A Uniform RESTful URL Query Pattern for RIRsAmerican Registry for Internet Numbers3635 Concorde ParkwayChantillyVAUS20151andy@arin.nethttp://www.arin.netRIPE Network Coordination CentreSingel 258AmsterdamNL1016ABkranjbar@ripe.nethttp://www.ripe.netLatin American and Caribbean Internet Address RegistryRambla Republica de Mexico 6125MontevideoUY11300aservin@lacnic.nethttp://www.lacnic.netAsia Pacific Network Information Center6 Cordelia StreetSouth BrisbaneAustraliaQLD 4101bje@apnic.nethttp://www.apnic.net
This document describes uniform patterns for which to construct HTTP URLs
that may be used to retreive information from Regional Internet Registries (RIRs)
using "RESTful" web access patterns.
The Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) have begun experimenting with RESTful web services
for access to Whois data. This document presents uniform patterns which may be
used to contruct URLs for accessing data from these RESTful web services.
The patterns described in this document purposefully do not encompass all of the
methods employed in the Whois and RESTful web services of all of the RIRs. The
intent of the patterns described here are to enable lookups of networks by
IP address, autonomous system numbers by number, and reverse DNS meta-data
reverse DNS domain labels. It is envisioned that each RIR
will continue to maintain NICNAME/WHOIS and/or RESTful web services specific to
their needs and those of their constituencies, and the information retreived
through the patterns described here may reference such services.
Whois services, in general, are read-only services. Therefore URL patterns
presented here are only applicable to the HTTP
GET and HEAD methods.
This document does not describe the results or entities returned from issuing
the described URLs with an HTTP GET. It is envisioned that other documents will
describe these entities in various serialization formats, such as XML and JSON.
Additionally, resource management, provisioning and update functions are out of
scope for this document. RIRs have various and divergent methods covering these
functions, and it is unlikely a uniform approach for these functions will ever
be possible.
And while HTTP contains mechanisms for servers to authenticate clients and
clients to authenticate servers, from which authorization schemes may be built,
both authentication of clients and servers and authorization for access to data
are out-of-scope of this document. In general, these matters require "policy"
and are not the domain of technical standards bodies.
This document describes the URL patterns for a Number Resource Registry Data
Access Protocol (NRRD-AP) and describes a Registry Data Access Protocol (RD-AP)
adhering to , the intent
being a specification for number resource registries useful and in the style
similar to other registry access protocols, such as Domain Name Registry Access
Protocols (DNRP-AP).
The uniform patterns start with a base URL specified by each RIR or any other
service provider offering this service. The base URL will be appended with
resource type specific path segments. The base URL may contain its own
path segments (e.g. http://example.com/... or http://example.com/restful-whois/... ).
The resource type path segments are:
'ip' : IP networks and associated data referenced using either an
IPv4 or IPv6 address.'autnum' : Autonomous system registrations and associated data referenced
using an AS Plain autonomous system number.'rdns' : Reverse DNS information and associated data referenced
using a fully-qualified domain name.
Queries for information about IP networks are of the form /ip/XXX/... or /ip/XXX/YY/...
where the path segment following 'ip' is either an IPv4 or
IPv6 address (i.e. XXX) or
an IPv4 or IPv6 CIDR notation address block (i.e. XXX/YY).
Semantically, the simpler
form using the address can be thought of as a CIDR block with a length of 32 for IPv4
and a length of 128 for IPv6. A given specific address or CIDR may fall within multiple
IP networks in a hierarchy of networks, therefore this query targets the "most-specific"
or lowest IP network which completely encompasses it in a hierarchy of IP networks.
Path segments following the IP address or CIDR notation target specific information associated with the
targetted IP network in the following way:
'registration' : The query is for the network registration data.'operator' : The query is for data about the network operator of the IP
network. The network operator is not always considered to be the end user or end
site customer of the IP network, a distinction made in some cases. For example,
a residential Internet installation may be assigned IP addresses, but the provider
from whom they receive Internet access is considered the network operator. Another
rule of thumb is that the network operator is the entity contacted to coordinate
network issues and has published contact information for this purpose, and operator
information can be further decomposed into operator contact information, which
is returned with the 'operator' query when not specifically targetted (see below).
When no path segment follows the IP address, the semantics of the query are that
both registration and operator information are to be returned.
The contact information of an operator maybe specifically targetted by following it with
a 'contacts' path segment. And the type of contact information may be further targetted
by following that path segment with a type. The types are:
techadminabuse
Queries for information regarding autonomous system number registrations are of the form
/autnum/XXX/... where XXX is an autonomous system number. In some registries,
registration of autonomous system numbers is done on an individual number basis, while
other registries may register blocks of autonomous system numbers. The semantics of this
query is such that if a number falls within a range of registered blocks, the target of
the query is the block registration, and that individual number registrations are considered
a block of numbers with a size of 1.
