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Network Working Group                                      S. WilliamsonRequest for Comments: 2167                                    M. KostersObsoletes: RFC1714                                            D. BlackaCategory: Informational                                         J. Singh                                                             K. Zeilstra                                                 Network Solutions, Inc.                                                               June 1997Referral Whois (RWhois) Protocol V1.5Status 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 1.5 of the client/server interaction of   RWhois.  RWhois provides a distributed system for the discovery,   retrieval, and maintenance of directory information. This system is   primarily hierarchical by design. It allows for the deterministic   routing of a query based on hierarchical tags, referring the user   closer to the maintainer of the information. While RWhois can be   considered a generic directory services protocol, it distinguishes   itself from other protocols by providing an integrated, hierarchical   architecture and query routing mechanism.1. Introduction   Early in the development of the ARPANET, the SRI-NIC established a   centralized Whois database that provided host and network information   about the systems connected to the network and the electronic mail   (email) addresses of the users on those systems [RFC 954]. The   ARPANET experiment evolved into a global network, the Internet, with   countless people and hundreds of thousands of end systems. The sheer   size and effort needed to maintain a centralized database   necessitates an alternate, decentralized approach to storing and   retrieving this information.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 1]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   The original Whois function was to be a central directory of   resources and people on ARPANET. However, it could not adequately   meet the needs of the expanded Internet. RWhois extends and enhances   the Whois concept in a hierarchical and scaleable fashion. In   accordance with this, RWhois focuses primarily on the distribution of   "network objects", or the data representing Internet resources or   people, and uses the inherently hierarchical nature of these network   objects (domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) networks, email   addresses) to more accurately discover the requested information.   RWhois synthesizes concepts from other, established Internet   protocols. The RWhois protocol and architecture derive a great deal   of structure from the Domain Name System (DNS) [RFC 1034] and borrow   directory service concepts from other directory service efforts,   primarily [X.500]. The protocol is also influenced by earlier   established Internet protocols, such as the Simple Mail Transport   Protocol (SMTP) [RFC 821].   This RWhois specification defines both a directory access protocol   and a directory architecture. The directory access protocol   specifically describes the syntax of the client/server interaction.   It describes how an RWhois client can search for data on an RWhois   server, or how the client can modify data on the server. It also   describes how the server is to interpret input from the client, and   how the client should interpret the results returned by the server.   The architecture portion of this document describes the conceptual   framework behind the RWhois protocol. It details the concepts upon   which the protocol is based and describes its structural elements.   The protocol implements the architecture.   This document uses language like SHOULD and SHALL that have special   meaning as specified in "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate   Requirement Levels". [RFC2119]Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 2]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19972. Architecture2.1 Overview   As a directory service, RWhois is a distributed database, where data   is split across multiple servers to keep database sizes manageable.   The architecture portion of this document details the concepts upon   which the protocol is based and describes its structural elements.   Specifically, the architecture is concerned with how the data is   split across the different servers. The basis of this splitting is   the lexically hierarchical label (or tag), which is a text string   whose position in a hierarchy can be determined from the structure of   the string itself.   All data can follow some sort of hierarchy, even if the hierarchy   seems somewhat arbitrary. For example, person names can be arranged   into hierarchical groups via geography. If all the people in   particular towns are grouped into town groups, then all of the town   groups can be grouped into state (or province) groups, and then all   of the state groups can be grouped into a country group. Then, a   particular name would belong in a town group, a state group, and a   country group. However, just given a name, it would be impossible to   determine where in the hierarchy it belongs.  Therefore, a person   name is not lexically hierarchical.   However, there are certain types of data whose position in the   hierarchy can be determined by deciphering the data itself, for   example, phone numbers. A phone number is grouped according to   country code, area code, local exchange, and local extension. By   looking at a phone number, it is possible to determine to which of   all these groups the number belongs:  1-303-555-2367 is in country   code 1, area code 303, local exchange 555, and has a local extension   of 2367. Therefore, a phone number is lexically hierarchical.   On the Internet, two such types of data are widely used: domain names   and IP networks. Domain names are organized via a label-dot system,   reading from a more specific label to a more general label left to   right; for example, war.west.netsol.com is a part of west.netsol.com,   which is a part of netsol.com, which is a part of com. IP networks   are also lexically hierarchical labels using the Classless Inter-   Domain Routing (CIDR) notation, but their hierarchy is not easily   determined with simple text manipulation; for example, 198.41.0.0/22   is a part of 198.41.0.0/16, which is a part of 198.40.0.0/15.   Instead, an IP network's hierarchy is determined by converting the   network to binary notation and applying successively shorter bit   masks.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 3]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   It is important to note that, while very little real data is   lexically hierarchical in nature, people often create label systems   (or namespaces) to help manage the data and provide an element of   uniqueness, for example, Social Security Numbers, ISBNs, or the Dewey   Decimal System. RWhois leverages lexically hierarchical labels,   domain names and IP networks, for its data splitting using the   concepts of authority areas and referrals. An authority area is   associated with an RWhois server and a lexically hierarchical label,   which is considered to be its name. An authority area is a piece of   the distributed database that speaks with authority about its   assigned part of the hierarchy. All data associated with a particular   lexically hierarchical tag should be located within that authority   area's database. Authority areas are further explained inSection2.4.   RWhois directs clients toward the appropriate authority area by   generating referrals. Referrals are pointers to other servers that   are presumed to be closer to the desired data. The client uses this   referral to contact the next server and ask the same question. The   next server may respond with data, an error, or another referral (or   referrals). By following this chain of referrals, the client will   eventually reach the server with the appropriate authority area. In   the RWhois architecture, referrals are generated by identifying a   lexically hierarchical label and deciphering the label to determine   the next server. Referrals are further explained inSection 2.5.   When a number of RWhois servers containing authority areas are   brought on line and informed about each other, they form an RWhois   tree. The tree has a root authority area, which is the group that   contains all other groups.  The root authority area must keep   pointers to the servers and authority areas that form the first level   of the hierarchy. The authority areas in the first level of the   hierarchy are then responsible for keeping pointers to the authority   areas below them and for keeping a pointer to the root.2.2 Design Philosophy   The design goals for the RWhois protocol are as follows.      * It should be a directory access protocol. The server should be        able to access and update the data residing on it.      * It should facilitate query routing. An unresolved query should        be redirected to a server that is presumed to be closer to the        desired data.      * It should enable data replication. The server should be able to        duplicate its data on another server.      * The server should be lightweight and delegate more functions to        the client.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 4]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   The concepts used to achieve these design goals are explained in the   remaining document.2.3 Schema Model   As a directory service, RWhois uses various database schema to store   and represent data. Schema, in this document, has two definitions.   First, it refers to the entire structure of a database, all the   tables and fields forming a complete database. When schema is used in   this context, it is called the "database schema". Database schema   consists of attributes, classes, and objects. Schema may also refer   to a single piece of the database, a single table with fields. When   schema is used in this context, it is just called "schema" or it is   preceded by the name of the particular piece: contact schema or   domain schema, for example. In this usage, schema is equivalent to   "class", defined below.   There is no standard database schema in the RWhois architecture. Each   authority area is presumed to be able to define its own local schema.   However, an authority area that is part of a larger RWhois tree is   expected to have some part of its schema pertain to the lexically   hierarchical label upon which the RWhois tree is based. An authority   area schema may not change throughout much of an RWhois tree.2.3.1 Attributes   An attribute is a named field and is the smallest typed unit in the   database schema. It is equivalent to a relational database's field.   An attribute is not considered to be data by itself; it is simply   used to give data a type. When a piece of data has been typed by an   attribute, it is typically referred to as a value and is represented   as an attribute-value pair. The RWhois syntax for the attribute-value   pair is to separate them with a colon, for example:   First-Name:Bill   Attributes have a number of properties, some mandated by the RWhois   protocol and some that are implementation dependent. These properties   are usually a reflection of the database system used by the server.   The following is a list of the protocol-mandated properties and their   descriptions.    Attribute    This is the name of the attribute.    Description  This is a natural language description of the                 attribute.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 5]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997    Type         This is a parameter that broadly indicates the use                 of the attribute to the protocol. There are three                 standard types:  TEXT, ID, and SEE-ALSO. The default is                 TEXT, which indicates that the value is a text string.                 ID indicates that the attribute contains the ID of                 another RWhois object. This type of attribute is used                 for database normalization.  SEE-ALSO indicates that                 the attribute contains a pointer (a Uniform Resource                 Identifier (URI)) to some other kind of external data;                 for example, a World Wide Web page or FTP site.    Format       This is an interpretable string that describes the                 acceptance format of the value. The server (and                 optionally the client) should match the value to the                 format string to determine if the value is acceptable.                 The format of this property is a keyword indicating the                 syntax of the format string, followed by a colon,                 followed by the format string itself. Currently, the                 only keyword recognized is "re" for POSIX.2 extended                 regular expressions.    Indexed      This is a true or false flag indicating that this                 attribute should be indexed (and therefore able to be                 searched).    Required     This is a true or false flag indicating that this                 attribute must have a value in an instance of the                 class.    Multi-Line   This is a true or false flag indicating that this                 attribute may have multiple instances in a class, but                 all of the instances are to be considered as multiple                 lines of the same attribute instance. This allows                 normal line terminators to terminate values.    Repeatable   This is a true or false flag indicating that there may                 be multiple instances of this attribute in a class and                 each instance is to be interpreted as a separate                 instance (in contrast to Multi-Line). This flag is                 mutually exclusive with Multi-Line: if Multi-Line is                 true, then Repeatable must be false and vice versa.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 6]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997    Primary      This is a true or false flag that indicates that this                 attribute is a primary key. If more than one attribute                 in a class is marked as primary, then these attributes                 together form a single primary key. The primary key is                 intended to be used to force uniqueness among class                 instances. Therefore, there can be only one instance of                 a primary key in a database. The Primary flag implies                 that the attribute is also required.    Hierarchical This is a true or false flag that indicates that this                 attribute is lexically hierarchical.    Private      This is a true or false flag that indicates whether or                 not this attribute is private (that is, publicly not                 viewable).  It defaults to false. If it is true, then                 only the clients that satisfy the                 authentication/encryption requirements of a guardian                 (described below) are able to view the attribute-value                 pair.2.3.2 Class   A class is a collection of attributes; it is a structure, not data.   The concept is equivalent to that of a relational database table. It   is also equivalent to the second definition of schema, above.   A class also has some properties that are sometimes referred to as   its "meta" information. These properties are listed below.    Version     This is a time/date stamp that is used to quickly detect                when a class definition has been changed.    Description This is a natural language description of the class.2.3.3 Object   An object is an instance of a class. It is data with a type of   <class>.2.3.4 Base Class   While RWhois does not have or advocate using a specific, standardized   schema, it does impose a few requirements. It requires that all   defined classes inherit attributes from a particular base class (or   base schema).  The RWhois specification does not require the actual   implementation of inheritance. Instead, all classes must include the   attributes defined in the base class.