rfc1714.txt

著名的RFC文档,其中有一些文档是已经翻译成中文的的.

Network Working Group                                      S. Williamson
Request for Comments: 1714                                    M. Kosters
Category: Informational                           Network Solutions Inc.
                                                                InterNIC
                                                           November 1994


                    Referral Whois Protocol (RWhois)

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This memo describes version 1.0 of the client/server interaction of
   RWhois.  RWhois provides a distributed system for the display of
   hierarchical information.  This system is hierarchical by design,
   allowing for the reduction of a query, and the referral of the user
   closer to the maintainer of the information.

Table of Contents

     1.   Introduction................................... 3
     2.   RWhois Client Model............................ 5
       2.1  Directives:  Client to Server Interaction ... 6
       2.2  Required Directives ......................... 6
          2.2.1 <query>.................................. 6
          2.2.2 RWhois................................... 7
       2.3  Optional Directives ......................... 7
          2.3.1 load..................................... 7
          2.3.2 limit.................................... 7
          2.3.3 schema................................... 8
          2.3.4 xfer..................................... 8
          2.3.5 quit..................................... 9
          2.3.6 status................................... 9
          2.3.7 cache.................................... 9
          2.3.8 holdconnect..............................10
          2.3.9 forward..................................10
          2.3.10 soa.....................................11
          2.3.11 notify..................................11
          2.3.12 register................................13
          2.3.13 object..................................14
          2.3.14 define..................................15
          2.3.15 private.................................15
          2.3.16 X-......................................16



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RFC 1714            Referral Whois Protocol (RWhois)       November 1994


          2.3.17 directive...............................17
          2.3.18 display.................................17
          2.3.19 language................................18
       2.4  RWhois Client Model .........................18
     3.   RWhois Server Model............................20
       3.1  Output Display and Restriction Keywords .....20
       3.2  Responses:  Server to Client Interaction ....21
       3.3  Required Responses ..........................22
          3.3.1 RWhois...................................22
          3.3.2 referral.................................22
          3.3.3 ok.......................................24
          3.3.4 error....................................24
       3.4  Optional Responses ..........................25
          3.4.1 see-also.................................25
          3.4.2 load.....................................26
          3.4.3 soa......................................26
          3.4.4 status...................................28
          3.4.5 xfer.....................................29
          3.4.6 schema...................................30
          3.4.7 define...................................32
          3.4.8 object...................................32
          3.4.9 directive................................33
          3.4.10 info....................................34
          3.4.11 display.................................34
          3.4.12 X-......................................35
          3.4.13 language................................35
       3.5  Query Reduction .............................36
       3.6  Determining Authority .......................36
       3.7  Secondary Server Interaction ................37
       3.8  Registration Process ........................38
       3.9  Out-of-Service ..............................38
     4.   Interaction:  Client Directives and Acceptable
          Server Responses...............................39
       4.1 General ......................................39
       4.2 On Connection ................................39
       4.3 <QUERY> ......................................39
       4.4 -RWhois ......................................40
       4.5 -load ........................................40
       4.6 -limit<SP>< value > ..........................40
       4.7 -schema<SP>[object] ..........................40
       4.8 -xfer<SP>[object] ............................40
       4.9 -quit ........................................40
       4.10 -cache<SP><on/off> ..........................40
       4.11 -status .....................................40
       4.12 -forward ....................................40
       4.13 -soa ........................................40
       4.14 -notify .....................................41
       4.15 -register ...................................41



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RFC 1714            Referral Whois Protocol (RWhois)       November 1994


       4.16 -holdconnect ................................41
       4.17 -object .....................................41
       4.18 -define .....................................41
       4.19 -X- .........................................41
       4.20 -display ....................................41
       4.21 -language ...................................41
     5.   Error Codes....................................42
       5.1  Error Code List .............................42
     6.   Attribute Format...............................43
       6.1  Format Specification Macros .................44
     7.   Quick Query (RWhois using UDP).................45
     8.   References.....................................46
     9.   Security Considerations....................... 46
     10.  Authors' Addresses.............................46

1.  Introduction

   Early in ARPANET development, the SRI-NIC established a centralized
   whois database that provided host and network information about the
   systems connected to the network and the E-mail addresses of the
   users on those systems.  The ARPANET experiment has evolved into a
   global network with countless people and hundreds of thousands of end
   systems.  Given the sheer size and effort needed to maintain a
   centralized database, an alternate, decentralized approach to store
   and display this information is desired.

