Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for the National Emergency Number Association (NENA)

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          B. Rosen
Request for Comments: 6061                                       NeuStar
Category: Informational                                     January 2011
ISSN: 2070-1721


Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for the National Emergency Number
                           Association (NENA)

Abstract

   This document describes the Namespace Identifier (NID) "nena" for
   Uniform Resource Name (URN) resources published by the National
   Emergency Number Association (NENA).  NENA defines and manages
   resources that utilize this URN model.  Management activities for
   these and other resource types are provided by the NENA Registry
   System (NRS).

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/rfc6061.

Copyright Notice

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Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. URN Specification for "nena" NID ................................2
   3. Examples ........................................................4
   4. Namespace Considerations ........................................5
   5. Community Considerations ........................................5
   6. Security Considerations .........................................6
   7. IANA Considerations .............................................6
   8. Acknowledgements ................................................6
   9. References ......................................................7
      9.1. Normative References .......................................7
      9.2. Informative References .....................................7

1.  Introduction

   The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) is currently in the
   process of setting standards, processes, and procedures for the use
   of an IP-based Emergency Services IP Network (ESInet) for all public
   safety entities in North America.  Some of the solutions being
   developed by NENA require XML namespaces that are managed so that
   they are unique and persistent.  To assure that the uniqueness is
   absolute, the registration of a specific Uniform Resource Name (URN)
   [RFC2141] Namespace ID (NID) for use by NENA is required.  This
   document defines and registers such a namespace in accordance with
   [RFC3406].

2.  URN Specification for "nena" NID

   Namespace ID: nena

   Registration information:

      registration version number: 1

      registration date: 2010-10-13

   Declared registrant of the namespace:

      Registering organization
         Name:       National Emergency Number Association (NENA)
         Address:    4350 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 750
                     Arlington, VA  22203-1695

   Designated contact:

      Role:    NENA Registry Services Administrator
      Email:   nrs-admin@nena.org
   Declaration of syntactic structure:

      The Namespace Specific String (NSS) of all URNs that use the
      "nena" NID will have the following structure:
         {NENAclass}:{ClassSpecificString}

   The "NENAclass" conforms to the URN syntax requirements [RFC2141] and
   defines a specific class of resource type.  Each class will have a
   specific labeling scheme that is covered by "ClassSpecificString",
   which also conforms to the naming requirements of [RFC2141].

   NENA maintains a naming authority, the National Emergency Number
   Association (NENA) Registry System (NRS), that will manage the
   assignment of "NENAclass" and the specific registration values
   assigned for each class.  Other NENA standards documents will define
   the "ClassSpecificStrings" for a given "NENAclass".

   Relevant ancillary documentation:

      The National Emergency Number Association Registry System (NRS)
      provides information on the registered resources and the
      registrations for each.  More information about the NRS and the
      registration activities and procedures to be followed are defined
      in "NENA Registry System Standard", NENA 70-001 [NENA70-001],
      which is available at http://www.nena.org/.

   Identifier uniqueness considerations:

      The NRS will manage resources using the "nena" NID and will be the
      authority for managing the resources and subsequent strings
      associated.  The NRS shall ensure the uniqueness of all nena URNs
      by checking such names against the list of existing namespace
      names, as documented in NENA 70-001 [NENA70-001].

   Identifier persistence considerations:

      The NRS will provide clear documentation of the registered uses of
      the "nena" NID.  The NRS will establish a registry for
      "NENAclass", as defined in NENA08-003 [NENA08-003].  Each
      "NENAclass" will have a separate description in the registry and
      may have its own sub-registry.  In particular, new "NENAclass"
      registry entries will require a full NENA Technical Standard
      document.

   The NRS will maintain a website at a stable address that provides XML
   and text renderings of the urn:nena registry.

   Process of identifier assignment:

      The NRS processes and procedures for identifier assignment are
      documented in NENA 07-001 [NENA70-001].  The registry that will
      control the urn:nena namespace is defined in NENA 08-003
      [NENA08-003].  In particular, assignments to the "NENAclass"
      registry will require a NENA Technical Standard document.
      Subregistries for particular "NENAclasses" may be established by
      such technical standards.  Subregistries may be defined to have
      more liberal management policies as defined in NENA 70-001
      [NENA70-001], but must be NRS managed and will not be permitted to
      be delegated to any other organization or registry.  Thus, the NRS
      will manage the entire urn:nena tree.

   Process for identifier resolution:

      The namespace is not currently listed with a Resolution Discovery
      System (RDS), but nothing about the namespace prohibits the future
      definition of appropriate resolution methods or listing with
      an RDS.