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 7]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   The base class has the following attributes.    Class-Name    This attribute contains the name of the class to which                  the object belongs. It is the type of the object                  itself. It is of type TEXT and is required.    Auth-Area     This attribute contains the name of the authority area                  to which the object belongs. It, along with Class-                  Name, definitively defines the type of the object. It                  is of type TEXT and is required.    ID            This attribute is a universal identifier for the                  object. It is formed by choosing a string that is                  unique within an authority area and appending the                  authority area to it, separating the local string from                  the authority area name with a period. The only                  restrictions on the local string are that it must be                  unique within the authority area and not contain the                  period character. This attribute is hierarchical in                  nature. It is always generated by the server (for                  example, during a register operation). It is of type                  TEXT and is required.    Updated       This attribute is a time/date stamp that indicates the                  time of last modification of the object. It is both                  informational and a form of record locking. It                  prevents two clients from modifying the same object at                  the same time. It is of type TEXT and is required.    Guardian      This attribute is a link to a guardian object                  (described below). Its value is the ID of a guardian                  object. It is of type ID and is optional. It is                  repeatable, since an object may have multiple                  guardians.    Private      This attribute is a true or false flag that indicates                  whether or not an object is private (that is, publicly                  not viewable). It defaults to false. If it is true,                  then only the clients that satisfy the                  authentication/encryption requirements of one of the                  object's guardians are able to view the object. If the                  object is publicly viewable, then the Private                  attribute property of each of its attributes still                  applies.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 8]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997    TTL           This attribute is the "time-to-live" of a given                  object. It is included only if an object has a                  different time-to-live than the default given in the                  Start of Authority information. Its value is specified                  in seconds. It is of type TEXT and is optional.   The RWhois specification defines two standard classes that should be   included in all implementations: the referral and guardian classes.2.3.5 Referral Class   The referral class is defined to hold referral information (typically   for link referrals). It consists of attributes defined as part of the   base class, the protocol-specific attributes described below, and any   installation-specific attributes.    Referred-Auth-Area This attribute contains the name of the authority                       area to which the referral points. It is used as                       a search key during the query routing. It is of                       type TEXT and is required. It is repeatable,                       since referrals can point to servers hosting more                       than one authority area.    Referral           This attribute contains the referral itself. It                       is an RWhois URL. It is of type TEXT and is                       required. It is repeatable, since more than one                       server can host a Referred-Auth-Area.2.3.6 Guardian Class   The guardian class is defined to hold security information. The   fundamental concept behind the guardian class is that an object (or   another structure) is "guarded" by containing a pointer to a guardian   object [Guardian]. To modify, delete, or possibly view the guarded   object, the authentication (or encryption, or both) scheme must be   satisfied. Guardians are intended to not have rank: if an object is   guarded by more than one guardian object, satisfying any one of those   guardians is sufficient. A guardian object that does not have any   Guardian attribute linking it to other guardians guards itself. That   is, the authentication scheme in the guardian object itself must be   satisfied to modify, delete, or possibly view it.   Guardian objects are typically linked to actual database objects with   the Guardian attribute found in the base class. However, a guardian   may also be linked to an entire authority area, in which case the   guardian becomes implicitly linked to all of the objects contained   within the authority area.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                      [Page 9]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   The guardian class consists of the base class, the protocol-specific   attributes described below, and any installation-specific attributes.    Guard-Scheme This attribute contains a keyword indicating the                 authentication methodology. Its value must be                 understood by both the client and server, and its value                 dictates the contents of the Guard-Info attribute. It                 is of type TEXT and is required.    Guard-Info   This attribute contains that data that is used by the                 Guard-Scheme to verify the authentication. Its actual                 format is dictated by the Guard-Scheme, for example, it                 could contain a password or Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)                 public key id [RFC 1991]. For security reasons, it                 should not be displayed, and its Private attribute                 property should be set to true. It is of type TEXT and                 is required.2.4 Authority Areas   The concept of authority areas is pivotal to the RWhois architecture.   When an RWhois tree is created for a particular lexically   hierarchical namespace, the different pieces of the hierarchy are   mapped to authority areas. The most important concept behind an   authority area is the ability for a portion of the RWhois tree to   definitively control that portion of the hierarchy. This means that   an authority area is able to state whether or not a hierarchical tag   is in the whole RWhois tree. It does this either by returning the   object containing this tag, returning a referral to a sub-authority   area, or returning a response indicating that no objects were found.   This structure enables efficient routing of queries based on the   hierarchical label to the piece of the hierarchy responsible for it.   For example, in the domain name namespace as served by RWhois, the   root of the tree would be an authority area named ".", which would   delegate a "us" sub-authority area, which would delegate "va", "co",   "md", and "ca" authority areas, and so forth. When the server with   the "va.us" authority area is asked about "loudoun.va.us", it will be   able to authoritatively state that either no "loudoun.va.us" exists   or it will provide an object for or a referral to "loudoun.va.us".   Further, if the server is asked about "howard.md.us", it cannot   answer authoritatively, so it must provide a referral to its   hierarchical parent ("us" or the root).   This use of authority area strongly indicates where data should be   stored within an RWhois tree. Because RWhois uses a specific query   routing model, data needs to be placed under the proper authority   area. It is certainly possible to place a piece of data under theWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 10]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   wrong authority area, for example, putting an object for   "howard.md.us" under the "va.us" authority area. In such cases, the   data is considered to be misplaced and unable to be found within the   RWhois tree. However, while data should be placed under the lowest   (most specific) authority area, it is also possible that it could be   placed in a higher (least specific) authority area, for example,   putting an object for "loudoun.va.us" under the "us" authority. This   may be acceptable since, in most cases, the data would be able to be   found.   In addition to controlling a part of an RWhois hierarchy, an   authority area is considered to be autonomous. Each authority area is   treated as a separate database by the protocol. However, it is   recommended that an authority area share some core schema with the   rest of the RWhois tree for interoperability reasons. Each authority   area, however, is not bound by the database schema of its   hierarchical parent or by any of its sub-authority areas.2.5 Query Routing   RWhois is not only a directory access protocol but it can also route   queries. Routing a query involves redirecting the query to another   server that is presumed to be closer to the desired data. To route a   query, the server first determines the location of the next server.   It then either forwards the query to that server and returns the   result to the client or returns the location of that server to the   client. The location of the server must contain its host name (or IP   address), port number, and authority area.   The location of the server to which a query is routed is called a   referral.  There are two types of referrals: punt and link referrals.   A punt referral is a pointer to a server that is further up an RWhois   tree, and a link referral is a pointer to a server that is further   down the tree. For example, in Figure 1, when the server for the   "va.us" authority area routes a query up to the server for the "us"   authority area, it generates a punt referral. Alternatively, when it   routes a query down to the server for the "loudon.va.us" authority   area, it generates a link referral.   Query routing depends on whether or not the search value in a query   is lexically hierarchical. If the search value is hierarchical, the   server can generate punt or link referrals using the association of   authority areas with lexically hierarchical labels. Otherwise, the   server may send the query to a special index server that gathers the   indexing information for both hierarchical and non-hierarchical data   from the directory servers and returns referrals to these servers   [CIP]. If the server receives one or more referrals from the index   server, it should return them to the client.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 11]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   It is important to note that the server may route a query whether it   could resolve the query or not. Even if a query has been resolved   locally, the server may also return referrals to the client by   sending the query to the index server. For example, if the server for   the "com" authority area receives the "domain Org-Name=IBM" query, it   may return all the domain objects for IBM within the "com" authority   area. In addition, it may also return referrals to the server for the   "nl" authority area if that server contains domain objects for IBM in   the Netherlands and has fed the corresponding indexing information to   the index server. This way the client can get back information for   both "ibm.com" and "ibm.nl" domains.2.5.1 Query Routing Rules   An RWhois server routes a query based on certain rules. The objective   is to determine the location of a server to which to route the query.   A query may contain one or more query terms. The query routing rules   are applied on each query term until a referral is found. The rules   are listed below.      * Is the search value in the query term hierarchical? If not, go        to the next query term.      * Parse the hierarchical portion of the search value. Is it is        within one of the authority areas? If not, go to the next query        term.      * Does the found authority area have any referral objects        (instances of the referral class)? If not, return the "230 No        objects found" error to the client.      * Is the hierarchical portion of the search value within the        Referred-Auth-Area attribute of one of the referral objects? If        it is, return the value of the Referral attribute of the found        referral object as a link referral to the client.      * Are the search values of some of the query terms hierarchical        but not within any of the authority areas? If they are, return a        punt referral to the client.      * Are the search values of all the query terms non-hierarchical?        If they are, send the query to a special index server that        gathers the indexing information for both hierarchical and non-        hierarchical data from the directory servers and returns        referrals to these servers. If the server receives one or more        referrals from the index server, return them to the client.   Note that there can be more than one referral returned to the client.   These referrals may point to servers serving different authority   areas. The client may follow them in any order.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 12]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   The pseudo code for the above rules is:   for each query term in the query    if the search value in the query term is hierarchical     if the search value is within one of the authority areas       if the search value is within one of the referred authority areas        the server sends link referral(s)       else        the server sends a "230 No objects found" error       endif     endif    endif   endfor   if the search values of some of the query terms are hierarchical but     not within any of the authority areas    the server sends Punt referral(s)   endif   if the search values of all the query terms are non-hierarchical    the server sends Referral(s) from an index server   endif2.6 Data Replication   An RWhois server can replicate (duplicate) data from another RWhois   server on a per-authority area basis. Data replication makes the   RWhois service more reliable. Further, it increases throughput by   distributing queries to more than one server.   There can be two types of servers serving an authority area: a master   server and a slave server. A master server is where data is   registered for an authority area. It answers authoritatively to   queries in that authority area. There must be one and only one master   server for an authority area. A master server is also called a   primary server.   A slave server is where data is replicated from the master server for   an authority area. It also answers authoritatively to queries in that   authority area. There may be one or more slave servers for an   authority area. A slave server is also called a secondary server.   Note that a slave server must not register data for an authority   area.   It is recommended that the master and slave servers for an authority   area be geographically separate. Therefore, network unreachability at   one site will not completely shut down the RWhois service for that   authority area.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 13]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19972.6.1 Data to Replicate   In RWhois, data is replicated on a per-authority area basis. The   smallest type of data a slave server can replicate is an attribute of   a class.  Therefore, a slave server can replicate data for all the   classes, some classes, or some attributes of some classes.   