Internet DRAFT - draft-murdock-nato-nid

draft-murdock-nato-nid



Internet Draft                                             A. Murdock
Intended status: Informational                         NATO C&I Agency
Expires: July 5, 2015                               January 5, 2015

             URN Namespace for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
                       draft-murdock-nato-nid-03.txt


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Abstract

   This document allocates a formal Uniform Resource Name (URN)
   namespace for assignment by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
   (NATO), as specified in RFC 3406.  The current primary use is for
   uniquely identifying Extensible Markup Language (XML) artifacts




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   that provide information about NATO message text formats and
   service specifications as described in various NATO standards,
   instructions and publications. 


Table of Contents


   1. Introduction ................................................ 2
   2. Specification Template ...................................... 3
      2.1. Namespace ID ........................................... 3
      2.2. Registration Information ............................... 3
      2.3. Declared Registrant of the Namespace ................... 3
      2.4. Declaration of Syntactic Structure ..................... 3
      2.5. Relevant Ancillary Documentation ....................... 4
      2.6. Identifier Uniqueness Considerations ................... 5
      2.7. Identifier Persistence Considerations .................. 5
      2.8. Process of Identifier Assignment ....................... 5
      2.9. Process for Identifier Resolution ...................... 5
      2.10. Rules for Lexical Equivalence ......................... 5
      2.11. Conformance with URN Syntax ........................... 6
      2.12. Validation Mechanism .................................. 6
      2.13. Scope ................................................. 6
   3. Namespace Considerations .................................... 6
   4. Community Considerations .................................... 6
   5. Security Considerations ..................................... 7
   6. IANA Considerations ......................................... 7
   7. Conclusions ................................................. 7
   8. References .................................................. 7
      8.1. Normative References ................................... 7
      8.2. Informative References ................................. 8
   9. Acknowledgments ............................................. 8

1. Introduction

   Historically, NATO has used standardized character-oriented message
   text formats (MTF) to interoperate, report and exchange information
   both among its commands and with national entities, commercial
   partners and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).  These MTFs are
   generated using the NATO Message Text Formatting System (FORMETS) in
   accordance with the rules, constructions and vocabulary specified
   within the Allied Data Publication Number 3 (ADatP-3).  Almost 400
   NATO-defined messages that conform to ADatP-3 are contained in the
   Allied Procedural Publication Number 11 (APP-11) message catalogue [6].

   Prior to 2008 these messages were only available as slash delimited
   textual messages. Since 2008, the APP-11 message catalogue also
   includes XML-MTF definitions for these messages, giving rise to a
   need to define and manage a URN namespace to name the XML namespaces.
   To address this need, a request for a formal URN space type is being
   made as described in Section 4.3 of RFC 3406.


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2. Specification Template

2.1. Namespace ID

   The Namespace ID "nato" is requested.

2.2. Registration Information

   Version 1

   Date: 2014-09-11

2.3. Declared Registrant of the Namespace

   Registering Organization:

   North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

   Communications & Information Services Agency (NCIA)

   Address: SHAPE, 7010, Belgium

   Declared Contact:

   Role: NATO Naming and Addressing Authority (NRA)

   Email: nra@ncia.nato.int

2.4. Declaration of Syntactic Structure

   The Namespace Specific String (NSS) of all URNs that use the "nato"
   NID shall have the following structure:

   <URN> ::= "nato" ":" <NSS>

   <NSS> ::= <Type> | <Type> ":" <Source> |  <Type> ":" <Source> 1*( ":"
   <segment> )

   <Type> ::= 1*<non-colon chars>

   <Source> ::= 1*<non-colon chars>

   <segment>  ::= 1*<non-colon chars>

   <non-colon chars> ::= <non-colon trans> | "%" <hex> <hex>


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   <non-colon trans> ::= <upper> | <lower> | <number> | <non-colon
   other>

   <hex>         ::= <number> | "A" | "B" | "C" | "D" | "E" | "F" |
                     "a" | "b" | "c" | "d" | "e" | "f"

   <non-colon other> ::= "(" | ")" | "+" | "," | "-" | "." |
                     "=" | "@" | ";" | "$" |"_" | "!" | "*" | "'"

The "Type" is the top-level segment of the NSS.  It is a required US-
ASCII string, subject to the above syntax, that conforms to the URN
syntax requirements (see RFC 2141 [1]).  It identifies a particular
category or type of named resources, such as "mtf".

The "Source" is the second-level segment of the NSS, belonging to the
"Type" context.  At this time, not all "Type" segments have "Source"
children, making "Source" an optional US-ASCII string, subject to the
above syntax and conformant to the URN syntax requirements (see RFC 2141
[1]). "Source" identifies a particular standard, catalogue or other
source of relevant specifications.

The NATO Naming and Registration Authority (NRA) functions as a Local
Internet Registry under RIPE NCC and will also serve as the responsible
registrar for assigning the first two levels of segments within the NSS
("Type" and "Source").  The NRA may directly assign segments below these
levels of the namespace hierarchy, or delegate assignment
responsibilities for segments below the second level (i.e. below
"Source") at its discretion.  In either case, NRA will ensure a registry
of the resulting namespace is maintained.


2.5. Relevant Ancillary Documentation


   AdatP-3 - The message text format standard promulgated under STANAG
   5500 ed. 7

   The interim NATO Metadata Registry and Repository (NMRR) webpage can
   be found at https://nmrr.ncia.nato.int/home.htm




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2.6. Identifier Uniqueness Considerations

   The NRA, as registrar, shall directly assure the global uniqueness of
   the assigned strings. Though responsibility for administration of
   sub-trees may be delegated, these shall not be published to the
   registry or be requested to be resolved by any URN resolver until the
   uniqueness of the resulting urn:nato URN has been validated against
   the existing contents of the registry. URN identifiers shall be
   assigned to at most one resource and not reassigned.

