Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                        A. Murdock
Request for Comments: 7467                               NATO C&I Agency
Category: Informational                                       April 2015
ISSN: 2070-1721

    URN Namespace for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Abstract

   This document allocates a formal Uniform Resource Name (URN)
   namespace for assignment by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
   (NATO), as specified in RFC 3406.  At this time, the URN will be used
   primarily to uniquely identify Extensible Markup Language (XML)
   artefacts that provide information about NATO message text formats
   and service specifications as described in various NATO standards,
   instructions, and publications.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7467.

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Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ................................................ 2
   2. Specification Template ...................................... 3
      2.1. Namespace ID ........................................... 3
      2.2. Registration Information ............................... 3
      2.3. Declared Registrant of the Namespace ................... 3
      2.4. Declaration of Syntactic Structure ..................... 3
      2.5. Relevant Ancillary Documentation ....................... 4
      2.6. Identifier Uniqueness Considerations ................... 4
      2.7. Identifier Persistence Considerations .................. 4
      2.8. Process of Identifier Assignment ....................... 5
      2.9. Process for Identifier Resolution ...................... 5
      2.10. Rules for Lexical Equivalence ......................... 5
      2.11. Conformance with URN Syntax ........................... 5
      2.12. Validation Mechanism .................................. 5
      2.13. Scope ................................................. 5
   3. Namespace Considerations .................................... 6
   4. Community Considerations .................................... 6
   5. Security Considerations ..................................... 7
   6. IANA Considerations ......................................... 7
   7. Conclusions ................................................. 7
   8. References .................................................. 7
      8.1. Normative References ................................... 7
      8.2. Informative References ................................. 8
   Acknowledgments ................................................ 8
   Author's Address ............................................... 8

1.  Introduction

   Historically, NATO has used standardized character-oriented message
   text formats (MTF) to interoperate, report, and exchange information
   both among its commands and with national entities, commercial
   partners, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).  These MTFs are
   generated using the NATO Message Text Formatting System (FORMETS) in
   accordance with the rules, constructions, and vocabulary specified
   within the Allied Data Publication Number 3 (ADatP-3).  Almost 400
   NATO-defined messages that conform to ADatP-3 are contained in the
   Allied Procedural Publication Number 11 (APP-11) NATO Message
   Catalogue [7].

   Prior to 2008, these messages were only available as slash-delimited
   textual messages.  Since 2008, the APP-11 message catalogue also
   includes XML-MTF definitions for these messages, giving rise to a
   need to define and manage a URN namespace to name the XML namespaces.
   To address this need, this document requests that a formal URN space
   type be assigned as described in Section 4.3 of RFC 3406.

2.  Specification Template

2.1.  Namespace ID

   The Namespace ID (NID) "nato" has been assigned by IANA.

2.2.  Registration Information

   Version 1
   Date: 2014-09-11

2.3.  Declared Registrant of the Namespace

   Registering Organization:
      Name: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
            Communications & Information Agency (NCIA)
      Address: SHAPE, 7010, Belgium
      Declared Contact: NATO Naming and Addressing Registration
                        Authority (NRA)
      Email: nra@ncia.nato.int

2.4.  Declaration of Syntactic Structure

   The Namespace Specific String (NSS) of all URNs that use the "nato"
   NID shall have the following structure:

   <URN> ::= "urn:" "nato" ":" <NSS>

   <NSS> ::= <Type> | <Type> ":" <Source> |
             <Type> ":" <Source> 1*( ":" <segment> )

   <Type> ::= 1*<non-colon chars>

   <Source> ::= 1*<non-colon chars>

   <segment>  ::= 1*<non-colon chars>

   <non-colon chars> ::= <non-colon trans> | "%" <hex> <hex>

   <non-colon trans> ::= <upper> | <lower> | <number> |
                         <non-colon other>

   <hex>         ::= <number> | "A" | "B" | "C" | "D" | "E" | "F" |
                     "a" | "b" | "c" | "d" | "e" | "f"

   <non-colon other> ::= "(" | ")" | "+" | "," | "-" | "." |
                     "=" | "@" | ";" | "$" |"_" | "!" | "*" | "'"

   The "Type" is the top-level segment of the NSS.  It is a required
   US-ASCII string, subject to the above syntax, that conforms to the
   URN syntax requirements (see RFC 2141 [1]).  It identifies a
   particular category or type of named resources, such as "mtf".