The amount of data a slave server can replicate each time is either   all of the data or the data that has changed since the last   replication. The process of replicating all of the data is called   complete replication. The process of replicating the data that has   changed since the last replication is called incremental replication.2.6.2 Start Of Authority Variables   Each authority area has some administrative variables, defined at the   master server, to control data replication. These variables are   called the Start Of Authority (SOA) variables. They are listed below.    Serial-Number     This is the serial number of the data in an                      authority area. The master server should update                      this variable whenever the data in the authority                      area is changed. Its value is a time/date stamp.    Refresh-Interval  This is the time interval before a slave server                      checks for complete replication. Its value is                      specified in seconds.    Increment-IntervalThis is the time interval before a slave server                      checks for incremental replication. Its value is                      specified in seconds.    Retry-Interval    This is the time interval before a slave server                      tries again to connect to a master server that                      appears to be out-of-service. Its value is                      specified in seconds.    Time-To-Live      This is the default time to live for the data in                      an authority area at a slave server. The slave                      server should not answer authoritatively to                      queries for such stale data. Its value is                      specified in seconds.    Admin-Contact     This is the email address of an individual or a                      role account responsible for the data integrity in                      an authority area at the master server.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 14]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997    Tech-Contact      This is the email address of an individual or a                      role account responsible for the operation of the                      master server for an authority area.    Hostmaster        This is the email address of an individual or a                      role account to whom email messages to update the                      data in an authority area at the master server are                      sent.    Primary-Server    This is the location of the master server for an                      authority area. Its value must contain both the                      host name (or IP address) and port number of the                      master server.3. Protocol3.1 Overview   The above sections describe the directory service architecture based   on the RWhois protocol. The remaining sections describe the syntax of   the protocol; the sequence and syntax of the information exchanged   between a server and a client. There are five types of information   that may be exchanged during a client/server session: directive,   response, query, result, and info.3.1.1 Directive   A directive is a command that a client sends to a server to set a   control parameter for the session, get the meta-information (class   definitions and SOA information) about an authority area, or get the   data in an authority area. The first character of a directive must be   a "-". The server must support the "-rwhois" directive; all other   directives are optional. The server must indicate in the banner which   directives are implemented (seeSection 3.1.9).3.1.2 Response   A response is the information that a server returns to a client for a   directive. It is comprised of one or more lines, and the last line   always indicates the success or failure of the directive. The first   character of each response line must be a "%". If a server runs a   directive successfully, the last response line must be "%ok".   Otherwise, it must be "%error <error-code> <error-text>". A line with   the string "%ok" or "%error" in the first position must occur only   once in a server response and must always be the last line. The   server may send the "%info" response for special messages.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 15]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   A client must understand the "%ok", "%error", and "%info" responses.   The client must also understand directive specific responses, if it   uses the related directives to communicate with the server. For   example, if the client sends the "-schema" directive to the server,   the client must understand the "%schema" response.3.1.3 Query   A query is a command that a client sends to a server to access the   data in an authority area. The first character of a query must not be   a "-", since the server checks the first character of each command   from a client to determine whether it is a directive or a query.3.1.4 Result   A result is the information that a server returns to a client for a   query.  It can be either the accessed data or referrals to other   servers. It is comprised of one or more lines, and the last line   always indicates the success or failure of the query. If a server   returns either data or referrals for a query, the last result line   must be "%ok". Otherwise, it must be "%error <error-code> <error-   text>".3.1.5 Info   An info message contains miscellaneous information that a server   sends to a client. The server may use it to send special messages,   for example a "message of the day" (MOTD), to the client. The first   info line must be "%info on", and the last info line must be "%info   off".3.1.6 Client/Server Session   A typical RWhois client/server session has the following sequence of   messages.      * The client connects to the server.      * The server returns a banner identifying its protocol versions        and capabilities.      * The client sends one or more directives to the server.      * The server returns the response to each directive.      * The client finally sends a query to the server.      * The server returns the query results.      * The server closes the connection, unless the client has directed        it not to close the connection.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 16]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19973.1.7 Examples   This section gives some common examples of the client/server   interaction.  The notation in the examples uses a prefix to indicate   from where the information comes. A "C" indicates that the client   sends the data to the server. An "S" indicates that the server sends   the data to the client. The line is a comment when "#" is used. The   space after the prefix is not part of the data.   The following example illustrates a successful query.   # The client connects to the server.   # The server returns a banner identifying its protocol versions and   # capabilities.   S %rwhois V-1.5:00ffff:00 master.rwhois.net (Network Solutions V-1.5)   # The client sends a directive to limit the number of search hits   # to 20.   C -limit 20   # The server returns a successful response.   S %ok   # The client sends a query to search for rwhois.net domain.   C domain rwhois.net   # The server returns the data for rwhois.net domain.   S domain:ID:dom-1.rwhois.net   S domain:Auth-Area:rwhois.net   S domain:Class-Name:domain   S domain:Updated:19970107201111000   S domain:Domain:rwhois.net   S domain:Server;I:hst-1.rwhois.net   S domain:Server;I:hst-2.rwhois.net   S   S %ok   # The server closes the connection.   The following example illustrates the link and punt referrals.   # The client connects to the server.   # The server returns a banner identifying its protocol versions and   # capabilities.   S %rwhois V-1.5:00ffff:00 master.rwhois.net (Network Solutions V-1.5)   # The client sends a directive to hold the connection until it sends   # a directive to close the connection.   C -holdconnect on   # The server returns a successful response.   S %ok   # The client sends a query to search for a.b.rwhois.net domain.   C domain a.b.rwhois.net   # The server returns a link referral to a server serving theWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 17]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   # b.rwhois.net authority area.   S %referral rwhois://master.b.rwhois.net:4321/auth-area=b.rwhois.net   S %ok   # The client sends a query to search for internic.net domain.   C domain internic.net   # The server returns a punt referral to a server serving the root   # authority area.   S %referral rwhois://rs.internic.net:4321/auth-area=.   S %ok   # The client sends a directive to close the connection.   C -quit   S %ok   # The server closes the connection.   The following example illustrates a query error.   # The client connects to the server.   # The server returns a banner identifying its protocol versions and   # capabilities.   S %rwhois V-1.5:00ffff:00 master.rwhois.net (Network Solutions V-1.5)   # The client sends a query to search for c.rwhois.net domain.   C domain c.rwhois.net   # The server returns an error, since neither data nor referrals for   # c.rwhois.net domain are found within the rwhois.net authority area.   S %error 230 No objects found   # The server closes the connection.3.1.8 Notation   The following sections use the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF)   notation to describe the syntax of the protocol. For further   information, seeSection 2 of [RFC822]. The notation in the examples   uses a prefix to indicate from where the information comes. A "C"   indicates that the client sends the data to the server. An "S"   indicates that the server sends the data to the client. The line is a   comment when "#" is used. The space after the prefix is not part of   the data.3.1.9 General ABNF definitions   Lexical Tokens   alpha = "a".."z" / "A".."Z"   digit = "0".."9"   hex-digit = digit / "a".."f" / "A".. "F"   id-char = alpha / digit / "_" / "-"   any-char = <ASCII 1..255,              except LF (linefeed) and CR (carriage return)>Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 18]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   dns-char = alpha / digit / "-"   email-char = <see [RFC 822]>   space = " "   tab = <ASCII TAB (tab)>   lf = <ASCII LF (linefeed)>   cr = <ASCII CR (carriage return)>   crlf = cr lf   Grammar   year = 4digit   month = 2digit   day = 2digit   hour = 2digit   minute = 2digit   second = 2digit   milli-second = 3digit   host-name = dns-char *(dns-char / ".")   ip-address = 1*3digit "." 1*3digit "." 1*3digit "." 1*3digit   email = 1*email-char "@" host-name   authority-area = (dns-char / ".") *(dns-char / "." / "/")   object-id = 1*id-char "." authority-area   host-port = (host-name / ip-address) ":" 1*5digit   class-name = 1*id-char   attribute-name = 1*id-char   attribute-value = 1*any-char   time-stamp = year month day hour minute second milli-second   on-off = "on" / "off"   Note that the time-stamp must be in the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)   time zone.  Also note that since in the above any-char is 1..255   ASCII that the RWhois protocol is an 8 bit protocol.   Response   The general response for every directive and query is either "%ok" or   "%error". In addition, a "%info" response may be sent.   response = ok-response crlf / error-response crlf / info-response   ok-response = "%ok"   error-response = "%error" space error-code space error-text   error-code = 3digit   error-text = 1*any-char   info-response = "%info" space "on" crlf *(*any-char crlf) "%info"           space "off" crlfWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 19]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Banner   The server must send a banner to the client when the connection is   opened.  The banner contains the version(s) of the protocol the   server supports and a capability ID of encoded bit flags that   indicates which directives are implemented. If the server supports   more than one version of the protocol, the lowest-numbered version   must be specified first. The bits in extra-id are reserved for future   use. The end of the banner should contain a free-form string   indicating the name of the server implementation. A server must   support at least one version of the protocol, and may accept more   versions for compatibility reasons.   rwhois-banner = "%rwhois" space version-list space host-name         [space implementation] crlf   version-list = version *("," version)   version = version-number [":" capability-id]           / "V-1.5" ":" capability-id   version-number = "V-" 1*digit "." 1*digit   capability-id = response-id ":" extra-id   response-id = 6hex-digit   extra-id = 2hex-digit   implementation = 1*any-char   Protocol   The entire RWhois protocol can be defined as a series of directives,   responses, queries, and results.   rwhois-protocol = client-sends / server-returns   client-sends = *(directives / rwhois-query)   server-returns = *(responses / rwhois-query-result)3.2 Required Directives   The server must implement the following directives.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 20]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19973.2.1 rwhois   Description   The "-rwhois" directive may be issued by the client at the start of   every session . It tells the server which version of the protocol the   client can handle. The server must respond with a banner containing   the protocol version and directives it implements. This banner is the   same banner that is sent by the server when the connection is opened,   except that the server must indicate only one version number. The   banner issued when opening a connection may contain more than one   version number. The directive flags are encoded into three octets,   which are described inAppendix D.   ABNF   rwhois-dir = "-rwhois" space version-number [space implementation]                crlf   rwhois-response = "%rwhois" space version space host-name           [space implementation] crlf   Errors   300 Not compatible with version   338 Invalid directive syntax   Examples   # When a connection is opened, the server issues the banner.   S %rwhois V-1.0,V-1.5:00ffff:00 rs.internic.net (NSI Server 1.5.4)   # The client sends the rwhois directive.   C -rwhois V-1.5 NSI Client 1.2.3   S %rwhois V-1.5:00ffff:00 rs.internic.net (NSI Server 1.5.4)   S %ok3.3 Optional Directives   The server should implement the following directives.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 21]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19973.3.1 class   Description   The "-class" directive can be used by the client to get the meta-   information for one or more classes in an authority area. The   response must contain the description and version number of each   specified class and may be expanded in the future with additional   attributes. When no class name is given, the server must return the   meta-information for all the classes in the authority area. Every   class record must end with an empty "%class" line.   ABNF   class-dir = "-class" space authority-area *(space class-name) crlf   class-response = *class-record response   class-record = *class-line "%class" crlf   class-line = "%class" space class-name ":" "description" ":"                1*any-char crlf      / "%class" space class-name ":" "version" ":" time-stamp crlf      / "%class" space class-name ":" meta-field ":" meta-value crlf   meta-field = 1*id-char   meta-value = 1*any-char   The following fields are required.    meta-field   meta-value  Description    description  1*any-char  Class description.                           Time/date stamp indicating version of class,    version      time-stamp  must be updated after class definition is                             changed.   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   340 Invalid authority area   341 Invalid class   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   C -class rwhois.net domain host   S %class domain:description:Domain information   S %class domain:version:19970103101232000   S %classWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 22]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   S %class host:description:Host information   S %class host:version:19970214213241000   S %class   S %ok3.3.2 directive   Description   The "-directive" directive can be used by the client to get   information about the directives that the server supports. The   response must contain the name and description of each specified   directive and may be expanded in the future with additional   attributes. When no directive name is given, the server must return   information about all the directives. Every directive record must end   with an empty "%directive" line.   