Network Working Group O. Levin
Request for Comments: 3508 RADVISION
Category: Informational April 2003
H.323 Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Scheme Registration
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 (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
ITU-T Recommendation H.323 version 4 introduced an H.323-specific
Uniform Resource Locator (URL). This document reproduces the H323-
URL definition found in H.323, and is published as an RFC for ease of
access and registration with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(IANA).
Conventions used in this document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC 2119 [2].
Table of Contents
1. Introduction...................................................22. URL Scheme Formal Syntax Definition and Character Encoding.....2
3. Intended Usage.................................................34. Applications and/or protocols, which may use H.323 URL scheme..3
5. Security Considerations........................................36. IANA Considerations............................................4
References........................................................4
Acknowledgments...................................................5
Author's Address..................................................5
Full Copyright Statement..........................................6
Levin Informational [Page 1]
RFC 3508 H.323 URL Scheme April 2003
ITU-T Recommendations H.323 [3] and H.225.0 [4] define a system for
multimedia communications services over packet based networks.
H.225.0 [4] defines an alias type for carrying any standard Uniform
Resource Locator (URL). H.323 version 4 [3] introduced an H.323-
specific URL, which may be used to resolve the address of a network
entity to which H.323 calls may be directed.
This document reproduces the H323-URL definition found in ITU-T
recommendation H.323 [3] and is published as an RFC for ease of
access and IANA registration.
The H.323 URL is defined in ABNF as shown below. Note that it
utilizes the Core Rules specified in section 6.1 of [2].
H323-URL = "h323:" address [ url-parameters ]
address = user / "@" hostport / user "@" hostport
user = 1*(%x21-24 / %x26-3F / %x41-7F / escaped)
; The symbols "%", "@", and symbols with
; a character value below 0x21 may be
; represented as escaped sequences.
hostport = host [ ":" port]
host = hostname / IPv4address / IPv6reference
hostname = *( domainlabel "." ) toplabel [ "." ]
domainlabel = alphanum / alphanum *( alphanum / "-" ) alphanum
toplabel = ALPHA / ALPHA *( alphanum / "-" ) alphanum
IPv4address = 1*3DIGIT "." 1*3DIGIT "." 1*3DIGIT "." 1*3DIGIT
IPv6reference = "[" IPv6address "]"
IPV6address = hexpart [ ":" IPv4address ]
hexpart = hexseq / hexseq "::" [ hexseq ] / "::" [ hexseq ]
hexseq = hex4 *( ":" hex4 )
hex4 = 1*4HEXDIG
port = 1*DIGIT
url-parameters = *( ";" url-parameter )
url-parameter = 1*(%x21-24 / %x26-3A / %x3C-7F / escaped)
; Specific parameter definitions are for
; further study.
; The symbols "%", ";", and symbols
; with a character value below 0x21 may be
; represented as escaped sequences.
alphanum = ALPHA / DIGIT
escaped = "%" HEXDIG HEXDIG
The host is case insensitive.
Levin Informational [Page 2]
RFC 3508 H.323 URL Scheme April 2003
The "user" is a Unicode [8] string that shall be UTF-8 [7] encoded
and then escaped as necessary. In the "user" field, the characters
with a numeric value below 0x80 are case insensitive and the
characters with a numeric value above or equal to 0x80 are case
sensitive.
The character set and case sensitivity of the "url-parameter" is
specified in each parameter definition.
The H.323 URL is intended to help an entity resolve the address of
another H.323 entity, where an "entity" may be a user, a device, or a
service. The "user" portion of the URL specifies an alias for the
entity, without carrying any information about the location of the
entity. The "hostport", on the other hand, is the domain name of an
Endpoint, Gatekeeper, Border Element, or other functional element to
which H.323 calls may be directed or for which services may be
performed.
H.323 URLs may be carried by other protocols, such as SIP [6] or TRIP
[9]. H.323 URLs may be also contained within web pages or within XML
data, which may be utilized by H.323 entities in order to initiate
calls or perform services.
When an H.323 URL is carried within H.225.0 [4] messages, security is
addressed by the H.235 security framework [5]. When an H.323 URL
carried within other protocols (such as SIP [6]), the security is
addressed within the corresponding protocol.
In general, security, as it relates to the usage and carriage of the
H.323 URLs, is considered as an issue that should be addressed within
scope of H.323 or other relevant protocols and is not within the
scope of this document.
Levin Informational [Page 3]
RFC 3508 H.323 URL Scheme April 2003
The purpose of this document is serving as a reference point for the
purposes of registering the H.323 URL scheme with IANA.
Having the URL registered with IANA will ensure that there is no
duplication of the URL scheme "h323". This document reproduces the
exact H323-URL definition as published in ITU-T Recommendation H.323
[3].
Registration Template
URL scheme name: h323
URL scheme syntax: Section 2 of RFC 3508
Character encoding considerations: Section 2 of RFC 3508
Intended usage: Section 3 of RFC 3508
Applications and/or protocols which use this scheme: Section 4 of
RFC 3508
Interoperability considerations: None. (Section 2 of RFC 3508
contains the first version of "h323" URL definition.)
Security considerations: Section 5 of RFC 3508
Relevant publications: [3] and [4]
Contact: Orit Levin, orit@radvision.com
Author/Change Controller: IESG
References
[1] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[2] Crocker, D., Editor, and P. Overell "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.
[3] ITU-T Recommendation H.323v.4 "Packet-based multimedia
communications systems", November 2000.
[4] ITU-T Recommendation H.225.0 "Call signalling protocols and
media stream packetization for packet-based multimedia
communication systems", November 2000.
Levin Informational [Page 4]
RFC 3508 H.323 URL Scheme April 2003
[5] ITU-T Recommendation H.235 "Security and Encryption for H Series
(H.323 and other H.245 based) multimedia terminals", November
2000.
[6] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A.,
Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M. and E. Schooler, "SIP:
Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261, June 2002.
[7] Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646", RFC
2279, January 1998.
[8] ISO/IEC 10646-1:1993, Information technology "Universal
Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (USC)" Part 1: Architecture
and Basic Multilingual Plane.
[9] Rosenberg, J., Salama, H. and M. Squire, "Telephony Routing over
IP (TRIP)", RFC 3219, January 2002.
Acknowledgments
This document is prepared and posted on behalf of SG-16 ITU-T. I
wish to thank Paul E. Jones, Robert Callaghan and Cullen Jennings for
their comments and active help.
Author's Address
Orit Levin
RADVISION
266 Harristown Road
Glen Rock, NJ USA
Phone: +1-201-689-6330
EMail: orit@radvision.com
Levin Informational [Page 5]
RFC 3508 H.323 URL Scheme April 2003
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
Levin Informational [Page 6]