RFC 3406 (rfc3406) - Page 2 of 22
Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 3406 URN Namespace Definition Mechanisms October 2002
6.0 IANA Considerations ......................................... 9
7.0 References .................................................. 9
Appendix A -- URN Namespace Definition Template ................. 11
Appendix B -- Illustration ...................................... 15
B.1 Example Template ............................................ 15
B.2 Registration steps in practice .............................. 17
Appendix C -- Changes from RFC 2611 ............................. 18
C.1 Detailed Document Changes ................................... 19
Authors' Addresses .............................................. 21
Full Copyright Statement ........................................ 22
1.0 Introduction
Uniform Resource Names (URNs) are resource identifiers with the
specific requirements for enabling location independent
identification of a resource, as well as longevity of reference.
URNs are part of the larger Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) family
[RFC 3305] with the specific goal of providing persistent naming of
resources.
There are 2 assumptions that are key to this document:
Assumption #1:
Assignment of a URN is a managed process.
I.e., not all strings that conform to URN syntax are necessarily
valid URNs. A URN is assigned according to the rules of a
particular namespace (in terms of syntax, semantics, and process).
Assumption #2:
The space of URN namespaces is managed.
I.e., not all syntactically correct URN namespaces (per the URN
syntax definition) are valid URN namespaces. A URN namespace must
have a recognized definition in order to be valid.
The purpose of this document is to outline a mechanism and provide a
template for explicit namespace definition, as well as provide the
mechanism for associating an identifier (called a "Namespace ID", or
NID) which is registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(IANA).
Note that this document restricts itself to the description of
processes for the creation of URN namespaces. If "resolution" of any
so-created URN identifiers is desired, a separate process of
registration in a global NID directory, such as that provided by the
Daigle, et. al. Best Current Practice