   The "Source" is the second-level segment of the NSS, belonging to the
   "Type" context.  At this time, not all "Type" segments have "Source"
   children, making "Source" an optional US-ASCII string, subject to the
   above syntax and conformant to the URN syntax requirements (see RFC
   2141 [1]).  "Source" identifies a particular standard, catalogue, or
   other relevant specifications.

   The NATO Naming and Registration Authority (NRA) functions as a Local
   Internet Registry under RIPE NCC and will also serve as the
   responsible registrar for assigning the first two levels of segments
   within the NSS ("Type" and "Source").  The NRA may directly assign
   segments below these levels of the namespace hierarchy, or delegate
   assignment responsibilities for segments below the second level
   (i.e., below "Source") at its discretion.  In either case, the NRA
   will ensure that a registry of the resulting namespace is maintained.

2.5.  Relevant Ancillary Documentation

   ADatP-3 - NATO, "Concept of NATO Message Text Formatting System
   (Conformets) - ADatP-3 (A)", STANAG 5500 - Edition 7, November 2010.

2.6.  Identifier Uniqueness Considerations

   The NRA, as registrar, shall directly ensure the global uniqueness of
   the assigned strings.  Though responsibility for administration of
   sub-trees may be delegated, these shall not be published to the
   registry or be requested to be resolved by any URN resolver until the
   uniqueness of the resulting urn:nato URN has been validated against
   the existing contents of the registry.  URN identifiers shall be
   assigned to one resource at most and not reassigned.

2.7.  Identifier Persistence Considerations

   The Registrar may assign URNs in sub-trees below the level of Type or
   Standard; however, once registered, URNs shall not be reassigned.
   Within the registry, their status as "active" or "archive" shall be
   recorded.

2.8.  Process of Identifier Assignment

   A namespace-specific string within the NATO namespace will only be
   assigned upon advancement of a relevant specification.  The Registrar
   will check all requested identifiers against the existing
   registrations within urn:nato to ensure uniqueness and encourage
   relevance.

   The assignment may include delegated registration activities for the
   sub-tree if underpinned by supporting agreements.  Otherwise, such
   responsibilities remain with the NRA as the overarching Registrar.
   In any case, the URN must be registered with appropriate metadata
   before an authorized request for URN resolution can be initiated (if
   necessary).

2.9.  Process for Identifier Resolution

   The namespace is not currently listed with a Resolution Discovery
   System (RDS) [3].  In the future, URNs from this namespace may be
   resolved using a NATO listing in an RDS, using a third-party-listed
   resolver, an unlisted private resolver, or some combination of these.
   The resolution method for each segment will be registered with the
   NRA Registrar.

2.10.  Rules for Lexical Equivalence

   No special considerations.  The rules for lexical equivalence
   specified in RFC 2141 apply.

2.11.  Conformance with URN Syntax

   No special considerations.

2.12.  Validation Mechanism

   None specified.  It will be conducted as part of the application for
   identifier registration as indicated in preceding paragraphs.

2.13.  Scope

   Global.

3.  Namespace Considerations

   In addition to the large number of XML message specifications that
   now exist in APP-11, there are other existing and emerging NATO
   standard messages expressed as XML, as well as ongoing Web service
   specification development.  With no single NID registered to NATO,
   some of these specifications may be established within locally
   relevant, self-generated URN namespaces.  Not only does this inhibit
   the portability and adoption intended by standards development [5],
   it risks name collisions when exposed to the global context of the
   federation of partners for which these messages are destined.

