Network Working Group                                        L. Daigle
Request for Comments: 2958                    Thinking Cat Enterprises
Category: Informational                                   P. Faltstrom
                                                    Cisco Systems Inc.
                                                          October 2000


             The application/whoispp-response Content-type

Status of this Memo

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

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document defines the expression of Whois++ protocol (RFC1835)
   responses within MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
   (RFC2046) media types.  The intention of this document, in
   conjunction with RFC 2957 is to enable MIME-enabled mail software,
   and other systems using Internet media types, to carry out Whois++
   transactions.

1.  MIME Registration Information

   To: iana@isi.edu Subject:  Registration of MIME media type
   application/whoispp-response

   MIME Type name:         Application

   MIME subtype name:      whoispp-response

   Required parameters:    none

   Optional parameters:    none

   Encoding considerations: Any valid MIME encodings may be used

   Security considerations: This content-type contains purely
   descriptive information (i.e., no directives).  There are security
   considerations with regards to the appropriateness (privacy) of

   information provided through the use of this content-type, and the
   authenticity of the information so-provided.  This content-type
   provides no native mechanisms for authentication.

   Published specification:  this document

   Person & email address to contact for further information:

                           Leslie L. Daigle
                           leslie@thinkingcat.com

   Intended usage:         common

2.  whoispp-response Syntax

   The following grammar, which uses ABNF-like notation as defined in
   [RFC2234], defines a subset of responses expected from a Whois++
   server upon receipt of a valid Whois++ query.  As such, it describes
   the expected structure of a whoispp-response media type object.

   N.B.:  As outlined in the ABNF definition, rule names and string
   literals are in the US-ASCII character set, and are case-insensitive.

      server          =   goodmessage mnl output mnl endmessage nl
                          / badmessage nl endmessage nl

      output          =   full / abridged / summary / handle

      full            =   0*(full-record / server-to-ask)

      abridged        =   0*(abridged-record / server-to-ask)

      summary         =   summary-record

      handle          =   0*(handle-record / server-to-ask)

      full-record     =   "# FULL " template serverhandle localhandle
                                 system-nl
                          1*(fulldata system-nl)
                          "# END" system-nl

      abridged-record =   "# ABRIDGED " template serverhandle localhandle
                             system-nl
                          abridgeddata
                          "# END" system-nl

      summary-record  =  "# SUMMARY " serverhandle system-nl
                          summarydata
                          "# END" system-nl

      handle-record   =  "# HANDLE " template serverhandle localhandle
                                  system-nl

      server-to-ask   =   "# SERVER-TO-ASK " serverhandle system-nl
                          server-to-askdata
                          "# END" system-nl

      fulldata        =   " " attributename ": " attributevalue

      abridgeddata    =   " " 0*( attributevalue / tab )

      summarydata     =   " Matches: " number system-nl
                          [" Referrals: " number system-nl]
                          " Templates: " template 0*( system-nl "-"
                                                      template)

      server-to-ask-data = " Server-Handle:" serverhandle system-nl
                          " Host-Name: " hostname system-nl
                          " Host-Port: " number system-nl
                          [" Protocol: " prot system-nl]
                          0*(" " labelstring ": " labelstring system-nl)

      attributename   =   1*attrbyte

      attrbyte        =   <%d33-127 except specialbyte>

      attributevalue  =   longstring

      template        =   labelstring

      serverhandle    =   labelstring

      localhandle     =   labelstring

      hostname        =   labelstring

      prot            =   labelstring

      longstring      =   bytestring 0*( nl ( "+" / "-" ) bytestring )

      bytestring      =   0*charbyte

      labelstring     =   0*restrictedbyte

      restrictedbyte  =   <%d32-%d255 except specialbyte>

      charbyte        =   <%d32-%d255 except nl>

      specialbyte     =   ":" / " " / tab / nl

      tab             =   %d09

      mnl             =   1*system-nl

      system-nl       =   nl [ 1*(message nl) ]

      nl              =   %d13 %d10

      message         =   [1*( messagestart "-" bytestring nl)]
                          messagestart " " bytestring nl

      messagestart    =   "% " digit digit digit

      goodmessage     =   [1*( goodmessagestart "-" bytestring nl)]
                          goodmessagestart " " bytestring nl

      goodmessagestart=   "% 200"

      messagestart    =   "% " digit digit digit

      badmessage      =   [1*( badmessagestart "-" bytestring nl)]
                          badmessagestart " " bytestring nl

      badmessagestart =   "% 5" digit digit

      endmessage      =   endmessageclose

      endmessageclose =   [endmessagestart " " bytestring nl]
                          byemessage

      endmessagestart =   "% 226"

      byemessage      =   byemessagestart " " bytestring nl

      endmessagestart =   "% 203"

      number          =   1*( digit )

      digit           =   "0" / "1" / "2" / "3" / "4" / "5" / "6" / "7"
                          / "8" / "9"

3.  Security Considerations

   Security issues are discussed in section 1.

4.  References

   [ALVE95]  Alvestrand H., "Tags for the Identification of Languages",
             RFC 1766, March 1995.

   [RFC2234] Crocker, D. and P. Overell,  "Augmented BNF for Syntax
             Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.

   [RFC2957] Daigle, L. and P. Faltstrom, "The application/whoispp-query
             Content-Type", RFC 2957, October 2000.

   [RFC1835] Deutsch, P., Schoultz R., Faltstrom P. and C. Weider,
             "Architecture of the WHOIS++ service", RFC 1835, August
             1995.

   [HARR85]  Harrenstein, K., Stahl, M. and E. Feinler, "NICNAME/WHOIS",
             RFC 954, October 1985.

   [POST82]  Postel J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", STD 10, RFC
             821, August 1982.

   [IIIR]    Weider C. and P. Deutsch, "A Vision of an Integrated
             Internet Information Service", RFC 1727, December 1994.

   [WINDX]   Weider, C., Fullton J. and S. Spero, "Architecture of the
             Whois++ Index Service", RFC 1913, February 1996.

5.  Authors' Addresses

   Leslie L. Daigle
   Thinking Cat Enterprises

   Email:  leslie@thinkingcat.com


   Patrik Faltstrom
   Cisco Systems Inc
   170 W Tasman Drive SJ-13/2
   San Jose CA 95134
   USA

   EMail: paf@cisco.com
   URL:   http://www.cisco.com

6.  Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

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Acknowledgement

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   Internet Society.