   The Internet portions of the DDN NIC have been transitioned to what
   is now known as InterNIC Registration Services (RS).  The charter for
   InterNIC RS has been reduced to maintain information only for IP
   networks, top-level domains, Autonomous System Numbers, and the
   points of contact for each of these particular entities.  In
   addition, the InterNIC, in its role as an Internet Registry (IR), has
   delegated IP block assignment authority to Regional Registries such
   as the RIPE NCC for Europe and the APNIC for the Asian Pacific
   region, while retaining authority for North America and all non-
   delegated regions.  This has led to a fragmentation of whois service
   to the Internet user.

   Several different solutions have been proposed and developed by the
   various regional IR's.  Two solutions have been worked on
   extensively:  the Shared Whois Project (SWIP) and X.500.

   The SWIP project has a common exchange format that can be parsed by
   the various IR's for input and output.  Thus, one can synchronize
   their databases with information obtained from the other IR's.  This
   project is showing promise and is now operational.  However, this
   approach still requires a centralized database for store and display.




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RFC 1714            Referral Whois Protocol (RWhois)       November 1994


   The InterNIC has also been involved in the use of X.500 for display
   of registration information.  Among other things, this included
   defining schemas and Directory information tree structures for the
   purpose of distributing information amongst the various IR X.500
   Directory Service Agents (DSA).  Unfortunately, X.500's complexity,
   resource utilization, and lack of Internet support has made a search
   for an alternative solution necessary.

   The information that the various IR's maintain is inherently
   hierarchical in nature.  (Examples: hammer.nic.ddn.mil is under the
   nic.ddn.mil domain which is under the ddn.mil domain which is under
   the .mil domain. 198.41.0.21 is part of network 198.41.0.0/24 which
   is part of the block 198.41.0.0/16 which is part of the block
   198.0.0.0/8)  The InterNIC may not have the information, but will at
   least be able to reduce the query and point or refer the users closer
   to their goal.  This has led to the development of a referral whois,
   and the corresponding RWhois protocol.

   The underlying premise for this project has been to retain the basic
   functionality of the whois server and client, making all of the
   extensions optional.  The server must respond to the original whois
   client, currently included with many operating systems.  The RWhois
   client must also interact with RFC 954 [RFC-954] whois servers.

   RWhois has been designed as an extensible protocol to ensure that
   many uses can be accommodated.  Public extensions to the protocol
   should be documented as RFCs.  Private extensions can be used with
   agreement left up to the client and server.

   If extensions are not implemented at the server in question, an
   appropriate error message must be sent.  The use of extended error
   message is outlined in Section 5 - Error Codes.

   Throughout this document the following notations will be used to
   describe the RWhois server/client interaction:

     <SP>      space
     [arg]     optional argument
     <arg>     required argument
     (<arg>)   conditional required argument
     ([arg])   conditional optional argument
     {format}  format of item
     \         continued on next line

   The words should and must are significant in this document.  If
   should is used, the implementor has the option to follow the advice
   of this document.  If must is used then it is a required part of the
   protocol.  Implementations without this functionality may not



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RFC 1714            Referral Whois Protocol (RWhois)       November 1994


   interact correctly with other RWhois servers.

   The format descriptions throughout this document use macro
   definitions described in Section 6.1.  Refer to that section for
   clarification.