   Rules for lexical equivalence:

      No special considerations; the rules for lexical equivalence of
      [RFC2141] apply.

   Conformance with URN syntax:

      No special considerations.

   Validation mechanism:

      None specified.  URN assignment will be handled by procedures
      implemented in support of NENA activities.

   Scope:

      Global

3.  Examples

   The following examples are representative URNs that could be assigned
   by the NRS.  They may not be the actual strings that would be
   assigned.

   NENAresource "psaproute"
   Syntax: "urn:nena:emergencyresponders:<responder name>"
   ResourceSpecificString: simple string with name of responder,
                           defined in a subregistry
   Use: Defines the URN to be used for queries to an NG9-1-1 Emergency
   Call Routing Function that provides URIs for responding agencies.

   Examples:

      urn:nena:emergencyresponders:ambulance
      urn:nena:emergencyresponders:fire
      urn:nena:emergencyresponders:police
      urn:nena:emergencyresponders:poison
      urn:nena:emergencyresponders:coastguard
      urn:nena:emergencyresponders:marine

4.  Namespace Considerations

   The National Emergency Number Association has developed standards for
   emergency calling in North America for several decades.  NENA is
   developing a variety of applications and services using Internet
   protocols built upon IETF standards.  Some of these services require
   that supporting information (e.g., data descriptions, attributes,
   etc.) be fully specified.  For proper operation, descriptions of the
   needed supporting information must exist and be available in a
   unique, reliable, and persistent manner.  These dependencies provide
   the basis of the need for namespaces, in one form or another, and
   will enable NENA to define URNs that are to assign cleaner, more
   general, more permanent, more reliable, and more controllable
   namespace names related to NENA standards, while keeping URNs defined
   by NENA properly separate from the IETF-defined URNs.

   As the National Emergency Number Association work is ongoing and
   covers many technical areas, the possibility of binding to various
   other namespace repositories has been deemed impractical.  Each
   object or description, as defined in NENA, could possibly be related
   to multiple different namespaces, so further conflicts of association
   could occur.  Thus, the intent is to utilize the National Emergency
   Number Association Registry System, operated by NENA, as the naming
   authority for NENA-defined objects and descriptions.

5.  Community Considerations

   The North American public safety organizations will benefit from
   publication of this namespace by having permanent and reliable URNs
   to be used with protocols defined by NENA.  The objects and
   descriptions required for services defined by NENA are generally
   available for use by other organizations.  The National Emergency
   Number Association will provide access and support for name requests
   by these organizations within the constraints of the defined NRS
   processes and the specific urn:nena registry and subregistries.  This
   support can be enabled in a timely and responsive fashion as new
   objects and descriptions are produced.  These will be enabled in a
   fashion similar to current IANA processes, as documented in
   NENA70-001 [NENA70-001].

   The NRS establishes registries when called for in a NENA Technical
   Standard.  Such standards must provide the NRS with clear and concise
   instructions on creating and maintaining such registries.  Defined
   management policies include "NENA Technical Standard Required", "NENA
   Document Required", "Expert Review", and "First Come First Served",
   which correspond to similar IANA management policies.  NENA is
   establishing a website that provides controlled entry of new
   registries and entries in registries, and automatically produces HTML
   and XML descriptions of registry contents that are used by vendors
   and other consumers of the content.

6.  Security Considerations

   There are no additional security considerations other than those
   normally associated with the use and resolution of URNs in general.

7.  IANA Considerations

   This document adds a new entry in the URN Namespaces registry.  The
   namespace is "nena".  The defining document is this RFC.  The entry
   can be found in the Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespaces registry
   available from http://www.iana.org and any associated mirrors.

8.  Acknowledgements

   The author thanks Alfred Hoenes (TR-Sys) for his careful reading and
   extensive comments and suggestions.  The author also acknowledges
   that the text from [RFC4358] formed the basis of this document.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2141]      Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.

9.2.  Informative References

   [NENA08-003]   NENA, "Detailed Functional and Interface Specification
                  for the NENA i3 Solution - Stage 3", NENA Standard
                  08-003, September 2010.

   [NENA70-001]   NENA, "NENA Registry System Standard", NENA
                  Standard 70-001, September 2009.

   [RFC3406]      Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P.
                  Faltstrom, "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace
                  Definition Mechanisms", BCP 66, RFC 3406,
                  October 2002.

   [RFC4358]      Smith, D., "A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace
                  for the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)", RFC 4358,
                  January 2006.

Author's Address

   Brian Rosen
   NeuStar, Inc.
   470 Conrad Dr.
   Mars, PA  16046
   US

   EMail: br@brianrosen.net