RFC 1928 (rfc1928) - Page 1 of 9
SOCKS Protocol Version 5
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group M. Leech
Request for Comments: 1928 Bell-Northern Research Ltd
Category: Standards Track M. Ganis
International Business Machines
Y. Lee
NEC Systems Laboratory
R. Kuris
Unify Corporation
D. Koblas
Independent Consultant
L. Jones
Hewlett-Packard Company
March 1996
SOCKS Protocol Version 5
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Acknowledgments
This memo describes a protocol that is an evolution of the previous
version of the protocol, version 4 [1]. This new protocol stems from
active discussions and prototype implementations. The key
contributors are: Marcus Leech: Bell-Northern Research, David Koblas:
Independent Consultant, Ying-Da Lee: NEC Systems Laboratory, LaMont
Jones: Hewlett-Packard Company, Ron Kuris: Unify Corporation, Matt
Ganis: International Business Machines.
1. Introduction
The use of network firewalls, systems that effectively isolate an
organizations internal network structure from an exterior network,
such as the INTERNET is becoming increasingly popular. These
firewall systems typically act as application-layer gateways between
networks, usually offering controlled TELNET, FTP, and SMTP access.
With the emergence of more sophisticated application layer protocols
designed to facilitate global information discovery, there exists a
need to provide a general framework for these protocols to
transparently and securely traverse a firewall.
Leech, et al Standards Track