ABNF   directive-dir = "-directive" *(space directive-name) crlf   directive-name = 1*id-char   directive-response = *directive-record response   directive-record = "%directive" space "directive" ":" directive-name                      crlf *directive-line "%directive" crlf   directive-line = "%directive" space "description" ":" 1*any-char crlf           / "%directive" space attribute-name ":" attribute-value crlf   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   Without parameters:   C -directive   S %directive directive:rwhois   S %directive description:RWhois directive   S %directive   S %directive directive:quit   S %directive description:Quit connection   S %directive   S %okWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 23]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   With parameters:   C -directive quit   S %directive directive:quit   S %directive description:Quit connection   S %directive   S %ok3.3.3 display   Description   By default, the server uses the dump format for the output of a query   result. The output format can be changed with the "-display"   directive.  When no parameter is given, the server must list all the   display formats it supports. Every display record must end with an   empty "%display" line.   Currently, only the dump format is standard and must be supported by   the server. Other output formats may be added in the future. SeeSection 3.4 for the definition of the dump format.   ABNF   display-dir = "-display" crlf       / "-display" space display-name crlf   display-name = 1*id-char   display-response = *(display-record) response   display-record = "%display" space "name" ":" display-name crlf   *display-line "%display" crlf   display-line = "%display" space attribute-name ":"                  attribute-value crlf   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   436 Invalid display format   Examples   # Get the available display formats.   C -display   S %display name:dump   S %display   S %okWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 24]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   # Change the active display format.   C -display dump   S %ok3.3.4 forward   Description   The "-forward" directive instructs the server to follow all the   referrals and return the results to the client. This directive can be   used to run an RWhois server as a proxy server. The default value   must be "off". When the value is set to "on", the server must not   return referrals.   ABNF   forward-dir = "-forward" space on-off crlf   forward-response = response   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   C -forward on   S %ok   C -forward off   S %ok3.3.5 holdconnect   Description   Normally, the server closes the connection after each query. This   behavior is controlled by the holdconnect state, which can be changed   with the "-holdconnect" directive. When the holdconnect state is set   to "off", the server must close the connection after a query; when it   is set to "on", the server must not close the connection after a   query. By default, the holdconnect state must be set to "off" for   each connection.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 25]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   ABNF   holdconnect-dir = "-holdconnect" space on-off crlf   holdconnect-response = response   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   C -holdconnect on   S %ok   C -holdconnect off   S %ok3.3.6 limit   Description   When returning a query result, the server should limit the number of   objects returned to the client. The "-limit" directive changes this   limit.  The default and maximum limit is server-dependent. The client   can get the current limit by using the "-status" directive (seeSection 3.3.13).   ABNF   limit-dir = "-limit" space 1*digit crlf   limit-response = response   Errors   331 Invalid limit   338 Invalid directive syntax   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   C -limit 100   S %okWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 26]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19973.3.7 notify   Description   The "-notify" directive performs several functions.      * If the server returns a referral that results in an error, the        client can report the bad referral to the server using the        "badref" option.      * When the client follows referrals and goes through the same        referral twice, that referral is a recursive referral and causes        a referral loop. The client can report the recursive referral to        the server using the "recurref" option.      * When the data in an authority area changes, a master server can        use the "update" option to notify its slave servers to update        the data.      * The "inssec" option allows an RWhois server to register itself        as a slave server for an authority area with a master server.        The master server may reject the request on the basis of its        registration policy.      * The "delsec" option allows a slave server to cancel its        registration with the master server.   ABNF   notify-dir = "-notify" space "badref" space referral-query crlf           / "-notify" space "recurref" space referral-query crlf      / "-notify" space "update" space host-port ":" authority-area crlf           / "-notify" space "inssec" space host-port ":"             authority-area crlf           / "-notify" space "delsec" space host-port ":"             authority-area crlf   referral-query = referral-url space [class-name space] query   notify-response = response   SeeSection 3.4 for the definitions of referral-url and query.   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   340 Invalid authority area   342 Invalid host/port   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directiveWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 27]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Examples   # The client reports a bad referral to rwhois.foobar.com to the   # server.   C -notify badref rwhois://rwhois.foobar.com:4321/auth-area=foobar.com     domain foobar.com   S %ok   # The client reports a recursive referral to rwhois.foobar.com to the   # server.   C -notify recurref rwhois://rwhois.foobar.com:4321/auth-area=     foobar.com contact Last-Name="Beeblebrox"   S %ok   # The master server for the foobar.com authority area notifies its   # slave servers to update the data.   C -notify update master.foobar.com:4321:foobar.com   S %ok   # The server rwhois2.foobar.com registers as a slave server for the   # foobar.com authority area.   C -notify inssec rwhois2.foobar.com:4321:foobar.com   S %ok   # The server rwhois2.foobar.com cancels its registration as a slave   # server for the foobar.com authority area.   C -notify delsec rwhois2.foobar.com:4321:foobar.com   S %ok3.3.8 quit   Description   The "-quit" directive can be used by the client to close the   connection.  Before the server closes the connection, it must respond   with "%ok".   ABNF   quit-dir = "-quit" crlf   quit-response = response   Errors   No errors.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 28]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Examples   C -quit   S %ok3.3.9 register   Description   The "-register" directive can be used by the client to add, modify,   or delete objects in the server's database. The client must wait to   send the registration data until the "%ok" response is received from   the server.  This directive has the following options.      * The "add" option indicates that the object being sent should be        added to the server's database.      * The "mod" option indicates that the object being sent is a        modification of an object that already resides on the server's        database. During a modify operation, the "_NEW_" tag is used to        delineate the end of the original (unmodified) object and the        beginning of the replacement object. That is, the identifying        characteristics of the original object are sent first, then the        "_NEW_" separator is sent, and then the entire replacement        object is sent.      The "del" option indicates that the object being sent should be      deleted from the server's database.   After a register operation (add, modify, or delete an object) in an   authority area, the server should update the "Serial-Number" variable   in the SOA information for the authority area. This is useful for   data replication because a slave server checks the "Serial-Number"   variable to detect a data change at the master server (seeSection3.6.2).   ABNF   register-dir = register-on space "add" space maintainer-id crlf                  register-add register-off           / register-on space "mod" space maintainer-id crlf             register-mod register-off           / register-on space "del" space maintainer-id crlf             register-del register-off   register-on = "-register" space "on"   register-off = "-register" space "off" crlf   register-add = 1*(register-line crlf)   register-mod = 1*(register-line crlf) "_NEW_" crlf                  1*(register-line crlf)   register-del = 1*(register-line crlf)Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 29]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   maintainer-id = email   register-line = attribute-name ":" attribute-value   register-on-response = response   register-off-response = "%register" space "ID" ":" object-id crlf                           response           / "%register" space "Updated" ":" time-stamp crlf response           / response      * The server must return the register-on-response for the        "-register on" directive and the register-off-response for the        "-register off" directive.      * The maintainer-id identifies, for maintenance purposes, the        sender of registration information. The server should not use it        to authenticate the sender.      * For the "add" option, the client must send all the required        attributes for the object, including the Class-Name and Auth-        Area attributes.  However, the client must not send the ID and        Updated attributes. These attributes are assigned by the server        and returned in the response.      * For the "mod" option, the client must send the identifying        information for the object to be modified, followed by the        "_NEW_" separator and the entire replacement object. The        identifying information must contain the ID and Updated        attributes; it may contain other attributes, but the server may        not check them. The ID, Auth-Area, and Class-Name attributes        must match in both the original object data and the replacement        object. The original object data is sent before the replacement        object to enable the server to lock the record in the database.      * For the "del" option, the client must send the identifying        information for the object to be deleted. The identifying        information must contain the ID and Updated attributes; it may        contain other attributes, but the server may not check them.   Errors   120 Registration deferred   320 Invalid attribute   321 Invalid attribute syntax   322 Required attribute missing   323 Object reference not found   324 Primary key not unique   325 Failed to update outdated object   336 Object not found   338 Invalid directive syntax   340 Invalid authority area   341 Invalid class   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directiveWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 30]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Examples   # Add an object.   C -register on add joe@netsol.com   S %ok   C Class-Name:contact   C Auth-Area:a.com   C First-Name:Scott   C Last-Name:Williamson   C Name:Williamson, Scott   C Email:scottw@a.com   C -register off   S %register ID:23456789.a.com   S %register Updated:19961205224403000   S %ok   # Modify an object.   C -register on mod joe@netsol.com   S %ok   C ID:23456789.a.com   C Updated:19961205124403000   C _NEW_   C Class-Name:contact   C Auth-Area:a.com   C ID:23456789.a.com   C First-Name:Scott   C Last-Name:Williamson   C Name:Williamson, Scott   C Email:sw@a.com   C -register off   S %ok   # Delete an object.   C -register on del joe@netsol.com   S %ok   C ID:23456789.a.com   C Updated:19961205224403000   C -register off   S %ok3.3.10 schema   Description   The "-schema" directive can be used by the client to get the   attribute definitions of one or more classes in an authority area. If   the client specifies class names, the server must return the   attribute definitions of the specified classes. Otherwise, the serverWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 31]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   must return the attribute definitions of all the classes in the   authority area. Every schema record must end with an empty "%schema"   line.   ABNF   schema-dir = "-schema" space authority-area *(space class-name) crlf   schema-response = *schema-record response   schema-record = *schema-line "%schema" crlf   schema-line = "%schema" space class-name ":" attribute-name ":"                 attribute-value crlf   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   340 Invalid authority area   341 Invalid class   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   C -schema map   S %schema map:attribute:Class-Name   S %schema map:description:Type of the object   S %schema map:type:TEXT   S %schema map:format:re:[a-zA-Z0-9-]+   S %schema map:indexed:OFF   S %schema map:required:ON   S %schema map:multi-line:OFF   S %schema map:repeatable:OFF   S %schema map:primary:OFF   S %schema map:hierarchical:OFF   S %schema map:private:OFF   S %schema   S %schema map:attribute:ID   S %schema map:description:Globally unique object identifier   S %schema map:type:TEXT   S %schema map:format:re:[0-9]+.[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 32]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   S %schema map:indexed:ON   S %schema map:required:ON   S %schema map:multi-line:OFF   S %schema map:repeatable:OFF   S %schema map:primary:ON   S %schema map:hierarchical:OFF   S %schema map:private:OFF   S %schema   # This is an abbreviated example, more attributes usually follow.   S %ok3.3.11 security   Description   The "-security" directive enables either a client request or a server   response to be authenticated and/or encrypted. Currently, RWhois uses   two standard security methods: password and PGP. Password provides   authentication only, and PGP provides both authentication and   encryption.  This directive can be used to securely access or update   any information (meta or data) in an authority area that is protected   by one or more guardian objects.   ABNF   security-dir = "-security" space "on" space direction space           security-method [space security-data] crlf           security-payload ["-security" space "off" crlf]   direction = "request" / "response"   security-method = "password" / "pgp" / 1*id-char   security-data = password-data / pgp-data / 1*any-char   password-data = 1*any-char   pgp-data = "signed" / "encrypt" [space key-id] / "signed-encrypt"              [space key-id]   security-payload = *(*any-char crlf)   security-response = response      * The "password" security-method is available in the "request"        direction only. For password, the security-data is a cleartext        password.      * The "pgp" security-method is available in both the "request" and        "response" directions. For PGP, the security-data indicates how        to treat the security-payload: signed, encrypted, or signed and        encrypted. To encrypt the security-payload in the "response"        direction, the security-data must include the public key ID with        which to encrypt it.