RFC 3205 (rfc3205) - Page 1 of 14
On the use of HTTP as a Substrate
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group K. Moore
Request for Comments: 3205 University of Tennessee
BCP: 56 February 2002
Category: Best Current Practice
On the use of HTTP as a Substrate
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
Recently there has been widespread interest in using Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP) as a substrate for other applications-level
protocols. This document recommends technical particulars of such
use, including use of default ports, URL schemes, and HTTP security
mechanisms.
1. Introduction
Recently there has been widespread interest in using Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP) [1] as a substrate for other applications-
level protocols. Various reasons cited for this interest have
included:
o familiarity and mindshare,
o compatibility with widely deployed browsers,
o ability to reuse existing servers and client libraries,
o ease of prototyping servers using CGI scripts and similar
extension mechanisms,
o ability to use existing security mechanisms such as HTTP digest
authentication [2] and SSL or TLS [3],
o the ability of HTTP to traverse firewalls, and
o cases where a server often needs to support HTTP anyway.
Moore Best Current Practice