One document matched: draft-ietf-sip-gruu-03.txt
Differences from draft-ietf-sip-gruu-02.txt
SIP J. Rosenberg
Internet-Draft Cisco Systems
Expires: August 22, 2005 February 21, 2005
Obtaining and Using Globally Routable User Agent (UA) URIs (GRUU) in
the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
draft-ietf-sip-gruu-03
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is subject to all provisions
of section 3 of RFC 3667. By submitting this Internet-Draft, each
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RFC 3668.
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).
Abstract
Several applications of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) require
a user agent (UA) to construct and distribute a URI which can be used
by anyone on the Internet to route a call to that specific UA
instance. A URI which routes to a specific UA instance is called a
Globally Routable UA URI (GRUU). This document describes an
extension to SIP for obtaining a GRUU from a server, and for
communicating a GRUU to a peer within a dialog.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Defining a GRUU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.1 REFER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.2 Conferencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.3 Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. Overview of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. Creation of a GRUU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
7. Obtaining a GRUU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.1 Through Registrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.1.1 User Agent Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.1.2 Registrar Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
7.2 Administratively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8. Using the GRUU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.1 Sending a Message Containing a GRUU . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.2 Sending a Message to a GRUU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8.3 Receiving a Request Sent to a GRUU . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8.4 Proxy Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.4.1 Request Targeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8.4.2 Record Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9. Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
10. Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
11. Example Call Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
12. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
13. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
13.1 Header Field Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
13.2 URI Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
13.3 Media Feature Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
13.4 SIP Option Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
14. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
15. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
15.1 Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
15.2 Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
A. Example GRUU Construction Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
A.1 Encrypted Instance ID and AOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
A.2 Hashed Indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . 33
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1. Introduction
The Session Initiation Protocol, RFC 3261 [1] is used to establish
and maintain a dialog between a pair of user agents in order to
manage a communications session. Messages within the dialog are sent
from one user agent to another using a series of proxy hops called
the route set, eventually being delivered to the remote target - the
user agent on the other side of the dialog. This remote target is a
SIP URI obtained from the value of the Contact header field in INVITE
requests and responses.
RFC 3261 mandates that a user agent populate the Contact header field
in INVITE requests and responses with a URI that is global (meaning
that it can be used from any element connected to the Internet), and
that routes to the user agent which inserted it. RFC 3261 also
mandates that this URI be valid for requests sent outside of the
dialog in which the Contact URI was inserted.
In practice, these requirements have proven very difficult to meet.
Endpoints often have only an IP address and not a hostname that is
present in DNS, and this IP address is frequently a private address,
because the client is behind a NAT. Techniques like the Simple
Traversal of UDP Through NAT (STUN) [15] can be used to obtain IP
addresses on the public Internet. However, many firewalls will
prohibit incoming SIP requests from reaching a client unless they
first pass through a proxy sitting in the DMZ of the network. Thus
URIs using STUN-obtained IP addresses often do not work.
Because of these difficulties, most clients have actually been
inserting URIs into the Contact header field of requests and
responses with the form sip:<IP-address>. These have the property of
routing to the client, but they are generally only reachable from the
proxy to which the user is directly connected. This limitation does
not prevent normal SIP calls from proceeding, since the user's proxy
can usually reach these private addresses, in addition to being
reachable over the public network. However, this issue has impacted
the ability of several other SIP mechanisms and applications to work
properly.
An example of such an application is call transfer [21], based on the
REFER method [7]. Another application is the usage of
endpoint-hosted conferences within the conferencing framework [17].
Both of these mechanisms require the endpoint to be able to construct
a URI that not only routes to that user agent, but is usable by other
entities anywhere on the Internet as a target for new SIP requests.
This specification formally defines a type of URI called a Globally
Routable User Agent URI (GRUU) which has the properties of routing to
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the UA and being reachable from anywhere. Furthermore, it defines a
new mechanism by which a client can obtain a GRUU from its SIP
provider, allowing it to use that URI in the Contact header fields of
its dialog forming requests and responses. Since the GRUU is
provided by the user's SIP provider, the GRUU properties can be
guaranteed by the provider. As a result, the various applications
which require the GRUU property, including transfer, presence, and
conferencing, can work reliably.
2. Terminology
In this document, the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED",
"SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY",
and "OPTIONAL" are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [5] and
indicate requirement levels for compliant implementations.