   The use of Uniform Resource Names with an appropriate Namespace ID
   will enable the various NATO standards committees and working groups
   [6] to use unique, relevant, reliable, permanent, managed, and
   accessible namespace names for their XML products.

   A dedicated namespace also provides NATO the opportunity to leverage
   the use of URNs for persistent naming of non-XML resources.

4.  Community Considerations

   The NATO standards development community, and those implementing such
   standards, will benefit from publication of this namespace by having
   more permanent and reliable names for the XML namespaces defined
   within STANAGs, the MTF catalogue (APP-11), and other published
   standards [5].

   Though these are NATO-published standards [5], they represent the
   consensus of multi-national working groups, are implemented in
   commercial products, and are used by partners within the
   international community.

   In the case of MTF standards [7], the responsibility for its
   development and maintenance belongs to the NATO C3 Board's Message
   Text Formats (MFT) Capability Team [6].  This team is "open to all
   recognized NATO Partners around the Globe in principle.  The term
   'Partners around the Globe' summarizes all partners that are listed
   on the NATO webpage: Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), NATO's
   Mediterranean Dialogue (MD), Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI)
   and Partners across the globe" [8].

5.  Security Considerations

   Since the URNs in this namespace are opaque, there are no additional
   security considerations other than those normally associated with the
   use and resolution of URIs and URNs in general (see the Security
   Considerations in Internet STD 66 [4], RFC 2141 [1], and BCP 66 [2]).

   It is noted, however, that resolution algorithms and rules for
   handling invalid URNs are opaque.  Therefore, attempting to resolve a
   NATO URN through a resolver other than one operated or delegated by
   NATO may return outdated, incorrect, or confusing results.

   Distribution of NATO information in any form is subject to its
   security policies.  Nonetheless, this specification is for public use
   and not subject to any NATO security policies.

6.  IANA Considerations

   This document registers the formal URN NID "nato", which has been
   entered into the "Formal URN Namespaces" IANA registry [9].  Per
   Section 4.3 of RFC 3406 [2], formal NIDs are assigned via IETF
   Consensus and are subject to IESG review and acceptance.  The
   registration template is given in Section 2.

7.  Conclusions

   It is necessary that NATO ensures its messages, service
   specifications, and other XML artefacts are based in namespaces that
   can be described using unique, persistent, and managed URNs.
   Considering its role as an information broker between many disparate
   communities, this document registers a formal namespace identifier
   (NID) "nato" for Uniform Resource Names (URN) associated with NATO
   information products and vocabularies: urn:nato.

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

   [1]  Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997,
        <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2141>.

   [2]  Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom,
        "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms",
        BCP 66, RFC 3406, October 2002,
        <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3406>.

   [3]  Sollins, K., "Architectural Principles of Uniform Resource Name
        Resolution", RFC 2276, January 1998,
        <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2276>.

   [4]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
        Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC 3986,
        January 2005, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3986>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [5]  NATO, "List of Current NATO Standards",
        <http://nso.nato.int/nso/nsdd/listpromulg.html>.

   [6]  NATO, "NATO HQ C3 Staff Main Page",
        <https://nhqc3s.hq.nato.int/Default.aspx>.

   [7]  NATO, "NATO Message Catalogue - APP-11(C) Change 1" STANAG 7149,
        Edition 5, September 2010.

   [8]  NATO, "Request to open MTF CaT to all NATO Partners", document
        AC/322-N(2014)0091-AS1, 2014.  Available from the NATO Public
        Diplomacy Division.

   [9]  IANA, "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespaces",
        <http://www.iana.org/assignments/urn-namespaces>.

Acknowledgments

   The author acknowledges and appreciates the support and expertise
   provided by Nanda Kol, Ulrich Ritgen, and the urn-nid review team.

Authors' Address

   Aidan Murdock
   NATO C&I Agency
   Core Enterprise Services
   Naming and Registration Authority
   SHAPE, Belgium
   7010

   EMail: Aidan.murdock@ncia.nato.int