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 33]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   352 Invalid security method   353 Authentication failed   354 Encryption failed   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   # Authenticate a request using password.   C -security on request password hello!1   S %ok   # Authenticate a PGP signed request.   C -security on request pgp signed   S %ok   C -register on mod joe@netsol.com   S %ok   C -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----   C Version: 2.6.2   C   C owHrZJjKzMpgdP9D9crUhdpBYnwHGRnPbmVhmHlV7Hef9je/n7vyzhmE6589/+Dg   C jPpVm59tNz92vPSmrFB/4ankBRz+xgY+7z9OUYjefGahbWSNwzzxbw6TpWZGerU+   C uOUg/Cygs33JBdHqjwEc+wyfZPp+N5p2bu+ywoaOu8eLPyn+m2Mt/T9p1UaG68vP   C Zd2d9EPw+Ywpio7dco6yh3b/v7zmQxJHcWpyaVFmSSUDEHi6WBkZm5iamVtY6iXq   C JefnKnCFFqQklqSmWBlaWpoZGhmYGhqZmBgYGxgYKHA55yQWF+v6JeamWiXn55Uk   C JpcocDmWlmToOhalJlpB9cf7uYbHE6kWi/VumUXFJRB9wcn5JUBdPokwgfDMnJzM   C xNzi/DwFLjQBHQWoatfcxMwcq+JyB6h5AA==   C =a0sQ   C -----END PGP MESSAGE-----   C -register off   S %ok   # Encrypt a response using PGP. 52160EC1 is the public key ID with   # which the response is encrypted.   C -security on response pgp encrypt 52160EC1   S %ok   C -xfer com class=domain attribute=Domain-Name     attribute=Organization-Name   S -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----   S Version: 2.6.2   S   S hIwDqWWhK1IWDsEBBACOXssTzD2CbB7Vjj2cNURScpJc2as2TbUDOQiwkT+8qFgG   S ZyRfktpwNNTawRIcGOk1Kcs84z8a3vvTA/oje9vZexHtzfJwBHFdiIZxPuCEpvgv   S 2ppK7WqlmHGcQKVBJJHYw7Fq83CUkeGJB9P1M3CQiXeW8h8MwAuhxSgbgt23PKYA   S AABuhknJrXeh9Owm81+MvyzgLOyM7sjDYmttU9sj/yuOYmAhS9V+34MT/Mwn4wO8Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 34]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   S 2BCsJqBHXbwOuYKs02p0se4jyKFtZR8MDPWNm9QyAP+oNMTjsufy6ZRa9PegUC6t   S HDhXymkiP03mKMMVK1//7X0=   S =vZ2x   S -----END PGP MESSAGE-----   S %ok3.3.12 soa   Description   The "-soa" directive can be used by the client to retrieve the SOA   information for one or more authority areas. When no authority area   name is given, the server must return the SOA information for all the   authority areas. Every SOA record must end with an empty "%soa" line.   ABNF   soa-dir = "-soa" *(space authority-area) crlf   soa-response = *soa-record response   soa-record = *soa-line "%soa" crlf   soa-line = "%soa" space "authority" ":" authority-area crlf      / "%soa" space "ttl" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%soa" space "serial" ":" time-stamp crlf      / "%soa" space "refresh" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%soa" space "increment" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%soa" space "retry" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%soa" space "tech-contact" ":" email crlf      / "%soa" space "admin-contact" ":" email crlf      / "%soa" space "hostmaster" ":" email crlf      / "%soa" space "primary" ":" host-port crlf      / "%soa" space attribute-name ":" attribute-value crlf   The server must return the following SOA information for an authority   area. attribute-name  attribute-value Comments authority       authority-area  This is the name of the authority area. ttl             1*digit         This is the default time to live for                                 the data in the authority area. serial          time-stamp      This is the serial number of the data                                 in the authority area; it changes                                 when the data changes.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 35]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997 refresh         1*digit         This is the time interval before a                                 slave server checks for complete                                 replication. increment       1*digit         This is the time interval before a                                 slave server checks for incremental                                 replication. retry           1*digit         This is the time interval before a                                 slave server tries again to connect                                 to a master server that appears to be                                 out-of-service. tech-contact    email           This is the contact for the operation                                 of the master server. admin-contact   email           This is the contact for the data                                 integrity at the master server. hostmaster      email           This is the contact for sending update                                 requests at the master server. primary         host-port       This is the host name (or IP address)                                 and port number of the master server.   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   340 Invalid authority area   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   C -soa org   S %soa authority:org   S %soa ttl:86400   S %soa serial:19961119111535000   S %soa refresh:3600   S %soa increment:1800   S %soa retry:180   S %soa tech-contact:tech@internic.net   S %soa admin-contact:admin@internic.net   S %soa hostmaster:hostmaster@internic.net   S %soa primary:rs.internic.net:4321   S %soa   S %okWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 36]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19973.3.13 status   Description   The "-status" directive can be used by the client to get various   status flags from the server. The response must include the number of   objects in all the authority areas, the current display format, the   server contact information, and the status flags for the state-   oriented directives:  "-limit", "-holdconnect", and "-forward".   ABNF   status-dir = "-status" crlf   status-response = *status-line response   status-line = "%status" space "limit" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%status" space "holdconnect" ":" on-off crlf      / "%status" space "forward" ":" on-off crlf      / "%status" space "objects" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%status" space "display" ":" 1*any-char crlf      / "%status" space "contact" ":" email crlf      / "%status" space attribute-name ":" attribute-value crlf   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   C -status   S %status limit:20   S %status holdconnect:OFF   S %status forward:OFF   S %status objects:12345   S %status display:dump   S %status contact:joe@rwhois.net   S %ok3.3.14 xfer   Description   The "-xfer" directive can be used by the client (generally, a slave   server) to transfer the data in an authority area. The client can   control the amount of data transferred using one of the following   options.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 37]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997      * serial-number: The client can transfer all the objects that have        been added, modified or deleted since a certain time, specifying        the serial-number that indicates that time. This option is used        for incremental replication.      * class: The client can limit the data transfer to one or more        classes, using the "class=<class-name>" option. The server must        return data for only the specified classes. If no class name is        specified, the server must return data for all the classes.      * attribute: The client can limit the data transfer to one or more        attributes of a class, using the "attribute=<attribute-name>"        option in combination with the "class=<class-name>" option. The        server must return data for only the specified attributes of the        class. The client can specify multiple "class=" and "attribute="        pairs.   ABNF   xfer-dir = "-xfer" space authority-area *attribute-def           [space serial-number] crlf   attribute-def = [space "class=" class-name] *(space "attribute="                   attribute-name)   serial-number = time-stamp   xfer-response = *xfer-record response   xfer-record = *xfer-line "%xfer" crlf   xfer-line = "%xfer" space class-name ":" attribute-name ":"               attribute-value crlf   Errors   332 Nothing to transfer   333 Not master for authority area   338 Invalid directive syntax   340 Invalid authority area   341 Invalid class   342 Invalid attribute   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directiveWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 38]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Examples   C -xfer com class=domain attribute=Domain-Name     attribute=Organization-Name   S %xfer domain:Domain-Name:acme.com   S %xfer domain:Organization-Name:Acme Inc.   S %xfer   S %xfer domain:Domain-Name:vogon.com   S %xfer domain:Organization-Name:Vogon Heavy Industries   S %xfer   S %ok3.3.15 X   Description   The "-X" directive is used to specify an additional, non-standard   directive. It can be implemented by executing an external program, by   internal functions, or by other means. It may interact with the   client or simply produce output like one of the standard directives.   ABNF   x-dir = "-X-" x-directive [space x-arguments] crlf *x-line   x-directive = 1*id-char   x-arguments = *any-char   x-response = *(*any-char crlf) response   x-line = *any-char crlf   Errors   338 Invalid directive syntax   400 Directive not available   401 Not authorized for directive   Examples   The following example uses an implementation that executes an   external program, the UNIX "date" command. The server runs the "date"   command and returns its output to the client.   C -X-date   S Mon Jan 6 13:21:20 EST 1997   S %okWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 39]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19973.4 Query   Description   The query allows the client to retrieve objects from the server's   database.  The server must support the following types of queries.      * Unrestricted query: It is a single word or a quoted string. The        server must return all the matching objects where one or more        attributes match the query, regardless of the class.      * Class-restricted query: It is a class name specified in front        of the unrestricted query. The server must return all the        matching objects where one or more attributes of the specified        class match the query.      * Attribute-restricted query: It is of the        "<attribute-name>=<search-string>" form. The server must return        all the matching objects where the specified attribute matches        the query.   The server may implement the following types of queries.      * Boolean operator query: It consists of simpler queries combined        using the "and" and "or" operators.      * Wild card query: It consists of an asterisk ("*") in the front        and/or at the end of the search string. The server may support        partial matching using the asterisk.   In response to the query, the server will return the objects that   match the query. If the server does not support complex queries,   with, for example, wild cards or boolean operators, the server may   return the "351 Query too complex" error. When the number of objects   found exceeds the limit (set by the "-limit" directive), the server   should return the objects, followed by the "330 Exceeded maximum   objects limit" error.   The default object output format is the dump format that uses the   "<class-name>:<attribute-name>;<type character>:<attribute-value>"   form.  The type character is optional and identifies the type of the   attribute value. The type character is a shorthand for the Type field   of the attribute definition (seeSection 2.3.1). The type characters   are defined as follows.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 40]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997    Type          Attribute    character     Type    T             TEXT    I             ID    S             SEE-ALSO   When no type character is given, the client should assume the "T"   type character. The server must provide the type character when the   attribute type is ID or SEE-ALSO. The purpose of the type character   is to aid the client in displaying the data. For example, when an   attribute value is an ID, the client may indicate to the end-user   that it is possible to retrieve the object indicated by the ID.   The server may return one or more referrals in the "%referral   rwhois://<host-name>:<port-number>/auth-area=<authority area>" form.   The client can distinguish multiple referrals by comparing their   authority areas; if all the referrals refer to the same authority   area, the client should follow only one of them. Otherwise, the   client should follow all of them. To follow a referral, the client   must connect to the specified host name and port number, and issue   the same query.   ABNF   rwhois-query = [class-name space] query crlf   query = query-string / attribute-query / query bin-boolean query   query-char = <any-char, except """, space, tab>   quoted-query-char = query-char / space / tab / "   query-string = ["*"] 1*query-char ["*"] / """ ["*"]           1*quoted-query-char ["*"] """   attribute-query = attribute-name "=" query-string   bin-boolean = "and" / "or"   rwhois-query-result = *(query-record / referral-record) response   query-record = 1*query-line crlf   query-line = class-name ":" attribute-name [";" type-char] ":"           attribute-value crlf   type-char = "T" / "I" / "S"   referral-record = 1*(referral-line crlf)   referral-line = "%referral" space referral-url   referral-url = "rwhois" ":" "//" host-port "/" "auth-area="                  authority-areaWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 41]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Errors   130 Object not authoritative   230 No objects found   330 Exceeded maximum objects limit   340 Invalid authority area   341 Invalid class   342 Invalid attribute   350 Invalid query syntax   351 Query too complex   Examples   This example illustrates a query, where no objects are found.   C vogon   S %error 230 No objects found   This example illustrates a query, where two different objects are   returned.   C ibm   S domain:ID:IBMLIFEPRO-DOM.com   S domain:Auth-Area:com   S domain:Domain-Name:IBMLIFEPRO.COM   S domain:Org-Name:IBM   S domain:Server;I:NS12345-HST.NET   S domain:Server;I:NS12345-HST.NET   S domain:Admin-Contact;I:TW1234.COM   S domain:Tech-Contact;I:BN123.NET   S domain:Updated:19961120123455000   S domain:Updated-By:autoreg@internic.net   S domain:Class-Name:domain   S   S network:ID:NET-IBMNET-3.0.0.0/0   S network:Auth-Area:0.0.0.0/0   S network:Network-Name:IBMNET-3   S network:IP-Network:123.45.67.0/24   S network:Org-Name:IBM   S network:Street-Address:1234 Maneck Avenue   S network:City:Black Plains   S network:State:NY   S network:Postal-Code:12345   S network:Country-Code:US   S network:Tech-Contact;I:MG305.COM   S network:Updated:19931120123455000   S network:Updated-By:joeblo@nic.ddn.mil   S network:Class-Name:networkWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 42]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   S   S %ok   This example illustrates a query with a class restrictor, where the   number of objects found exceeds the limit set by the "-limit"   directive.   C -limit 1   S %ok   C domain ibm   S domain:ID:IBMLIFEPRO-DOM.com   S domain:Auth-Area:com   S domain:Domain-Name:IBMLIFEPRO.COM   S domain:Org-Name:IBM   S domain:Server;I:NS12345-HST.NET   S domain:Server;I:NS12345-HST.NET   S domain:Admin-Contact;I:TW1234.COM   S domain:Tech-Contact;I:BN123.NET   S domain:Updated:19961120123455000   S domain:Updated-By:erice@internic.net   S domain:Class-Name:domain   S   S %error 330 Exceeded maximum objects limit   This is an example of attribute matching.   C domain Domain-Name=konabo.com   S domain:ID:12345678.com   S domain:Auth-Area:com   S domain:Domain-Name:konabo.com   S domain:Org-Name:ACME   S domain:Server;I:12345670.com   S domain:Server;I:12345671.com   S domain:Admin-Contact;I:12345660.com   S domain:Tech-Contact;I:12345665.com   S domain:Updated:19961120123455000   S domain:Updated-By:joeblo@internic.net   S domain:Class-Name:domain   S   S %ok   This example illustrates a link referral.   