   The RWhois protocol specified in this document can be extended to
   accommodate such applications as NetHelp and ZoneGen (DNS zone
   generator).

2.  RWhois Client Model

   The RWhois design requires compatibility with the current Whois and
   Whois++ servers.  Therefore, the RWhois client must wait or have
   knowledge of server type to determine if the server contacted is an
   RWhois server.  The user should have control over the time the client
   waits, since this will vary based on network congestion and capacity.
   If after the wait the server does not respond with the %RWhois
   response, the client must not send any RWhois extended directives.

   In this case, the client should only send the query.  We realize that
   the server identification feature may mean that the identity of an
   RWhois server may be missed.  However, it will allow the RWhois
   system to utilize the current Whois and Whois++ infrastructure.
   Referrals from RWhois can be directed toward a Whois or Whois++
   server.  These non-RWhois servers must be placed as a leaf on the
   hierarchical tree.  These servers represent a mesh structure from the
   RWhois perspective.  This restriction should not discourage the use
   of these servers in building the RWhois structure.

   The RWhois server must remain connected until a query is received.
   If the client wishes to make multiple queries it must send the
   -holdconnect directive.  In this mode, once the client has sent the
   last query and received either an answer or the error code indicating
   that no records were found, it must issue the -quit directive.  If
   the client only wishes to issue directives, then upon completion the
   -quit directive must be sent.  If it is not sent, the server will
   wait until it receives non-directive input from the client.

   Considering the requirement for compatibility with the original
   whois, the RWhois client in default mode must operate exactly like
   the current Whois client.  However, in the enhanced mode, the RWhois
   client can do much more based on information received from the RWhois
   server.







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RFC 1714            Referral Whois Protocol (RWhois)       November 1994


2.1  Directives:  Client to Server Interaction

   The RWhois client sends directives to the RWhois server. These
   directives are prefaced with the `-' character always at the start of
   a new line.  However, for compatibility with older Whois clients, the
   query is not prefaced with the `-' character. Only after the client
   is certain that the server is an RWhois server should these
   directives be sent.  Compatibility with RFC 954 [RFC-954] whois
   servers is required.  All directives must be terminated by <LF><CR>.

2.2  Required Directives

   The following are required RWhois client directives.

2.2.1 <query>

   The query is generally the final directive sent to the server.  It is
   the only directive that does not start with a `-'.  The query is the
   question that the client wants the server to answer.  The qualifiers
   that may proceed the query are addressed in Section 3.1 - Output
   Display and Restriction Keywords.

   Format for use:

   [display format]<SP>[query restriction]<SP><query>

   [Display format]{%s}     This optional pre-query directive allows
                            the requester to select the format of
                            the returned data.  Details of the
                            allowable values can be found in Section
                            3.1.

   [Query restriction]{%s}  This optional pre-query directive allows
                            the requester to limit the area in which
                            the servers search for a specific
                            object.

   Example of use:

   dump domain netsol.com











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RFC 1714            Referral Whois Protocol (RWhois)       November 1994


2.2.2 RWhois

   The -RWhois directive identifies the client as an RWhois client
   allowing the server to operate using the RWhois protocol exclusively.

   Format for use:

   -RWhois<SP>V-<spec version #><SP>[imp identifier]

   <Spec version #>{%2d.%2d}     This required argument identifies
                                 the specification version that the
                                 client is built to conform with.
                                 Clients that are built in
                                 accordance with this document are
                                 V-1.0.  This argument will be used
                                 by the server to determine if
                                 features introduced in subsequent
                                 releases of the protocol document
                                 may be used.

   [Imp identifier]{%s}  This optional argument identifies client
                         implementation information.  It is
                         recommended that the implementor maintain a
                         version number separate from the
                         specification version.

   Example of use:

   -RWhois V-1.0 [InterNIC B.0.9.7]

2.3  Optional Directives

   The following are OPTIONAL RWhois server directives.