The IRP methodology clearly separates between requirements, the protocol neutral Information Service (IS) and the protocol specification called Solution Set (SS). One of the main targets when designing this architecture was to decouple IS and SS as it was assumed that an IS stays stable over a very long period of time whereas Solution Sets have a shorter life time since protocol technologies change more frequently as IT technology advances. CORBA IDL and SOAP WSDL are used as Solution Set technologies. The REST architectural style is very prominent for API design. The protocol of choice for implementing REST APIs became HTTP. JSON is replacing XML as data interchange format.

The present document evaluates REST, HTTP and JSON for their applicability to design and implement management interfaces. It provides also best practices and guidelines for designing management interfaces with REST, HTTP and JSON.