C domain a.b.rwhois.net   # The server returns a link referral to a server serving the   # b.rwhois.net authority area.   S %referral rwhois://master.b.rwhois.net:4321/auth-area=b.rwhois.net   S %okWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 43]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   This example illustrates a punt referral.   C domain internic.net   # The server returns a punt referral to a server serving the root   # authority area.   S %referral rwhois://rs.internic.net:4321/auth-area=.   S %ok   This example illustrates multiple referrals that refer to the same   authority area. The client should follow only one of them.   C domain a.b.rwhois.net   # The server returns link referrals to two RWhois servers serving the   # b.rwhois.net authority area.   S %referral rwhois://master.b.rwhois.net:4321/auth-area=b.rwhois.net   S %referral rwhois://slave.b.rwhois.net:4321/auth-area=b.rwhois.net   S %ok   This example illustrates multiple referrals that refer to different   authority areas. The client should follow all of them.   C contact Last-Name="Beeblebrox"   # The server returns a link referral to a server serving the   # b.rwhois.net authority area.   S %referral rwhois://master.b.rwhois.net:4321/auth-area=b.rwhois.net   # The server also returns a punt referral to a server serving the   # net authority area since the query matched an entry in the   # non-hierarchical index received from it.   S %referral rwhois://rs.internic.net:4321/auth-area=net   S %okWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 44]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   This is an example of a boolean operator and wildcard matching.   C ibm and jubliana*   S host:ID:JUBLIANA-HST.root   S host:Auth-Area:.   S host:Host-Name:JUBLIANA.TRL.IBM.CO.JP   S host:IP-Address:123.156.220.68   S host:Org-Name:IBM   S host:Street-Address:1234 Maneck Avenue   S host:City:Black Plains   S host:State:NY   S host:Postal-Code:12345   S host:Country-Code:US   S host:Updated:19961120123455000   S host:Updated-By:joeblo@nic.ddn.mil   S host:Class-Name:host   S   S %ok3.5 Connection Model   An RWhois client can connect to an RWhois server using one of the   following transport protocols.3.5.1 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)   TCP provides a reliable stream transport service between a client and   a server. In RWhois, TCP is the default transport protocol because,   during a particular session, a client can send more than one query   and a server can reliably return a large amount of data for each of   those queries. By default, a TCP RWhois server should run on the   standard, Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA)-assigned port   4321. However, if port 4321 is not available, it may run on an   available port in the non-reserved range (1024 - 65535).3.5.2 User Datagram Protocol (UDP)   UDP provides an unreliable connectionless transport service between a   client and a server. In RWhois, UDP may be used as the transport   protocol if a client wants to quickly send only one query, without   incurring the overhead of establishing a TCP connection with a   server. By default, a UDP RWhois server should run on the standard,   IANA-assigned port 4321. However, if port 4321 is not available, it   may run on an available port in the non-reserved range (1024 -   65535). A separate document will describe the use of UDP as the   transport protocol in RWhois.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 45]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19973.6 Data Replication   This section discusses when and how a slave server should replicate   data.  Further, it describes the server registration and location   mechanisms.3.6.1 When to Replicate Data   The time when a slave server may replicate data for an authority area   is determined by the SOA variables for that authority area. The   possible times are the following.      * When the "Refresh-Interval" expires, a slave server may        completely replicate data.      * When the "Increment-Interval" expires, a slave server may        incrementally replicate data.      * A slave server fails to connect to its master server to        replicate data. When the "Retry-Interval" expires, it tries        again to replicate data.      * When the data in an authority area is changed and its "Serial-        Number" updated, a master server may notify its slave servers to        immediately update the data. To notify about the data change,        the master server should send the "-notify update <host-        name>:<port-number>:<authority-area>" directive to its slave        servers.3.6.2 How to Replicate Data   To replicate data, a slave server sends a series of directives to its   master server and checks each response before sending the next   directive.  The following sections describe the protocols for   complete and incremental replication.   Complete Replication   The protocol between a master server and a slave server to completely   replicate data for an authority area is as follows.     1. The slave server should connect to the master server. If there        is a connection error, the slave server should log an error and        exit.     2. The slave server should send the "-soa <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the SOA variables from        the response. Let the "Serial-Number" variable in this response        be called the "old-serial-number".Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 46]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997     3. The slave server should send the "-class <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the versions of all the        classes from the response.     4. The slave server should send the "-schema <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the definitions of all        the classes from the response.     5. The slave server should send the "-xfer <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the data objects from        the response. The master server should return all the data        objects, excluding the deleted ones, in the authority area. The        slave server should index these data objects.     6. When the "Refresh-Interval" expires, the slave server should        to the master server. If there is a connection error, the slave        server should try again after the "Retry-Interval".     7. The slave server should send the "-soa <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the SOA variables from        the response. Let the "Serial-Number" variable in this response        be called the "new-serial-number". If the "new-serial-number" is        not greater than the "old-serial-number", go back to step 6.        Otherwise, it indicates a data change at the master server.     8. The slave server should send the "-class <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the versions of all the        classes from the response. If the version of any of the classes        has changed, the slave server should send the "-schema        <authority-area>" directive to the master server and parse the        definitions of all the classes from the response.     9. The slave server should send the "-xfer <authority-area>"        directive the master server and parse the data objects from the        response. The master server should return all the data objects,        excluding the deleted ones, in the authority area. The slave        server should index these data objects and seamlessly replace        the old index with the new one. Further, it should assign the        "new-serial-number" to the "old-serial-number".     10. Go back to step 6.   Note that the "-class", "-schema", and "-xfer" directives change when   a slave server replicates data for only a subset of the schema for an   authority area.   In the following example, a slave server completely replicates data   for all the classes in an authority area. The notation in the example   uses a prefix to indicate from where the information is coming. An   "M" indicates that the master server sends the data to the slave   server. An "S" indicates that the slave server sends the data to the   master server. The line is a comment when "#" is used. The space   after the prefix is not part of the data. The example authority area   is "rwhois.net".Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 47]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   # The slave server connects to the master server.   M %rwhois V-1.5:00ffff:00 master.rwhois.net   S -soa rwhois.net   M ...   M %soa serial:19970103102258000   M %soa refresh:3600   M ...   S -class rwhois.net   # The master server returns the versions of all the classes in the   # rwhois.net authority area.   S -schema rwhois.net   # The master server returns the definitions of all the classes in the   # rwhois.net authority area.   S -xfer rwhois.net   # The master server returns all the data objects, excluding the   # deleted ones, in the rwhois.net authority area. The slave server   # indexes these data objects.   # The refresh interval of 3600 seconds expires.   S -soa rwhois.net   M ...   M %soa serial:19970103103258000   M %soa refresh:3600   M ...   # The new serial number 19970103103258000 is greater than the old   # serial number 19970103102258000. It indicates a data change at the   # master server.   S -class rwhois.net   # The master server returns the versions of all the classes in the   # rwhois.net authority area. If the version of any of the classes has   # changed, the slave server logs an error and closes the connection.   S -xfer rwhois.net   # The master server returns all the data objects, excluding the   # deleted ones, in the rwhois.net authority area. The slave server   # indexes these data objects and seamlessly replaces the old index.   # The refresh interval of 3600 seconds expires.   S ...   Incremental Replication   The protocol between a master server and a slave server to   incrementally replicate data for an authority area is as follows.     1. The slave server should connect to the master server. If there        is a connection error, the slave server should log an error and        exit.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 48]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997     2. The slave server should send the "-soa <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the SOA variables from        the response. Let the "Serial-Number" variable in this response        be called the "old-serial-number".     3. The slave server should send the "-class <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the versions of all the        classes from the response.     4. The slave server should send the "-schema <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the definitions of all        the classes from the response.     5. The slave server should send the "-xfer <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the data objects from        the response. The master server should return all the data        objects, excluding the deleted ones, in the authority area. The        slave server should index these data objects.     6. When the "Increment-Interval" expires, the slave server should        connect to the master server. If there is a connection error,        the slave server should try again after the "Retry-Interval".     7. The slave server should send the "-soa <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the SOA variables from        the response. Let the "Serial-Number" variable in this response        be called the "new-serial-number". If the "new-serial-number" is        not greater than the "old-serial-number", go back to step 6.        Otherwise, it indicates a data change at the master server.     8. The slave server should send the "-class <authority-area>"        directive to the master server and parse the versions of all the        classes from the response. If the version of any of the classes        has changed, the slave server should send the "-schema        <authority-area>" directive to the master server and parse the        definitions of all the classes from the response. The slave        server should then send the "-xfer <authority-area>" directive        to the master server and parse the data objects from the        response. The master server should return all the data objects,        excluding the deleted ones, in the authority area. The slave        server should index these data objects and seamlessly replace        the old index with the new one. Further, it should assign the        "new-serial-number" to the "old-serial-number". If the version        of any of the classes has changed, go back to step 6.     9. The slave server should send the "-xfer <authority-area>        <old-serial-number>" directive to the master server and parse        the data objects from the response. The master server should        return all the data objects in the authority area that have been        inserted, updated, or deleted since the "old-serial-number". The        slave server should index all the data again after purging stale        data objects and seamlessly replace the old index with the new        one. Further, it should assign the "new-serial-number" to the        "old-serial-number".     10. Go back to step 6.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 49]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Note that the "-class", "-schema", and "-xfer" directives change when   a slave server replicates data for only a subset of the schema for an   authority area.   In the following example, a slave server incrementally replicates   data for all the classes in an authority area. The notation in the   example uses a prefix to indicate from where the information is   coming. An "M" indicates that the master server sends the data to the   slave server. An "S" indicates the slave server sends the data to the   master server. The line is a comment when "#" is used. The space   after the prefix is not part of the data. The example authority area   is "rwhois.net".   # The slave server connects to the master server.   M %rwhois V-1.5:00ffff:00 master.rwhois.net   S -soa rwhois.net   M ...   M %soa serial:19970103102258000   M %soa increment:1800   M ...   S -class rwhois.net   # The master server returns the versions of all the classes in the   # rwhois.net authority area.   S -schema rwhois.net   # The master server returns the definitions of all the classes in the   # rwhois.net authority area.   S -xfer rwhois.net   # The master server returns all the data objects, excluding the   # deleted ones, in the rwhois.net authority area. The slave server   # indexes these data objects.   # The increment interval of 1800 seconds expires.   S -soa rwhois.net   M ...   M %soa serial:19970103103258000   M %soa increment:1800   M ...   # The new serial number 19970103103258000 is greater than the old   # serial number 19970103102258000. It indicates a data change at   # the master server.   S -class rwhois.net   # The master server returns the versions of all the classes in the   # rwhois.net authority area. If the version of any of the classes has   # changed, the slave server logs an error and closes the connection.   S -xfer rwhois.net 19970103102258000Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 50]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   # The master server returns all the data objects in the rwhois.net   # authority area that have been inserted, updated, or deleted since   # 19970103102258000. The slave server indexes all the data again   # after purging stale data objects and seamlessly replaces the old   # index. The increment interval of 1800 seconds expires.   S ...3.6.3 Server Registration   This section discusses how an RWhois server can register itself or   cancel its registration as a slave server for an authority area with   a master server.   The initial list of slave servers for an authority area should be   manually configured at the master server. To register itself as a   slave server, the server should send the "-notify inssec <host-   name>:<port-number>:<authority-area>" directive to the master server.   