RFC 2972 (rfc2972) - Page 2 of 11

Context and Goals for Common Name Resolution

RFC 2972       Context & Goals for Common Name Resolution   October 2000


   for their resources are already being used elsewhere and therefore
   unavailable.  Common names are not URIs (Uniform Resource
   Identifiers) in that they lack the syntactic structure imposed by
   URIs; furthermore, unlike URNs, there is no requirement of uniqueness
   or persistence of the association between a common name and a
   resource.  These common names are expected to be used primarily by
   humans (as opposed to machine agents).

   Common name "resolution" is a process of mapping from common names to
   Internet resources; a Common Name Resolution Protocol (CNRP) is a
   network protocol used in such a process.

   A useful analogy for understanding the purpose and scope of common
   names, and CNRP, are everyday (human language) dictionaries.  These
   cover a given language (namespace) -- perhaps a spoken language, or
   some specific subset (e.g., technical terms, etc).  Some dictionaries
   give definitions, others give translations (e.g., to other
   languages).  Different entities publish dictionaries that cover the
   same language -- e.g., Larousse and Collins can both publish French-
   language dictionaries.  Thus, the dictionary publisher is the analog
   to the resolution service provider -- the service can provide a
   value-add and build up name recognition for itself, but does not
   impede other entities from providing definitions for precisely the
   same strings in the language.

   Services are arising that offer a mapping from common names to
   Internet resources (e.g., as identified by a URI).  These services
   often resolve common name categories such as company names, trade
   names, or common keywords.  Thus, such a resolution service may
   operate in one or a small number of categories or domains, or may
   expect the client to limit the resolution scope to a limited number
   of categories or domains.  For example, the phrase "Internet
   Engineering Task Force" is a common name in the "organization"
   category, as is "Moby Dick" in the book category.  A single common
   name may be associated with different data records, and more than one
   resolution service is expected to exist.  Any common name may be used
   in any resolution service.

   Two classes of clients of such services are being built: browser
   improvements and web accessible front-end services. Browser
   enhancements modify the "open" or "address" field of a browser so
   that a common name can be entered instead of a URL.  Internet search
   sites integrate common name resolution services as a complement to
   search. In both cases, these may be clients of back-end resolution
   services.  In the browser case, the browser must talk to a service
   that will resolve the common name. The search sites are accessed via





Popp, et al.                 Informational