The autnum path segment may be followed by a 'registration' or 'operator' path segment or
no additional path segment, all of which follow the semantics
above.
Queries for reverse DNS information are of the form /rdns/XXXXXXXXX/... where
XXXX is a fully-qualified domain name in either the in-addr.arpa or ip6.arpa zones.
The rdns path segment may be follwed by a 'registration' or 'operator' path segment or
no additional path segment, all of which follow the semantics in .
Internet ProtocolUniversity of Southern California (USC)/Information Sciences
Institute4676 Admiralty WayMarina del ReyCA90291USA Recommendation for IPv6 Address Text RepresentationAs IPv6 deployment increases, there will be a dramatic increase in the need to use IPv6 addresses in text. While the IPv6 address architecture in Section 2.2 of RFC 4291 describes a flexible model for text representation of an IPv6 address, this flexibility has been causing problems for operators, system engineers, and users. This document defines a canonical textual representation format. It does not define a format for internal storage, such as within an application or database. It is expected that the canonical format will be followed by humans and systems when representing IPv6 addresses as text, but all implementations must accept and be able to handle any legitimate RFC 4291 format. [STANDARDS-TRACK]Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1Department of Information and Computer
ScienceUniversity of California, IrvineIrvineCA92697-3425+1(949)824-1715fielding@ics.uci.eduWorld Wide Web ConsortiumMIT Laboratory for Computer Science, NE43-356545 Technology SquareCambridgeMA02139+1(617)258-8682jg@w3.orgCompaq Computer CorporationWestern Research Laboratory250 University AvenuePalo AltoCA94305mogul@wrl.dec.comWorld Wide Web ConsortiumMIT Laboratory for Computer Science, NE43-356545 Technology SquareCambridgeMA02139+1(617)258-8682frystyk@w3.orgXerox CorporationMIT Laboratory for Computer Science, NE43-3563333 Coyote Hill RoadPalo AltoCA94034masinter@parc.xerox.comMicrosoft Corporation1 Microsoft WayRedmondWA98052paulle@microsoft.comWorld Wide Web ConsortiumMIT Laboratory for Computer Science, NE43-356545 Technology SquareCambridgeMA02139+1(617)258-8682timbl@w3.org The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-level protocol
for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. It is a
generic, stateless, protocol which can be used for many tasks beyond its
use for hypertext, such as name servers and distributed object
management systems, through extension of its request methods, error
codes and headers . A feature of HTTP is the typing and negotiation of
data representation, allowing systems to be built independently of the
data being transferred. HTTP has been in use by the World-Wide Web global information initiative
since 1990. This specification defines the protocol referred to as
"HTTP/1.1", and is an update to RFC 2068 . Domain Name System (DNS) Case Insensitivity ClarificationDomain Name System (DNS) names are "case insensitive". This document explains exactly what that means and provides a clear specification of the rules. This clarification updates RFCs 1034, 1035, and 2181. [STANDARDS-TRACK]Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic SyntaxWorld Wide Web ConsortiumMassachusetts Institute of Technology77 Massachusetts AvenueCambridgeMA02139USA+1-617-253-5702+1-617-258-5999timbl@w3.orghttp://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Day Software5251 California Ave., Suite 110IrvineCA92617USA+1-949-679-2960+1-949-679-2972fielding@gbiv.comhttp://roy.gbiv.com/Adobe Systems Incorporated345 Park AveSan JoseCA95110USA+1-408-536-3024LMM@acm.orghttp://larry.masinter.net/
Applications
uniform resource identifierURIURLURNWWWresource
A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a compact sequence of characters
that identifies an abstract or physical resource. This specification
defines the generic URI syntax and a process for resolving URI references
that might be in relative form, along with guidelines and security
considerations for the use of URIs on the Internet.
The URI syntax defines a grammar that is a superset of all valid URIs,
allowing an implementation to parse the common components of a URI
reference without knowing the scheme-specific requirements of every
possible identifier. This specification does not define a generative
grammar for URIs; that task is performed by the individual
specifications of each URI scheme.
Classless Inter-domain Routing (CIDR): The Internet Address Assignment and Aggregation PlanThis memo discusses the strategy for address assignment of the existing 32-bit IPv4 address space with a view toward conserving the address space and limiting the growth rate of global routing state. This document obsoletes the original Classless Inter-domain Routing (CIDR) spec in RFC 1519, with changes made both to clarify the concepts it introduced and, after more than twelve years, to update the Internet community on the results of deploying the technology described. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.Textual Representation of Autonomous System (AS) NumbersA textual representation for Autonomous System (AS) numbers is defined as the decimal value of the AS number. This textual representation is to be used by all documents, systems, and user interfaces referring to AS numbers. [STANDARDS-TRACK]Using HTTP for RESTful Whois Services by Internet RegistriesThis document describes the use of HTTP in Whois services using RESTful web methodologies.