The master server may reject the request on the basis of its   registration policy. To cancel its registration as a slave server,   the server should send the "-notify delsec <host-name>:<port-   number>:<authority-area>" directive to the master server. Note that   the "host-name" and "port-number" in the above directives correspond   to the requesting server.3.6.4 Server Location   To resolve a query in a particular authority area, an RWhois client   may need to first locate the master and slave servers for that   authority area.  The different server location mechanisms are as   follows.   Referrals   An RWhois client should know about at least one RWhois server. It   should send the "referral <authority-area>" query to that server. The   query may be routed up or down the RWhois tree before getting   resolved. If the query does get resolved, the result should be a   referral object for that authority area. The client should parse the   "Referral" attributes from the result to obtain a list of servers   serving that authority area.   The client should then send the "-soa <authority-area>" directive to   one of the above servers and parse the "Primary-Server" variable from   the response. The value of this variable is the master server. Then,   the remaining servers in the list are the slave servers.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 51]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   SRV RRs   The Server Resource Record (SRV RR), defined for DNS, can be used to   locate the master and slave servers for an authority area. An SRV RR   specifies the location of a network service in an organization's DNS.   It is defined in [RFC 2052] as follows.   Service.Proto.Name TTL Class SRV Priority Weight Port Target   Since an authority area identifier is generally a domain name or an   IP address, the RWhois SRV RRs can be added to the DNS file for that   domain or IP address. For example, the RWhois SRV RRs for the   "rwhois.net" authority area could be:   rwhois.tcp.rwhois.net. 86400 IN SRV 10 0 4321 master.rwhois.net.                                   SRV 20 0 4322 slave.rwhois.net.   where the "master.rwhois.net" server has a higher priority than the   "slave.rwhois.net" server. The client must try to connect to the   server with a higher (lower-numbered) priority.4. Security Considerations   RWhois provides security using the guardian class (seeSection2.3.6). Any information (meta or data) in an authority area can be   guarded by containing pointers to one or more guardian objects; that   is, it can be securely updated and accessed. Currently, there are two   standard security methods: password and PGP (seeSection 3.3.11).   Password provides authentication only, and PGP provides both   authentication and encryption.  PGP is the recommended security   method in RWhois.   The following sections discuss how to securely update and access the   data in an authority area.4.1 Data Update   This involves the ability to securely add, modify, or delete some   information (meta or data) in an authority area. An authority area,   on the whole, can be guarded by linking guardians to its SOA and   schema information. Only these guardians should be allowed to add   objects to the authority area and modify its SOA and schema   information. In addition, they can also modify or delete existing   objects in the authority area. However, the function of modifying or   deleting existing objects can be delegated to other guardians by   linking them to objects on a per-object basis.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 52]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 19974.2 Access Control   There are two access control issues; the first is the ability to   securely transfer data between the slave and master servers. To   transfer data for an authority area, a slave server can authenticate   itself by satisfying one of the guardians linked to the SOA   information of the authority area at the master server. In addition,   the master server may encrypt the transferred data.   The second issue is the ability to make public only a subset of the   data in an authority area. If all the objects of a particular class   need to be private, the Private attribute of the class should be set   to true. If only some attributes of all the objects of a particular   class need to be private, the Private attribute property of each of   those attributes should be set to true. The guardians of such objects   must be able to view them completely.5. Acknowledgments   The authors would like to acknowledge the following individuals.   Stan Borinski   C. Ming Lu   Leslie Meador   Michael Mealling   Greg Pierce   Amar Rao6. References   [CIP] Allen, J., "The Common Indexing Protocol (CIP)", Bunyip   Information Systems, November 1996, Work in Progress.   [Guardian] Singh, J., M. Kosters, "The InterNIC Guardian Object",ftp://rs.internic.net/policy/internic/internic-gen-1.txt, Network   Solutions, February 1996.   [RFC 821] Postel, J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", STD 10,RFC821, ISI, August 1982.   [RFC 822] Crocker, D, "Standards for the Format of ARPA Internet Text   Messages", STD 11,RFC 822, University of Delaware, August 1982.   [RFC 954] Harrenstien, K., Stahl, M., Feinler, E., "NICNAME/WHOIS",RFC 954, SRI, October 1985.   [RFC 1034] Mockapetris, P. V., "Domain names - concepts and   facilities", STD 13,RFC 1034, November 1987.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 53]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   [RFC 1714] Williamson, S., Kosters, M., "Referral Whois Protocol",RFC 1714, Network Solutions, November 1994.   [RFC 1738] T. Berners-Lee, L. Masinter, M. McCahill, "Uniform   Resource Locators (URL)",RFC 1738, CERN, Xerox Corporation,   University of Minnesota, December 1994.   [RFC 1991] Atkins, D.,  W. Stallings, P. Zimmermann, "PGP Message   Exchange Formats",RFC 1991, MIT, Comp-Comm Consulting, Boulder   Software Engineering, August 1996.   [RFC 2052] Gulbrandsen, A., P. Vixie, "A DNS RR for specifying the   location of services (DNS SRV)",RFC 2052, Troll Technologies, Vixie   Enterprises, October 1996.   [X.500] "The Directory: Overview of Concepts, Models and Service",   CCITT Recommendation X.500, 1988.Authors' Addresses   Scott Williamson (scottw@rwhois.net)   Mark Kosters (markk@internic.net)   David Blacka (davidb@rwhois.net)   Jasdip Singh (jasdips@rwhois.net)   Koert Zeilstra (kzeil@rwhois.net)   Postal Address:   505 Huntmar Park Drive   Herndon, VA 22070-5100   Telephone: 703-742-0400Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 54]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997Appendix A: Glossary Of Terms   ABNF: Augmented Backus-Naur Form. Refined version of BNF, defined in   [RFC 822]. See BNF.   Attribute: A named field and the smallest typed unit in a database   schema.  See Database Schema.   Authority Area: An autonomous part of an RWhois tree. It is   associated and named after a particular piece of a hierarchy and is   able to state authoritatively whether or not an instance of   hierarchical data is present within the RWhois tree. See RWhois Tree.   Banner: A line sent by a server indicating which protocol versions it   supports and which directives are implemented. This line is issued by   the server after a connection is opened and as a response to the "-   rwhois" directive. See Directive and Response.   Base Class: A class from which all defined classes in a database   schema inherit attributes. See Attribute, Class, and Database Schema.   BNF: Backus-Naur Form. Language to precisely define the syntax of   protocols and computer languages.   Class: A collection of attributes. See Attribute.   Complete Replication: The process of replicating all of the data for   an authority area. See Replication.   Database Schema: A collection of all the classes forming an RWhois   database. See Class.   Directive: A command that a client sends to a server to set a control   parameter for the session, get the meta-information (class   definitions and SOA information) about an authority area, or get the   data in an authority area. See Class and SOA.   Guardian Class: A standard class that contains security information.   An object is guarded by containing a pointer to a guardian object.   See Class and Object.   Incremental Replication: The process of replicating the data that has   changed since the last replication for an authority area. See   Replication.   Info: The miscellaneous information that a server sends to a client.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 55]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Lexically Hierarchical Label: A text string whose position in a   hierarchy is encoded in the string itself.   Link Referral: A pointer to another server that is further down an   RWhois tree. It is used to route a query down the tree. See Referral   and RWhois Tree.   Master Server: A server where the data is registered for an authority   area.  It answers authoritatively to queries in the authority area.   It is also called a primary server. See Authority Area.   Namespace: A particular naming system defined by a set of rules   describing the format of a name. Alternately, all of the names   satisfying the rules.   Object: An instance of a class. It is data with a type of <class>.   See Class.   PGP: Pretty Good Privacy. An authentication and encryption scheme.   Primary Server: See Master Server.   Punt Referral: A pointer to another server that is further up an   RWhois tree. It is used to route a query up the tree. See Referral   and RWhois Tree.   Query: A command that a client sends to a server to access the data   in an authority area.   Query Routing: Redirecting a query to another server for resolution.   See Query.   Referral: A pointer to another server that is presumed to be closer   to the desired data. It is used to route a query. See Query Routing.   Referral Class: A standard class that contains referral information   for an authority area. See Class and Referral.   Replication: A server duplicating data from another server on a per-   authority area basis. See Authority Area.   Response: The information that a server returns to a client for a   directive. See Directive.   Result: The information that a server returns to a client for a   query. It can be either the accessed data or referrals to other   servers. See Query and Referral.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 56]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   RWhois Tree: A data information tree of RWhois servers where the data   is arranged hierarchically in the authority areas. See Authority   Area.   Schema: See Class.   Secondary Server: See Slave Server.   Slave Server: A server where the data is replicated from the master   server for an authority area. It also answers authoritatively to   queries in the authority area. It is also called a secondary server.   See Master Server.   SOA: Start Of Authority. Administrative variables, defined at the   master server, to control replication for an authority area. See   Master Server and Replication.Appendix B: RWhois ABNF   This specification uses the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF)   notation, as defined inSection 2 of [RFC 822].   General Definitions   Lexical Tokens   alpha = "a".."z" / "A".."Z"   digit = "0".."9"   hex-digit = digit / "a".."f" / "A".. "F"   id-char = alpha / digit / "_" / "-"   any-char = <ASCII 1..255,              except LF (linefeed) and CR (carriage return)>   dns-char = alpha / digit / "-"   email-char = <see [RFC 822]>   space = " "   tab = <ASCII TAB (tab)>   lf = <ASCII LF (linefeed)>   cr = <ASCII CR (carriage return)>   crlf = cr lf   Grammar   year = 4digit   month = 2digit   day = 2digit   hour = 2digit   minute = 2digit   second = 2digitWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 57]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   milli-second = 3digit   host-name = dns-char *(dns-char / ".")   email = 1*email-char "@" host-name   authority-area = (dns-char / ".") *(dns-char / "." / "/")   object-id = 1*id-char "." authority-area   host-port = (host-name / ip-address) ":" 1*5digit   ip-address = 1*3digit "." 1*3digit "." 1*3digit "." 1*3digit   class-name = 1*id-char   attribute-name = 1*id-char   attribute-value = 1*any-char   time-stamp = year month day hour minute second milli-second   on-off = "on" / "off"   Note that the time-stamp must be in the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)   time zone.   response = ok-response crlf / error-response crlf / info-response   ok-response = "%ok"   error-response = "%error" space error-code space error-text   error-code = 3digit   error-text = 1*any-char   info-response = "%info" space "on" crlf *(*any-char crlf) "%info"           space "off" crlf   rwhois-banner = "%rwhois" space version-list space host-name           [space implementation] crlf   version-list = version *("," version)   version = version-number [":" capability-id]           / "V-1.5" ":" capability-id   version-number = "V-" 1*digit "." 1*digit   capability-id = response-id ":" extra-id   response-id = 6hex-digit   extra-id = 2hex-digit   implementation = 1*any-char   rwhois-protocol = client-sends / server-returns   client-sends = *(directives / rwhois-query)   server-returns = *(responses / rwhois-query-result)   directives = rwhois-dir / class-dir / directive-dir / display-dir /           holdconnect-dir / limit-dir / notify-dir / quit-dir /           register-dir / schema-dir / security-dir / soa-dir /           status-dir / xfer-dir / x-dirWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 58]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   responses = rwhois-response / class-response/ directive-response/           display-response/ holdconnect-response/ limit-response/           notify-response/ quit-response/ register-response/           schema-response / security-response/ soa-response/           status-response/ xfer-response/ x-response   Required Directives   rwhois   rwhois-dir = "-rwhois" space version-number [space implementation]                crlf   rwhois-response = "%rwhois" space version space host-name           [space implementation] crlf   Optional Directives   class   class-dir = "-class" space authority-area *(space class-name) crlf   class-response = *class-record response   class-record = *class-line "%class" crlf   class-line = "%class" space class-name ":" "description" ":"                1*any-char crlf      / "%class" space class-name ":" "version" ":" time-stamp crlf      / "%class" space class-name ":" meta-field ":" meta-value crlf   meta-field = 1*id-char   meta-value = 1*any-char   directive   directive-dir = "-directive" *(space directive-name)crlf   directive-name = 1*id-char   directive-response = *directive-record response   directive-record = "%directive" space "directive" ":"           directive-name crlf *directive-line "%directive" crlf   directive-line = "%directive" space "description" ":" 1*any-char crlf           / "%directive" space attribute-name ":" attribute-value crlfWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 59]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   display   display-dir = "-display" crlf      / "-display" space display-name crlf   display-name = 1*id-char   display-response = *display-record response   display-record = "%display" space "name" ":" display-name crlf   *display-line "%display" crlf   display-line = "%display" space attribute-name ":" attribute-value                  crlf   holdconnect   holdconnect-dir = "-holdconnect" space on-off crlf   holdconnect-response = response   limit   limit-dir = "-limit" space 1*digit crlf   limit-response = response   notify   notify-dir = "-notify" space "badref" space referral-query crlf           / "-notify" space "recurref" space referral-query crlf           / "-notify" space "update" space host-port ":" authority-area             crlf           / "-notify" space "inssec" space host-port ":" authority-area             crlf           / "-notify" space "delsec" space host-port ":" authority-area             crlf   referral-query = referral-url space [class-name space] query   notify-response = response   See the query section for the definitions of referral-url and query.   