2.7. Identifier Persistence Considerations

   The Registrar may assign URNs in sub-trees below the level of Type or
   Standard, but once registered, URNs shall not be re-assigned. Within
   the registry, their status as active or archive shall be recorded.

2.8. Process of Identifier Assignment

   A namespace specific string within the NATO namespace will only be
   assigned upon advancement of a relevant specification. The Registrar
   checks all requested identifiers against the existing registrations
   within urn:nato to ensure uniqueness and encourage relevance.

   The assignment may include delegated registration activities for the
   sub-tree if underpinned by supporting agreements. Otherwise, such
   responsibilities remain with the NRA as overarching Registrar.  In
   any case, the urn must be registered with appropriate metadata before
   an authorized request for URN resolution can be initiated (if
   necessary).

2.9. Process for Identifier Resolution

   The namespace is not currently listed with a Resolution Discovery
   System (RDS) [3]. In the future, URNs from this namespace may be
   resolved using a NATO listing in an RDS, using a third party listed
   resolver, using an unlisted private resolver, or some combination of
   these.  The resolution method for each segment will be registered
   with the NRA Registrar.

2.10. Rules for Lexical Equivalence

   No special considerations.  The rules for lexical equivalence
   specified in RFC 2141 apply.





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2.11. Conformance with URN Syntax

   No special considerations.

2.12. Validation Mechanism

   None specified. It will be conducted as part of the application for
   identifier registration as indicated in preceding paragraphs.

2.13. Scope

   Global.

3. Namespace Considerations

   In addition to the large number of XML message specifications that
   now exist in APP-11, there are other existing and emerging NATO
   standard messages expressed as XML, as well as ongoing Web service
   specification development.  With no single NID registered to NATO,
   some of these specifications may be established within locally
   relevant, self-generated URN namespaces.  Not only does this inhibit
   the portability and adoption intended by standards development [4],
   it risks name collisions when exposed to the global context of the
   federation of partners for which these messages are destined.

   The use of Uniform Resource Names with an appropriate Namespace ID
   will enable the various NATO standards committees and working groups
   [5] to use unique, relevant, reliable, permanent, managed and
   accessible namespace names for their XML products.

   A dedicated namespace also provides NATO the opportunity to leverage
   the use of URNs for persistent naming of non-XML resources.

4. Community Considerations

   The NATO standards development community, and those implementing such
   standards, will benefit from publication of this namespace by having
   more permanent and reliable names for the XML namespaces defined
   within STANAGs, the MTF catalogue (APP-11) and other published
   standards [4].

   Though these are NATO-published standards [4], they represent the
   consensus of multi-national working groups, are implemented in
   commercial products and used by partners within the international
   community.




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   In the case of MTF standards [5], the responsibility for its
   development and maintenance belongs to the NATO C3 Board's Message
   Text Formats (MFT) Capability Team [5].  This team is "open to all
   recognized NATO Partners around the Globe in principle. The term
   'Partners around the Globe' summarizes all partners that are listed
   on the NATO webpage: Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), NATO's
   Mediterranean Dialogue (MD), Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI)
   and Partners across the globe" [AC/322-N(2014)0091-AS1].



5. Security Considerations

   This document introduces no additional security considerations beyond
   those associated with the use and resolution of URNs in general.

   Distribution of NATO information in any form is subject to its
   security policies.  Nonetheless, this specification is for public use
   and not subject to any NATO security policies.

6. IANA Considerations

   This document defines a formal URN NID registration of "nato", which is
   requested to be entered into the IANA registry [Uniform Resource
   Names (URN) Namespaces].  Per RFC 3406 [2] Sec. 4.3, formal NIDs are assigned
   via IETF Consensus and are subject to IESG review and acceptance.  The
   registration template is given in section 2.


7. Conclusions

   It is necessary that NATO ensures its messages, service specifications
   and other XML artifacts are based in namespaces that can be described
   using unique, persistent and managed URNs.  Considering its role as an
   information broker between many disparate communities, this document
   recommends a formal namespace identifier (NID) urn:nato for Uniform
   Resource Names (URN) associated with NATO information products and
   vocabularies.

8. References

8.1. Normative References

   [1]  Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.

   [2]  Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R. and P. Faltstrom,
         "Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms",
         BCP 66, RFC 3406, October 2002.



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   [3]  Sollins, K., "Architectural Principles of Uniform Resource Name
         Resolution", RFC 2276, January 1998.

8.2. Informative References

   [4]  List of Current NATO Standards (publicly available hosted by
         NATO Standardization Office):
         http://nso.nato.int/nso/nsdd/listpromulg.html

   [5]  The Message Text Format Capability Team website:
         https://nhqc3s.hq.nato.int/Default.aspx

   [6]  APP-11 - the ADatP-3 message catalogue promulgated under NATO
        Standardization Agreement (STANAG) 7149 ed.5

   [AC/322-N(2014)0091-AS1] NATO notice which specifies that partners
             that have, or intend to introduce, systems interoperable
             with NATO MTFs may join the respective NATO working group,
             subject to the approval of the C3 Board.

   [Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespaces] This is the the Official
   IANA Registry of URN Namespaces located at:
   http://www.iana.org/assignments/urn-namespaces/urn-namespaces.xhtml


9. Acknowledgments

   The author acknowledges and appreciates the support and expertise
   provided by Nanda Kol, Ulrich Ritgen and the urn-nid review team.

   This document was prepared using 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot.



   Authors' Address

   Aidan Murdock
   NATO C&I Agency
   Core Enterprise Services
   Naming and Registration Authority
   SHAPE, Belgium
   7010

   Email: Aidan.murdock@ncia.nato.int










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