update on EDIINT Features

Draft                  EDI-INT Features Header          February 2006 

 
   Private                                                   K. Meadors 
   Internet-Draft                                   Drummond Group Inc. 
   Document: draft-meadors-ediint-features-               February 2006 
   header-01.txt 
   Expires: August 2006                                                 
   Target Category: Informational                                       

    

                          EDI-INT Features Header 
                draft-meadors-ediint-features-header-01.txt 

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Abstract 

   With the maturity of the EDI-INT standard of AS1, AS2 and AS3, 
   applications and additional features are being built upon the basic 

 
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   secure transport functionality. These features are not necessarily 
   supported by all EDI-INT applications and could cause potential 
   problems with implementations  

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 RFC-2119. 

Feedback Instructions 

   NOTE TO RFC EDITOR:  This section should be removed by the RFC editor 
   prior to publication. 

   If you want to provide feedback on this draft, follow these 
   guidelines: 

   -Send feedback via e-mail to kyle <at> drummondgroup.com, with "EDIINT 
   Features Header" in the Subject field. 

   -Be specific as to what section you are referring to, preferably 
   quoting the portion that needs modification, after which you state 
   your comments. 

   -If you are recommending some text to be replaced with your suggested 
   text, again, quote the section to be replaced, and be clear on the 
   section in question. 

 
Table of Contents 

   1. Introduction...................................................2 
   2. EDIINT Features Header Syntax..................................3 
   3. Implementation and Processing..................................3 
   4. EDI-INT Applications...........................................3 
   5. Features Update Message........................................4 
   6. Security Considerations........................................4 
   7. References.....................................................4 
      7.1 Normative References.......................................4 
      7.2 Informative References.....................................5 
   Author's Address..................................................5 

    
1. 
   Introduction 

   EDI-INT applications provide for a secure means of payload document 
   transport. The original intent was for transport of a single EDI or 
   XML document. However, as AS1 [AS1], AS2 [AS2] and AS3 [AS3] matured, 

 
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   other features and application logic were implemented upon EDI-INT 
   standards. Since these features go beyond but do not violate the 
   basic premise of EDI-INT, a means is needed to communicate to trading 
   partners features which are supported by the originating user agent. 
   The EDIINT Features header indicates the capability of the user agent 
   to support the listed feature with its trading partner without out-
   of-band communication and agreement. 

2. 
  EDIINT Features Header Syntax 

   The EDIINT Features header can appear in the header section of an 
   AS1, AS2 and AS3 message. Its BNF syntax is listed below. 

   Feature = "EDIINT-Features: " Feature-Name 1*("," Feature-Name) 

   Feature-Name = Feature-Token 

   Feature-Token = %d48-57 /  ; 0-9 
                  %d65- 
                        90 /  ; A-Z 
                  %d97-122 / ; a-z 
                  "-" 

   The Feature-Token allows for feature names to be specified and can 
   only contain alphanumeric characters along with the hyphen. Feature 
   names are case-insensitive. 

3. 
  Implementation and Processing 

   The EDIINT Features header indicates the originating user agent is 
   capable of supporting the features listed. The feature header MUST be 
   present in all messages transmitted by the user agent and not just 
   messages which utilize the feature. Upon examination of the feature 
   header, the trading partner SHOULD assume the user agent is capable 
   of receiving messages utilizing any of the features listed. 

   The features listed MUST be supported by existing IETF RFC or RFC-
   track Internet-draft standards. These standards MUST describe the 
   feature name which is listed in the header and the means which it 
   should be used. 

4. 
  EDI-INT Applications 

   Since AS1 uses email and the EDIINT Features header is not a 
   registered header with IANA, the header MUST be preceded by a "X-" to 
   be used. If the receiving trading partner does not support EDIINT 
   Features, it can choose to ignore the header because of the "X-". 
   Because AS2 and AS3 utilize transports of HTTP and FTP, respectively, 
   which allow the application to ignore headers which it does not 
   recognize, the addition of the EDIINT Features header in AS2 and AS3 

 
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   can be done without affecting trading partners who have not 
   implemented the header. 

   AS2 and AS3 applications currently use a version header, AS2-Version 
   and AS3-Version, respectively, to indicate functional support. The 
   EDIINT Features header tremendously improves the purpose and function 
   of the old version header. However, to provide a connection from the 
   old version header and the EDIINT Features header, AS2 and AS3 
   applications which implement the EDIINT Features header MUST use the 
   version value of "1.2" to indicate the support of the Feature header. 
   Also, since version "1.1" indicates the implementation supports 
   compression [COMPRESS] and "1.2" builds upon "1.1", AS2-Version or 
   AS3-Version of "1.2" MUST support compression regardless of whether 
   it is mentioned as a feature in the EDIINT Features header. 

5. 
  Features Update Message 

   When a user agent upgrades its features, either adding or removing 
   features, it SHOULD notify its trading partners who support EDIINT 
   Features by sending a Features Update message. The Features Update 
   message has only headers does not have a body, and the EDIINT 
   Features header contains the new list of supported features. This 
   message should only go to trading partners using version "1.2" and 
   EDIINT Features header. 

6. 
  Security Considerations 

   Because headers are often un-encrypted, it may be possible for the 
   feature header to be altered. Trading partners MAY consult out-of-
   band to confirm feature support. 

7. 
  References 
7.1 
    Normative References 

   [AS1] RFC3335 “MIME-based Secure Peer-to-Peer Business Data 
      Interchange over the Internet using SMTP”, T. Harding, R. 
      Drummond, C. Shih, 2002. 

   [AS2] RFC4130 “MIME-based Secure Peer-to-Peer Business Data 
      Interchange over the Internet using HTTP”, D. Moberg, R. 
      Drummond, 2005. 

   [AS3] draft-ietf-ediint-as3-03.txt “MIME-based Secure Peer-to-Peer 
      Business Data Interchange over the Internet using FTP”, T. 
      Harding, R. Scott, 2005. 

   [COMPRESS] draft-ietf-ediint-compression-04.txt “Compressed Data for 
      EDIINT”, T. Harding, 2005. 

 

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7.2 
   Informative References 

   [RFC2828] RFC2828 “Internet Security Glossary”, R. Shirley, May 2000. 

   [RFC2119] RFC2119 “Key Words for Use in RFC's to Indicate Requirement 
      Levels”, S.Bradner, March 1997. 

    
Author's Address 

   Kyle Meadors 
   Drummond Group Inc. 
   4700 Bryant Irvin Court, Suite 303 
   Fort Worth, TX  76107 USA 
   Email: kyle <at> drummondgroup.com 

    
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