid. The purpose of this document is to outline a mechanism and provide a template for explicit namespace definition, as well as provide the mechanism for associating an identifier (called a "Namespace ID", or NID) which is registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Note that this document restricts itself to the description of processes for the creation of URN namespaces. If "resolution" of any so-created URN identifiers is desired, a separate process of registration in a global NID directory, such as that provided by the Daigle, et. al. Best Current Practice [Page 2] RFC 3406 URN Namespace Definition Mechanisms October 2002Show full document text