RFC 2169 (rfc2169) - Page 1 of 9

A Trivial Convention for using HTTP in URN Resolution

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Network Working Group                                       R. Daniel
Request for Comments: 2169             Los Alamos National Laboratory
Category: Experimental                                      June 1997


         A Trivial Convention for using HTTP in URN Resolution

Status of this Memo
===================

   This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any
   kind.  Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract:
=========

   The Uniform Resource Names Working Group (URN-WG) was formed to
   specify persistent, location-independent names for network accessible
   resources, as well as resolution mechanisms to retrieve the resources
   given such a name. At this time the URN-WG is considering one
   particular resolution mechanism, the NAPTR proposal [1]. That
   proposal specifies how a client may find a "resolver" for a URN. A
   resolver is a database that can provide information about the
   resource identified by a URN, such as the resource's location, a
   bibliographic description, or even the resource itself. The protocol
   used for the client to communicate with the resolver is not specified
   in the NAPTR proposal.  Instead, the NAPTR resource record provides a
   field that indicates the "resolution protocol" and "resolution
   service requests" offered by the resolver.

   This document specifies the "THTTP" resolution protocol - a trivial
   convention for encoding resolution service requests and responses as
   HTTP 1.0 or 1.1 requests and responses.  The primary goal of THTTP is
   to be simple to implement so that existing HTTP servers may easily
   add support for URN resolution. We expect that the databases used by
   early resolvers will be useful when more sophisticated resolution
   protocols are developed later.

1.0  Introduction:
==================

   The NAPTR specification[1] defined a new DNS resource record which
   may be used to discover resolvers for Uniform Resource Identifiers.
   That resource record provides the "services" field to specify the
   "resolution protocol" spoken by the resolver, as well as the
   "resolution services" it offers. Resolution protocols mentioned in



Daniel                        Experimental
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