This specification also defines the following additional terms:
contact: The term "contact", when used in all lowercase, refers to a
URI that is bound to an AOR or GRUU by means of a registration. A
contact is usually a SIP URI, and is bound to the AOR and GRUU
through a REGISTER request by appearing as the value of the
Contact header field.
remote target: The term "remote target" refers to a URI that a user
agent uses to identify itself for receipt of subsequent requests
mid-dialog. A remote target is established by placing a URI in
the Contact header field of a dialog forming request or response.
Contact header field: The term "Contact header field", with a
capitalized C, refers to the header field which can appear in
REGISTER requests and responses, redirects, or in dialog creating
requests and responses. Depending on the semantics, the Contact
header field sometimes conveys a contact, and sometimes conveys a
remote target.
3. Defining a GRUU
A GRUU is a SIP URI which has three characteristics:
Global: It can be used by any UAC connected to the Internet. In that
regard, it is like an address-of-record (AOR) for a user. The
address-of-record for a user, sip:joe@example.com, is meant to be
used by anyone to reach that user. The same is true for a GRUU.
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Routes to a Single Instance: It routes to a specific UA instance. In
that regard, it is unlike an address-of-record. When a request is
sent to a normal AOR which represents a user, routing logic is
applied in proxies to deliver the request to one or more UAs.
That logic can result in a different routing decision based on the
time-of-day, or the identity of the caller. However, when a
request is made to a GRUU, the routing logic is dictated by the
properties of a GRUU. The request has to be delivered to a very
specific UA instance. That UA instance has to be the same UA
instance for all requests sent to that GRUU. This does not mean
that a GRUU represents a fundamentally different type of URI; it
only means that the logic a proxy applies to a GRUU is going to
generally be simpler than that it applies to a normal AOR.
Long Lived: The GRUU persists for relatively long periods of time,
ideally being valid for the duration of existence of the AOR
itself. This property cannot be completely guaranteed, but
providers are supposed to do their best to make sure that a GRUU
remains viable indefinitely.
4. Use Cases
There are several use cases where the GRUU properties are truly
needed in order for a SIP application to operate.
4.1 REFER
Consider a blind transfer application [21]. User A is talking to
user B. User A wants to transfer the call to user C. So, user A
sends a REFER to user C. That REFER looks like, in part:
REFER sip:C@example.com SIP/2.0
From: sip:A@example.com;tag=99asd
To: sip:C@example.com
Refer-To: (URI that identifiers B's UA)
The Refer-To header field needs to contain a URI that can be used by
user C to place a call to user B. However, this call needs to route
to the specific UA instance which user B is using to talk to user A.
If it didn't, the transfer service would not execute properly. This
URI is provided to user A by user B. Because user B doesn't know who
user A will transfer the call to, the URI has to be usable by anyone.
Therefore, it needs to be a GRUU.
4.2 Conferencing
A similar need arises in conferencing [17]. In that framework, a
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conference is described by a URI which identifies the focus of the
conference. The focus is a SIP UA that acts as the signaling hub for
the conference. Each conference participant has a dialog with the
focus. One case described in the framework is where a user A has
made a call to user B. User A puts user B on hold, and calls user C.
Now, user A has two separate dialogs for two separate calls - one to
user B, and one to user C. User A would like to conference them. To
do this, user A's user agent morphs itself into a focus. It sends a
re-INVITE or UPDATE [4] on both dialogs, and provides user B and user
C with an updated remote target that now holds the conference URI.
The URI in the Contact header field also has a callee capabilities
[11] parameter which indicates that this URI is a conference URI.
User A proceeds to mix the media streams received from user B and
user C. This is called an ad-hoc conference.
At this point, normal conferencing features can be applied. That
means that user B can send another user, user D, the conference URI,
perhaps in an email. User D can send an INVITE to that URI, and join
the conference. For this to work, the conference URI used by user A
in its re-INVITE or UPDATE has to be usable by anyone, and it has to
route to the specific UA instance of user A that is acting as the
focus. If it didn't, basic conferencing features would fail.
Therefore, this URI has to be a GRUU.
4.3 Presence
In a SIP-based presence [22] system, the Presence Agent (PA)
generates notifications about the state of a user. This state is
represented with the Presence Information Document Format (PIDF)
[20]. In a PIDF document, a user is represented by a series of
tuples, each of which describes the services that the user has. Each
tuple also has a URI in the <contact> element, which is a SIP URI
representing that device. A watcher can make a call to that URI,
with the expectation that the call is routed to the service whose
presence is represented in the tuple.
