RFC 3421 (rfc3421) - Page 1 of 8


Select and Sort Extensions for the Service Location Protocol (SLP)



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



Network Working Group                                            W. Zhao
Request for Comments: 3421                                H. Schulzrinne
Category: Experimental                               Columbia University
                                                              E. Guttman
                                                        Sun Microsystems
                                                            C. Bisdikian
                                                               W. Jerome
                                                                     IBM
                                                           November 2002


   Select and Sort Extensions for the Service Location Protocol (SLP)

Status of this Memo

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

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document defines two extensions (Select and Sort) for the
   Service Location Protocol (SLP).  These extensions allow a User Agent
   (UA) to request that the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) entries in a
   Service Reply (SrvRply) be limited to the specified number, or be
   sorted according to the specified sort key list.  Using these two
   extensions together can facilitate discovering the best match, such
   as finding a service that has the maximum speed or the minimum load.

1. Introduction

   This document defines two extensions (Select and Sort) for SLP
   [RFC 2608].  These extensions allow a UA to request that the URL
   entries in a SrvRply be limited to the specified number, or be sorted
   according to the specified sort key list.  A Directory Agent (DA) or
   Service Agent (SA) that supports the Select and/or Sort extensions
   MUST include the attribute keyword "select-enabled" and/or "sort-
   enabled" in its advertisement (DAAdvert or SAAdvert).  A UA SHOULD
   check these attributes of the contacting DA/SA before it uses the
   Select and/or Sort extensions to query the DA/SA.






Zhao, et. al.                 Experimental