Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) Partial Response
draft-loffredo-regext-rdap-partial-response-00

Registration Protocols Extensions                            M. Loffredo
Internet-Draft                                             M. Martinelli
Intended status: Standards Track                     IIT-CNR/Registro.it
Expires: April 6, 2018                                   October 3, 2017

       Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) Partial Response
             draft-loffredo-regext-rdap-partial-response-00

Abstract

   The Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) does not include
   capabilities to request partial responses.  In fact, according to the
   user authorization, the server can only return full responses.
   Partial responses capability, especially in the case of search
   queries, could bring benefits to both clients and servers.  This
   document describes a RDAP query extension that allows clients to
   specify their preference for obtaining a partial response.

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 6, 2018.

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   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Approaches to partial response implementation . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  RDAP Path Segment Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Implementation Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     4.1.  IIT-CNR/Registro.it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   7.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9

1.  Introduction

   The use of partial response in RESTful API [REST] design is very
   common.  The rationale is quite simple: instead of returning objects
   in API responses with all data fields, only a subset is returned.
   The benefit is obvious: less data transferred over the network mean
   less bandwidth usage, faster server response, less CPU time spent
   both on the server and the client, as well as less memory usage on
   the client.

   Several leading APIs providers (e.g.  LinkedIn [LINKEDIN], Facebook
   [FACEBOOK], Google [GOOGLE]) implement the partial response feature
   by providing an optional query parameter by which users require the
   fields they wish to receive.  Partial response is also considered a
   leading principle by many best practices guidelines in REST APIs
   implementation ([REST-API1], [REST-API2]) in order to improve
   performance, save on bandwidth and possibly accelerate the overall
   interaction.  In other contexts, for example in digital libraries and
   bibliographic catalogues, servers can provide responses according to
   different element sets (i.e. "brief" to get back a short response and
   "full" to get back the complete response)

   Currently, RDAP does not provide a client with any way to request a
   partial response: the server can only provide the client with the
   full response ([RFC7483]).  Furthermore, servers cannot define the
   limits of the results according to partial responses and this causes
   strong inefficiencies.

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   The protocol described in this specification extends RDAP search
   capabilities to enable partial responses, by adding a new query
   parameter and using a RESTful web service.  The service is
   implemented using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) [RFC7230]
   and the conventions described in RFC 7480 [RFC7480].

   Impact on the current state of RDAP implementation is low.

1.1.  Conventions Used in This Document

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

2.  Approaches to partial response implementation

   Looking at the implementation experiences described above, two
   approaches to the implementation of partial response can be detected:

   o  the client declares explicitly the data fields to get back;

   o  the client declares a name identifying a server pre-defined set of
      data fields.

   The former is more flexible than the latter, because clients can
   specify all the data fields they need.  Anyway, it has some
   drawbacks:

   o  Fields have to be declared according to a given syntax.  This is a
      simple task when the data structure of the object is flat, but it
      is much more difficult when the object has a tree structure like
      the one of a JSON object.  The presence of arrays and deep nested
      objects contribute to complicate both the syntax definition of the
      query and, consequently, the processing phase on the server side.

   o  Clients should perfectly know the returned object to avoid cases
      when the required fields are not compliant with the object data
      structure.

   o  The request of some fields cannot match the user access levels.
      Clients could put unauthorized fields in their requests and
      servers should define a strategy for providing a response: to
      return always an error response or to return a response ignoring
      the unauthorized fields.

   The latter approach seems to facilitate RDAP interoperability.  In
   fact, servers can define some basic field sets which, if known to the
   clients, can increase the probability to get a valid response.  In

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   addition, the definition of pre-defined sets of fields makes easier
   to establish the results limits.

   Considering that there is not a real need for RDAP users to have the
   maximum flexibility in defining all the possible sets of logically
   connected fields (for example, users interested in domains usually
   need to know the status, the creation date, the expire date of each
   domain), the latter approach is preferred.

3.  RDAP Path Segment Specification

   The new query parameter is an OPTIONAL extension of search path
   segments defined in RFC 7482 [RFC7482].  The query parameter is
   "fieldSet" whose value is a string identifying a server pre-defined
   set of fields (Figure 1).  Values REQUIRED to be implemented are:

   o  id: the server provides only the "objectClassName" field and the
      field identifying the object ("handle" for entities, "ldhName" for
      domains and nameservers).  This field set can be used when the
      client wants to obtain a collection of object identifiers
      (Figure 2);

   o  brief: it contains the fields that can be included in a "short"
      response.  This field set can be used when the client is asking
      for a subset of the full response which gives a basic knowledge of
      each object;

   o  full: it contains all the information the server can provide for a
      particular object.

   Fields belonging to brief and full field sets should be provided
   according to users access levels.  Servers MAY implement additional
   field sets not included in the list above.  Servers SHOULD also
   define a "default" field set.

   https://example.com/rdap/domains?name=example*.com&fieldSet=id

       Figure 1: Example of RDAP search query reporting the fieldSet
                                 parameter

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   {
     "rdapConformance": [
           "rdap_level_0",
     ],
     ...
     "domainSearchResults": [
       {
         "objectClassName": "domain",
         "ldhName": "example1.com"
       },
       {
         "objectClassName": "domain",
         "ldhName": "example2.com"
       },
       ...
     ]
   }

    Figure 2: Example of RDAP response according to the "id" field set

4.  Implementation Status

   NOTE: Please remove this section and the reference to RFC 7942 prior
   to publication as an RFC.

