INTERNET-DRAFT L. Gilbert Document: draft-gilbert-srb-uri-00.txt SDSC Expires: Sept 2004 April 2004 Storage Resource Broker URI Scheme Registration draft-gilbert-srb-uri-00.txt Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is subject to all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. 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." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This document is the Storage Resource Broker (SRB) group recommendation for a SRB Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) which may be used to resolve the address of a network entity to which SRB calls may be directed. This document is published as an Internet Draft for ease of access and registration with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). SRB Expires: Sept 2004 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Storage Resource Broker URI 15 March 2004 1. Introduction This document introduces the SRB Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), which may be used to resolve the address of a network entity to which SRB calls may be directed. Having the URI registered with IANA will ensure that there is no duplication of the URI scheme "srb". 2. URI Scheme Syntax Definition and Character Encoding 2.1 General Syntax For ease of use, the srb URI has been modeled on the http URI [1]. The only change being the addition of the mdas zone and domain name as part of the userinfo. srb:// [username.mdasdomain [.zone] [:password] @] host [:port] [/path] where square brackets [...] delineate optional components, the characters :, /, @, and . stand for themselves, and spaces should be ignored. If the optional port number is not included, the default port 5544 will be used. 2.2 ABNF Grammar The SRB URI is defined in ABNF as shown below. Note that it utilizes the Core Rules specified in section 6.1 of [2]. SRB-URI = "srb://" address [ abs_path ] address = [ accountinfo "@" ] hostport accountinfo = userinfo [ ":" password ] userinfo = username "." mdasdomain [ "." zone ] username = 1*(alphanum / "-" / "_" / escaped) mdasdomain = 1*(alphanum / "-" / "_" / escaped) zone = 1*(alphanum / "-" / "_" / escaped) password = 1*(unreserved / escaped) hostport = host [ ":" port ] host = hostname / IPv4address / IPv6reference hostname = *( domainlabel "." ) toplabel [ "." ] domainlabel = alphanum / alphanum *( alphanum / "-" ) alphanum toplabel = ALPHA / ALPHA *( alphanum / "-" ) alphanum IPv4address = 1*3DIGIT "." 1*3DIGIT "." 1*3DIGIT "." 1*3DIGIT IPv6reference = ; as specified in RFC2732 [3] port = 1*DIGIT abs_path = ; as specified in RFC2396 [4] alphanum = ALPHA / DIGIT escaped = "%" HEXDIG HEXDIG The host is case insensitive. The "username", "mdasdomain","password", "fsegment" and "segment" are Unicode [3] strings that shall be UTF-8 [4] encoded and then escaped as necessary. In those fields, all characters are case sensitive. SRB Expires: Sept 2004 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Storage Resource Broker URI 15 March 2004 3. Intended Usage The SRB URI is intended to help an entity resolve the address of another SRB entity, where an "entity" may be a user, a device, or a service. The "accountinfo" portion of the URL specifies an alias for the entity, without carrying any information about the location of the entity. The "hostport", on the other hand, is the domain name of an Endpoint, Gatekeeper, Border Element, or other functional element to which SRB calls may be directed or for which services may be performed. 4. Applications and/or protocols, which may use SRB URI scheme SRB URIs may be carried by other protocols. SRB URIs may be also contained within web pages or within XML data, which may be utilized by SRB entities in order to initiate calls or perform services. 5. Acknowledgments This document is prepared and posted on behalf of the Storage Resource Broker group at SDSC. 6. Security Considerations The basic authentication scheme is a non-secure method of filtering unauthorized access to resources on an SRB server. It does not prevent the Entity-Body from being transmitted in clear text across the physical network used as the carrier. It is based on the assumption that the connection between the client and the server can be regarded as a trusted carrier. As this is not generally true on an open network, the basic authentication scheme should be used accordingly. In spite of this, clients should implement the scheme in order to communicate with servers that use it. The SRB URI does not prevent additional authentication schemes and encryption mechanisms from being employed to increase security. [1] When an SRB URI is carried within SRB messages, security is addressed by the SRB security framework. When an SRB URI is carried within other protocols, the security is addressed within the corresponding protocol. In general, security, as it relates to the usage and carriage of the SRB URIs, is considered as an issue that should be addressed within scope of SRB or other relevant protocols and is not within the scope of this document. [6] 7. IANA Considerations The purpose of this document is to serve as a reference point for registering the SRB URI scheme with IANA. This will ensure that there is no duplication of the URI scheme "srb". SRB Expires: Sept 2004 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Storage Resource Broker URI 15 March 2004 Registration Template URI scheme name: srb URI scheme syntax: Section 2 of this document Character encoding considerations: Section 2 of this document Intended usage: Section 3 of this document Applications and/or protocols which use this scheme: Section 4 of this document Interoperability considerations: None. (Section 2 of this document contains the first version of "srb" URI definition.) Security considerations: Section 6 of this document Relevant publications: Rajasekar, A., Wan, M., Moore, R., Schroeder, W., Kremenek, G., Jagatheesan, A., Cowart, C., Zhu, B. Chen, S., & Olschanowsky R., (2003). Storage Resource Broker - Managing Distributed Data in a Grid. Journal of the CSI, 33(4), 42-54. Contact: Lucas Ammon Gilbert, iktome@sdsc.edu 8. Informative References [1] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and H. Frystyk, "Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.0", RFC 1945, May 1996. [2] Crocker, D., Editor, and P. Overell "Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997. [3] Hinden, R., Carpenter, B. and L. Masinter, "Format for Literal IPv6 Addresses in URL's", RFC 2732, December 1999. [4] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396, August 1998. [4] ISO/IEC 10646-1:1993, Information technology "Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (USC)" Part 1: Architecture and Basic Multilingual Plane. [5] Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646", RFC 2279, January 1998. [6] Levin, O., "H.323 Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Scheme Registration", RFC 3508, April 2003. SRB Expires: Sept 2004 [Page 4] Internet-Draft Storage Resource Broker URI 15 March 2004 Author's Address Lucas Ammon Gilbert University of California, San Diego San Diego Supercomputer Center 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0505 La Jolla, CA 92093-0505 Phone: +1-858-822-3608 EMail: iktome@sdsc.edu SRB Expires: Sept 2004 [Page 5]