Handle System Overview
RFC 3650
| Document | Type | RFC - Informational (November 2003; Errata) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last updated | 2015-10-14 | ||
| Stream | ISE | ||
| Formats | plain text pdf html bibtex | ||
| Stream | ISE state | (None) | |
| Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
| IESG | IESG state | RFC 3650 (Informational) | |
| Telechat date | |||
| Responsible AD | Ted Hardie | ||
| IESG note |
It is suggested that these go forward with the following IESG Note attached (originally drafted by Patrik): IESG NOTE: The IETF and IRTF have discussed the Handle system in the realm of URI-related work. The IESG wishes to point out that there is no IETF consensus on the current Handle system nor on where it fits in the IETF architecture. The IESG is of the view that the Handle system would be able to, with very small changes, fit into the IETF architecture as a URN namespace. These documents, however, contain information on the Handle system without these changes. |
||
| Send notices to | (None) | ||
Network Working Group S. Sun
Request for Comments: 3650 L. Lannom
Category: Informational B. Boesch
CNRI
November 2003
Handle System Overview
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 (2003). All Rights Reserved.
IESG Note
Several groups within the IETF and IRTF have discussed the Handle
System and its relationship to existing systems of identifiers. The
IESG wishes to point out that these discussions have not resulted in
IETF consensus on the described Handle System, nor on how it might
fit into the IETF architecture for identifiers. Though there has
been discussion of handles as a form of URI, specifically as a URN,
these documents describe an alternate view of how namespaces and
identifiers might work on the Internet and include characterizations
of existing systems which may not match the IETF consensus view.
Abstract
This document provides an overview of the Handle System in terms of
its namespace and service architecture, as well as its relationship
to other Internet services such as DNS, LDAP/X.500, and URNs. The
Handle System is a general-purpose global name service that allows
secured name resolution and administration over networks such as the
Internet. The Handle System manages handles, which are unique names
for digital objects and other Internet resources.
Sun, et al. Informational [Page 1]
RFC 3650 Handle System Overview November 2003
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Motivations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. Handle Namespace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. Handle System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5. Handle System Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6. The Handle System and other Internet Services. . . . . . . . . 12
6.1. Domain Name Service (DNS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.2. Directory Services (X.500/LDAP). . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.3. Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)/Uniform Resource Name
(URN). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.1. General Security Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.2. Privacy Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7.3. Caching and Proxy Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7.4. Mirroring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
7.5. Denial of Service (DoS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8. History of the Handle System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10. References and Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
11. Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
12. Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1. Introduction
This document provides an overview of the Handle System, a
distributed information system designed to provide an efficient,
extensible, and secured global name service for use on networks such
as the Internet. The Handle System includes an open protocol, a
namespace, and a reference implementation of the protocol. The
protocol enables a distributed computer system to store names, or
handles, of digital resources and resolve those handles into the
information necessary to locate, access, and otherwise make use of
the resources. These associated values can be changed as needed to
reflect the current state of the identified resource without changing
the handle. This allows the name of the item to persist over changes
of location and other current state information. Each handle may
have its own administrator(s) and administration can be done in a
distributed environment. The Handle System supports secured handle
resolution. Security services such as data confidentiality, data
integrity, and non-repudiation are provided upon client request.
The Handle System provides a confederated name service that allows
any existing local namespace to join the global handle namespace by
obtaining a unique Handle System naming authority. Local names and
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