RFC 3650 (rfc3650) - Page 1 of 21

Handle System Overview

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Network Working Group                                             S. Sun
Request for Comments: 3650                                     L. Lannom
Category: Informational                                        B. Boesch
                                                                    CNRI
                                                           November 2003


                        Handle System Overview

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

IESG Note

   Several groups within the IETF and IRTF have discussed the Handle
   System and its relationship to existing systems of identifiers.  The
   IESG wishes to point out that these discussions have not resulted in
   IETF consensus on the described Handle System, nor on how it might
   fit into the IETF architecture for identifiers.  Though there has
   been discussion of handles as a form of URI, specifically as a URN,
   these documents describe an alternate view of how namespaces and
   identifiers might work on the Internet and include characterizations
   of existing systems which may not match the IETF consensus view.

Abstract

   This document provides an overview of the Handle System in terms of
   its namespace and service architecture, as well as its relationship
   to other Internet services such as DNS, LDAP/X.500, and URNs.  The
   Handle System is a general-purpose global name service that allows
   secured name resolution and administration over networks such as the
   Internet.  The Handle System manages handles, which are unique names
   for digital objects and other Internet resources.











Sun, et al.                  Informational
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