quit   quit-dir = "-quit" crlf   quit-response = responseWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 60]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   register   register-dir = register-on space "add" space maintainer-id crlf           register-add register-off           / register-on space "mod" space maintainer-id crlf                   register-mod register-off           / register-on space "del" space maintainer-id crlf                   register-del register-off   register-on = "-register" space "on"   register-off = "-register" space "off" crlf   register-add = 1*(register-line crlf)   register-mod = 1*(register-line crlf) "_NEW_" crlf                  1*(register-line crlf)   register-del = 1*(register-line crlf)   maintainer-id = email   register-line = attribute-name ":" attribute-value   register-on-response = response   register-off-response = "%register" space "ID" ":" object-id crlf                           response           / "%register" space "Updated" ":" time-stamp crlf response           / response   schema   schema-dir = "-schema" space authority-area *(space class-name) crlf   schema-response = *schema-record response   schema-record = *schema-line "%schema" crlf   schema-line = "%schema" space class-name ":" attribute-name ":"           attribute-value crlf   security   security-dir = "-security" space "on" space direction space           security-method [space security-data] crlf security-payload           ["-security" space "off" crlf]   direction = "request" / "response"   security-method = "password" / "pgp" / 1*id-char   security-data = password-data / pgp-data / 1*any-char   password-data = 1*any-char   pgp-data = "signed" / "encrypt" [space key-id] / "signed-encrypt"              [space key-id]   security-payload = *(*any-char crlf)   security-response = responseWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 61]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   soa   soa-dir = "-soa" *(space authority-area) crlf   soa-response = *soa-record response   soa-record = *soa-line "%soa" crlf   soa-line = "%soa" space "authority" ":" authority-area crlf      / "%soa" space "ttl" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%soa" space "serial" ":" time-stamp crlf      / "%soa" space "refresh" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%soa" space "increment" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%soa" space "retry" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%soa" space "tech-contact" ":" email crlf      / "%soa" space "admin-contact" ":" email crlf      / "%soa" space "hostmaster" ":" email crlf      / "%soa" space "primary" ":" host-port crlf      / "%soa" space attribute-name ":" attribute-value crlf   status   status-dir = "-status" crlf   status-response = *status-line response   status-line = "%status" space "limit" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%status" space "holdconnect" ":" on-off crlf      / "%status" space "forward" ":" on-off crlf      / "%status" space "authority" ":" 1*digit crlf      / "%status" space "display" ":" 1*any-char crlf      / "%status" space "contact" ":" email crlf      / "%status" space attribute-name ":" attribute-value crlf   xfer   xfer-dir = "-xfer" space authority-area *attribute-def           [space serial-number] crlf   attribute-def = [space "class=" class-name]                   *(space "attribute=" attribute-name)   serial-number = time-stamp   xfer-response = *xfer-record response   xfer-record = *xfer-line "%xfer" crlf   xfer-line = "%xfer" space class-name ":" attribute-name ":"               attribute-value crlf   X   x-dir = "-X-" x-directive [space *[x-arguments]] crlf   x-directive = 1*id-char   x-arguments = *any-char   x-response = *(*any-char crlf) responseWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 62]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Query   rwhois-query = [class-name space] query crlf   query = query-string / attribute-query / query bin-boolean query   query-char = <any-char, except """, space, tab>   quoted-query-char = query-char / space / tab / "   query-string = 1*query-char ["*"] / """ 1*quoted-query-char ["*"] """   attribute-query = attribute-name "=" query-string   bin-boolean = "and" / "or"   rwhois-query-result = *(query-record / referral-record) response   query-record = 1*query-line crlf   query-line = class-name ":" attribute-name [";" type-char] ":"           attribute-value crlf   type-char = "T" / "I" / "S"   referral-record = 1*(referral-line crlf)   referral-line = "%referral" space referral-url   referral-url = "rwhois" ":" "//" host-port "/" "auth-area="                  authority-areaAppendix C: Error Codes   When a server fails to run a command (directive or query), it returns   an error response. The ABNF for an error response is as follows.   error-response = "%error" space error-code space error-text   error-code = 3digit   error-text = 1*any-char   An error text may be modified, but its meaning must remain the same.   The server may append additional information to it, for example   "%error 333 Not master for authority area: foobar.com".Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 63]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   The following table describes the possible digits in the first,   second, and third positions of an error code.    XXX    Description    1XX    Information only, no action required    2XX    Information, action required    3XX    Specific command error, retry that command or try another one    4XX    Serious for current command, may correct with another command    5XX    Fatal, must disconnect    X0X    System wide, no specific command    X1X    System wide, no specific command    X2X    Registration error    X3X    Specific command    X4X    Specific command    X5X    Specific command    X6X    Extended message (version specific)    XXX    Sequential order   The following table gives an ordered list of RWhois error codes.   These codes may be extended with implementation- specific codes. An   implementation- specific code must have a "6" in the second position.    Code    Text    120     Registration deferred    130     Object not authoritative    230     No objects found    300     Not compatible with version    320     Invalid attribute    321     Invalid attribute syntax    322     Required attribute missing    323     Object reference not found    324     Primary key not unique    325     Failed to update outdated object    330     Exceeded maximum objects limit    331     Invalid limit    332     Nothing to transfer    333     Not master for authority area    336     Object not found    338     Invalid directive syntax    340     Invalid authority area    341     Invalid class    342     Invalid host/port    350     Invalid query syntax    351     Query too complex    352     Invalid security method    353     Authentication failed    354     Encryption failed    400     Directive not available    401     Not authorized for directiveWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 64]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997    402     Unidentified error    420     Registration not authorized    436     Invalid display format    500     Memory allocation problem    501     Service not available    502     Unrecoverable error    503     Idle time exceeded   The following error codes, defined in [RFC 1714], have been made   obsolete:  100, 200, 231, 334, 335, 337, 421, 431, 432, 433, 434,   460, 461, and 530.Appendix D: Capability ID   The capability ID encodes which directives are implemented in the   server.  To create a capability ID, perform a logical OR on all the   hexadecimal numbers corresponding to the implemented directives. The   resulting number is used in the banner, which is sent by the server   after opening a connection and as a response to the "-rwhois"   directive. The eight most significant bits of the capability ID are   reserved for future use:    class        000001h    directive    000002h    display      000004h    forward      000008h    holdconnect  000010h    limit        000020h    notify       000040h    quit         000080h    register     000100h    schema       000200h    security     000400h    soa          000800h    status       001000h    xfer         002000h    X            004000hWilliamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 65]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997Appendix E: Schema DefinitionsAttribute Definition Model Name         Type  Description Attribute    N     This is the name of the attribute. Description  S     This is a free-form description of the attribute. Type         T     This is a parameter that broadly indicates the use                    of the attribute to the protocol. There are three                    standard types: TEXT, ID, and SEE-ALSO. The default                    is TEXT, which indicates that the value is a text                    string.  ID indicates that the attribute contains                    the ID of another RWhois object. This type of                    attribute is used for database normalization. SEE-                    ALSO indicates that the attribute contains a pointer                    (a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)) to some other                    kind of external data; for example, a World Wide Web                    page or FTP site. Format       S     This is an interpretable string that describes the                    acceptance format of the value. The server (and                    optionally the client) should match the value to the                    format string to determine if the value is                    acceptable.  The format of this property is a                    keyword indicating the syntax of the format string,                    followed by a colon, followed by the format string                    itself. Currently, the only keyword recognized is                    "re" for POSIX.2 extended regular expressions. Indexed      B     This is a true or false flag that indicates that                    this attribute should be indexed (and therefore able                    to be searched). Required     B     This is a true or false flag that indicates that                    this attribute must have a value. Multi-Line   B     This is a true or false flag that indicates that                    this attribute may have multiple instances in an                    object; all the instances are to be considered as                    multiple lines of the same attribute instance.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 66]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997 Repeatable   B     This is a true or false flag that indicates that                    there may be multiple instances of this attribute in                    a class and each instance is to be interpreted as a                    separate instance (in contrast to Multi-Line). This                    flag is mutually exclusive with Multi-Line: if                    Multi-Line is true, then Repeatable must be false                    and vice versa. Primary      B     This is a true or false flag that indicates that                    this attribute is a primary key. If more than one                    attribute in a class is marked as primary, then                    these attributes together form a single primary key.                    The primary key is intended to be used to force                    uniqueness among class instances. Therefore, there                    can be only one instance of a primary key in a                    database. The Primary flag implies that the                    attribute is also required. Hierarchical B     This is a true or false flag that indicates that                    this attribute is lexically hierarchical. Private      B     This is a true or false flag that indicates whether                    or not this attribute is private (that is, publicly                    not viewable). It defaults to false. If it is true,                    then only the clients that satisfy the                    authentication/encryption requirements of a guardian                    are able to view the attribute-value pair.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 67]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997   Type is defined as follows:    Type  ABNF Definition     B     "ON" / "OFF"     N     1*id-char     S     1*any-char     T     "ID" / "SEE-ALSO" / "TEXT"   Base Class Name       Type   Required  RepeatableDescription Class-Name TEXT   Y         N         This attribute is the name of the                                       class to which the object                                       belongs. Auth-Area  TEXT   Y         N         This attribute is the name of the                                       authority area to which the                                       object belongs. ID         TEXT   Y         N         This attribute is the universal                                       identifier of the object. Updated    TEXT   Y         N         This attribute is a time/date                                       stamp that indicates the time of                                       last modification of the object. Guardian   ID     N         Y         This attribute is a link to a                                       guardian object. Its value is the                                       ID of a guardian object. Private    TEXT   N         N         This attribute is a true or false                                       flag that indicates whether or                                       not an object is private (that                                       is, publicly not viewable). It                                       defaults to false. If it is                                       true, then only the clients                                       that satisfy the                                       authentication/encryption                                       requirements of one of the                                       object's guardians are able to                                       view the object. If the object                                       is publicly viewable, then the                                       Private attribute property of                                       each of its attributes still                                       applies.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 68]

RFC 2167                    RWhois Protocol                    June 1997 TTL        TEXT   N         N         This attribute is the                                       "time-to-live" of a given object.                                       It is included only if an object                                       has a different time-to-live than                                       the default given in the Start of                                       Authority information. Its value                                       is specified in seconds.Appendix F: Changes RWhois V1.0 - V1.5   General      * Multiple authority areas per server.      * Data replication.      * Revised schema model.      * Revised query routing rules.      * Revised error codes.      * Removed unnecessary spaces in responses and results.   Directives      * Class: New. Returns meta-information for a class.      * Display: Can return supported display formats.      * Load: Obsolete.      * Notify: Syntax change.      * Private: Obsolete.      * Register: Syntax change.      * Schema: Syntax change.      * Security: Obsoletes Private.      * Xfer: Syntax change.   Query      * Display option removed.      * Output format: Only the dump format is standard; optional type        character added.      * Attribute-restricted query.      * Revised referral syntax.Williamson, et. al.          Informational                     [Page 69]