URN Namespace for MEF Documents
Establishes a URN namespace for MEF Forum specifications.
Jethanandani, M., "URN Namespace for MEF Documents", RFC 7818, DOI 10.17487/RFC7818, March 2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7818>.
@misc{rfc7818,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 7818,
howpublished = {RFC 7818},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC7818},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7818},
author = {M. Jethanandani},
title = {{URN Namespace for MEF Documents}},
pagetotal = 5,
year = 2016,
month = mar,
} RFC text
Contents
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) M. Jethanandani
Request for Comments: 7818 Cisco Systems, Inc
Category: Informational March 2016
ISSN: 2070-1721
URN Namespace for MEF Documents
Abstract
This document describes the Namespace Identifier (NID) "mef" for
Uniform Resource Names (URNs) used to identify resources published by
MEF Forum (https://www.mef.net). MEF specifies and manages resources
that utilize this URN identification model. Management activities
for these and other resources types are handled by the manager of the
MEF Assigned Names and Numbers (MANN) registry.
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/rfc7818.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. URN Specification for MEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1. Introduction
The MEF Forum (MEF) is a nonprofit international industry standards
organization dedicated to the worldwide adoption of Carrier Ethernet
(CE) networks and services. The forum creates specifications in the
areas of Services, Architecture, and Operations and Management.
As part of these specifications efforts, there is a need to identify
identifiers in a managed namespace that are unique and persistent.
To ensure that this namespace's uniqueness is absolute, a
registration of a specific URN Syntax [RFC2141] Namespace Identifier
(NID) for use by MEF is being specified in this document.
1.1. Terminology
+---------+--------------------------------+
| Acronym | Meaning |
+---------+--------------------------------+
| CE | Carrier Ethernet |
| | |
| MANN | MEF Assigned Names and Numbers |
| | |
| MEF | MEF Forum |
| | |
| NID | Namespace Identifier |
| | |
| NSS | Namespace-Specific String |
| | |
| RDS | Resolution Discovery System |
| | |
| URN | Uniform Resource Name |
+---------+--------------------------------+
2. URN Specification for MEF
Namespace ID:
mef
Registration information:
registration version number: 1
registration date: 2016-02-08
Declared registrant of the namespace:
Registering organization
Name: MEF Forum
Address: 6033 W. Century Boulevard, Suite 1107
Los Angeles, CA 90045
United States
Designated contact:
Role: Manager, MEF Namespace
Email: namespace@mef.net
Declaration of syntactic structure:
The syntax of namespace-specific strings for the "mef" namespace
is <NSS> in RFC 2141.
Relevant ancillary documentation:
MEF publishes information regarding the registered resources in
the MEF Assigned Names and Numbers (MANN) registry
(https://www.mef.net/MANN).
Identifier uniqueness considerations:
MEF will manage resource classes using the "mef" NID and will be
the authority for managing resources and associated subsequent
strings. MEF is expected to guarantee the uniqueness of the
strings themselves, or it may permit secondary responsibility for
certain defined resources.
MEF could allow for use of experimental type values for testing
purposes only. Note that using experimental types may create
collisions as multiple users may use the same values for different
resources and specific strings.
Identifier persistence considerations:
MEF will update the MEF Assigned Names and Numbers (MANN) registry
to document the registered resources that will use the "mef" NID.
Process of identifier assignment:
Assignment of a URN from the MEF namespace will be documented as
part of the MEF Assigned Names and Numbers (MANN) registry.
Process of identifier resolution:
The namespace is not listed with a Resolution Discovery System
(RDS). Therefore, this process is not relevant.
Rules for Lexical Equivalence:
The entire URN is case-insensitive.
Conformance with URN Syntax:
No special considerations
Validation mechanism:
None specified. URN assignment will be handled by procedures
implemented in support of MEF activities.
Scope:
Global
3. Examples
The following are examples of URNs that MEF is looking to assign:
urn:mef:yang:mef-services
urn:mef:yang:mef-interfaces
4. Security Considerations
There are no security considerations other than those normally
associated with the use and resolution of URNs in general, which are
described in "Function Requirements for Uniform Resource Names"
[RFC1737] and "URN Syntax" [RFC2141].
5. IANA Considerations
Per this document, IANA has added a new entry ("mef") in the "Uniform
Resource Names (URN) Namespaces" registry available from the IANA
site (https://www.iana.org).
6. Normative References
[RFC1737] Sollins, K. and L. Masinter, "Functional Requirements for
Uniform Resource Names", RFC 1737, DOI 10.17487/RFC1737,
December 1994, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1737>.
[RFC2141] Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, DOI 10.17487/RFC2141,
May 1997, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2141>.
Author's Address
Mahesh Jethanandani
Cisco Systems, Inc
170 W. Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
United States
Phone: +1 408.526.8763
Email: mjethanandani@gmail.com
AI ELI5
On this page
§1MEF Forum and Carrier Ethernet
The MEF Forum is a nonprofit standards organization focused on Carrier Ethernet (CE) networks and services. It publishes specifications in Services, Architecture, and Operations and Management. As MEF's work expanded, the forum needed a persistent, globally unique namespace to identify and manage resources like data models, interface definitions, and service specifications.
URNs (Uniform Resource Names) provide persistent, location-independent identifiers. RFC 2141 defines URN syntax. A URN consists of a scheme ('urn'), a Namespace Identifier (NID), and a Namespace-Specific String (NSS). RFC 7818 registers 'mef' as an NID, allowing MEF to create URNs like 'urn:mef:yang:mef-services'.
MEF is an organization that writes standards for network engineers. They need permanent names for their documents that will not break if the website moves.
§2The URN Namespace Specification
The 'mef' namespace is managed by MEF through the MEF Assigned Names and Numbers (MANN) registry. MEF controls uniqueness and persistence of the identifiers. The organization can permit secondary responsibility for certain defined resources if needed. The namespace supports experimental identifiers for testing, though these may collide if multiple users use the same values. The entire URN is case-insensitive. Assignment is handled through MEF procedures and documented in the MANN registry. Unlike some namespaces, the 'mef' URN does not have a Resolution Discovery System, so resolution is not defined.
MEF manages the list of names it creates. Each name is unique and permanent. MEF decides the format and what each name means.
§3URN Examples
The 'mef' namespace has been used to identify MEF's specifications for Carrier Ethernet services and architecture. URNs like 'urn:mef:yang:mef-services' identify YANG data models that define network configuration schemas. These names are stable and can be referenced in documentation and tools without risk of link rot or moved resources.
MEF uses URNs to name things like 'urn:mef:yang:mef-services' so the names never change or break.