RFC 3238 (rfc3238) - Page 1 of 17
IAB Architectural and Policy Considerations for Open Pluggable Edge Services
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
Request for Comments: 3238 S. Floyd
Category: Informational L. Daigle
January 2002
IAB Architectural and Policy Considerations for
Open Pluggable Edge Services
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 (2002). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document includes comments and recommendations by the IAB on
some architectural and policy issues related to the chartering of
Open Pluggable Edge Services (OPES) in the IETF. OPES are services
that would be deployed at application-level intermediaries in the
network, for example, at a web proxy cache between the origin server
and the client. These intermediaries would transform or filter
content, with the explicit consent of either the content provider or
the end user.
1. Introduction
Open Pluggable Edge Services (OPES) are services that would be
deployed in the network, for example, at a web proxy cache between
the origin server and the client, that would transform or filter
content. Examples of proposed OPES services include assembling
personalized web pages, adding user-specific regional information to
web pages, virus scanning, content adaptation for clients with
limited bandwidth, language translation, and the like [OPES].
The question of chartering OPES in the IETF ([OPESBOF1], [OPESBOF2],
[OPESBOF3]) and the related controversy in the IETF community
([Carr01], [CDT01], [Morris01], [Orman01], [Routson01]) have raised
to the fore several architectural and policy issues about robustness
and the end-to-end integrity of data (in terms of the disparities
between what the "origin server" makes available and what the client
receives). In particular, questions have been raised about the
possible requirements, for a protocol to be developed and
IAB Informational