   This section records the status of known implementations of the
   protocol defined by this specification at the time of posting of this
   Internet-Draft, and is based on a proposal described in RFC 7942
   [RFC7942].  The description of implementations in this section is
   intended to assist the IETF in its decision processes in progressing
   drafts to RFCs.  Please note that the listing of any individual
   implementation here does not imply endorsement by the IETF.
   Furthermore, no effort has been spent to verify the information
   presented here that was supplied by IETF contributors.  This is not
   intended as, and must not be construed to be, a catalog of available
   implementations or their features.  Readers are advised to note that
   other implementations may exist.

   According to RFC 7942, "this will allow reviewers and working groups
   to assign due consideration to documents that have the benefit of
   running code, which may serve as evidence of valuable experimentation
   and feedback that have made the implemented protocols more mature.
   It is up to the individual working groups to use this information as
   they see fit".

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4.1.  IIT-CNR/Registro.it

      Responsible Organization: Institute of Informatics and Telematics
      of National Research Council (IIT-CNR)/Registro.it

      Location: https://rdap.pubtest.nic.it/

      Description: This implementation includes support for RDAP queries
      using data from the public test environment of .it ccTLD.  The
      RDAP server does not implement any security policy because data
      returned by this server are only for experimental testing
      purposes.

      Level of Maturity: This is a "proof of concept" research
      implementation.

      Coverage: This implementation includes all of the features
      described in this specification.

      Contact Information: Mario Loffredo, mario.loffredo@iit.cnr.it

5.  Security Considerations

   Search query typically requires more server resources (such as
   memory, CPU cycles, and network bandwidth) when compared to lookup
   query.  This increases the risk of server resource exhaustion and
   subsequent denial of service due to abuse.  Partial response can
   contribute together with other strategies (e.g. restricting search
   functionality, limiting the rate of search requests, truncating and
   paging results) to mitigate this risk.

   Furthermore, partial response can help RDAP operators to regulate
   access control based on client identification, implemented by HTTP
   basic or digest authentication as described in RFC 7481 [RFC7481] or
   by a federated authentication system
   ([I-D.hollenbeck-regext-rdap-openid]).  In fact, RDAP operators can
   follow different, not alternative, approaches to the building of
   responses according to the user access levels:

   o  the list of fields for each set (except "id") can be different
      according to the user access levels.  At present, this is already
      implemented for the full response, but it could be done also for
      the other defined field sets.  In some cases, it might happen that
      brief and full field sets are exactly the same;

   o  some field sets could be available only to some users.  In this
      case, servers could define additional field sets to those

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      indicated above ("id", "brief", "full"), making them available
      only to users with specific access levels.

   Servers can also define different results limits according to the
   available field sets, so a more flexible truncation strategy can be
   realized and users can take advantage of a more efficient results
   paging implementation
   ([I-D.loffredo-regext-rdap-sorting-and-paging]).

   Therefore, the new parameter presented in this document provide the
   RDAP operators with a way to implement a secure server without
   penalizing its efficiency.

6.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no actions for IANA.

7.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to acknowledge Scott Hollenbeck for his
   contribution to this document.

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC7230]  Fielding, R., Ed. and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext Transfer
              Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Message Syntax and Routing",
              RFC 7230, DOI 10.17487/RFC7230, June 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7230>.

   [RFC7480]  Newton, A., Ellacott, B., and N. Kong, "HTTP Usage in the
              Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)", RFC 7480,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7480, March 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7480>.

   [RFC7481]  Hollenbeck, S. and N. Kong, "Security Services for the
              Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)", RFC 7481,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7481, March 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7481>.

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   [RFC7482]  Newton, A. and S. Hollenbeck, "Registration Data Access
              Protocol (RDAP) Query Format", RFC 7482,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7482, March 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7482>.

   [RFC7483]  Newton, A. and S. Hollenbeck, "JSON Responses for the
              Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)", RFC 7483,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7483, March 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7483>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [FACEBOOK]
              facebook.com, "facebook for developers - Using the Graph
              API", July 2017.

   [GOOGLE]   google.com, "Making APIs Faster: Introducing Partial
              Response and Partial Update", March 2010.

   [I-D.hollenbeck-regext-rdap-openid]
              Hollenbeck, S., "Federated Authentication for the
              Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) using OpenID
              Connect", draft-hollenbeck-regext-rdap-openid-04 (work in
              progress), August 2017.

   [I-D.loffredo-regext-rdap-sorting-and-paging]
              Loffredo, M., Martinelli, M., and S. Hollenbeck,
              "Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) Query Parameters
              for Result Sorting and Paging", draft-loffredo-regext-
              rdap-sorting-and-paging-00 (work in progress), May 2017.

   [LINKEDIN]
              linkedin.com, "Java One 2009: Building Consistent RESTful
              APIs in a High Performance Environment", July 2009.

   [REST]     Fielding, R., "Architectural Styles and the Design of
              Network-based Software Architectures", 2000.

   [REST-API1]
              Jobinesh, P., "RESTful Java Web Services - Second
              Edition", September 2015.

   [REST-API2]
              Masse, M., "REST API Design Rulebook", October 2011.

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   [RFC7942]  Sheffer, Y. and A. Farrel, "Improving Awareness of Running
              Code: The Implementation Status Section", BCP 205,
              RFC 7942, DOI 10.17487/RFC7942, July 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7942>.

Authors' Addresses

   Mario Loffredo
   IIT-CNR/Registro.it
   Via Moruzzi,1
   Pisa  56124
   IT

   Email: mario.loffredo@iit.cnr.it
   URI:   http://www.iit.cnr.it

   Maurizio Martinelli
   IIT-CNR/Registro.it
   Via Moruzzi,1
   Pisa  56124
   IT

   Email: maurizio.martinelli@iit.cnr.it
   URI:   http://www.iit.cnr.it

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