In some cases, the service represented by a tuple may exist on only a
single user agent associated with a user. In such a case, the URI in
the presence document has to route to that specific UA instance.
Furthermore, since the presence document could be used by anyone who
subscribes to the user, the URI has to be usable by anyone. As a
result, it has to be a GRUU.
It is interesting to note that the GRUU may need to be constructed by
a presence agent, depending on how the presence document is computed
by the server.
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5. Overview of Operation
This section is tutorial in nature, and does not specify any
normative behavior.
This extension allows a UA to obtain a GRUU, and to use a GRUU.
These two mechanisms are separate, in that a UA can obtain a GRUU in
any way it likes, and use the mechanisms in this specification to use
them. Similarly, a UA can obtain a GRUU but never use it. This
specification defines two mechanisms for obtaining a GRUU - through
registrations, and through administrative operation. Only the former
requires protocol operations.
A UA can obtain a GRUU by generating a normal REGISTER request, as
specified in RFC 3261 [1]. This request contains a Supported header
field with the value "gruu", indicating to the registrar that the UA
supports this extension. The UA includes a "sip.instance" media
feature tag in the Contact header field of each contact for which a
GRUU is desired. This media feature tag contains a globally unique
ID that identifies the UA instance. If the domain that the user is
registering against also supports GRUU, the REGISTER responses will
contain the "gruu" parameter in each Contact header field. This
parameter contains a GRUU which the domain guarantees will route to
that UA instace. The GRUU is associated with the UA instace. Should
the client change its contact, but indicate that it represents the
same instance ID, the server would provide the same GRUU.
Furthermore, if the registration for the contact expires, and the UA
registers the contact at a later time with the same instance
identifier, the server would provide the same GRUU.
Since the GRUU is a URI like any other, it can be handed out by a UA
by placing it in any header field which can contain a URI. A UA will
normally place the GRUU into the Contact header field of dialog
creating requests and responses it generates; RFC 3261 mandates that
the Contact header field have the GRUU property, and this
specification provides a reliable way for a UA to obtain one. In
other words, clients can use the GRUU as a remote target. However,
since the remote target used by clients to date has typically not had
the GRUU properties, implementations have adapted their behaviors
(oftentimes in proprietary ways) to compensate. To facilitate a
transition away from these behaviors, it is necessary for a UA
receiving the message to know whether the remote target is a GRUU or
not. To make this determination, the UA looks for the presence of
the Supported header field in the request or response. If it is
present with a value of "gruu", it means that the remote target is a
GRUU.
When a UA uses a GRUU, it has the option of adding the "grid" URI
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parameter to the GRUU. This parameter is opaque to the proxy server
handling the domain. However, when the server maps the GRUU to the
contact bound to it, the server will copy the grid parameter into the
contact. As a result, when the UA receives the request, the Request
URI will contain the grid parameter it placed in the corresponding
GRUU.
6. Creation of a GRUU
A GRUU is a URI that is created and maintained by a server
authoritative for the domain in which the GRUU resides.
Independently of whether the GRUU is created as a result of a
registration or some other means, a server maintains certain
information associated with the GRUU. This information, and its
relationship with the GRUU, is modeled in Figure 2.
+-----------+ +-----------+
| | associated | |
| |1 with 1| |
| AOR |<----------------| GRUU |
| | | |
| | | |
+-----------+ +-----------+
^1 is ^^ |1
| bound // |
is| to// |associated
bound| // |with
to| // |
| // |
|0..n // V1
+-----------+ // +-----------+
| | / 0..1 | |
| | | |
| contact |---------------->| Instance |
| |1 has 1| ID |
| | | |
+-----------+ +-----------+
Figure 2
The instance ID plays a key role in this specification. It is an
indentifier, represented by a URI, that uniquely identifies a SIP
user agent amongst all other user agents associated with an AOR. The
instance ID allows a domain to create a GRUU that maps to the same UA
instance, even if the contact of that instance changes. Furthermore,
the instance ID allows a domain to enforce the restriction that a
specific UA instance can only be registered once against an AOR.
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When elements compliant to this specification compare two instance
IDs for equality, the comparison is done using the equality rules for
the scheme associated with that URI.
A GRUU is associated, in a one-to-one fashion, with the an AOR and an
instance ID. This combination is referred to as an instance ID/AOR
pair. For each GRUU, there is one instance ID/AOR pair, and for each
instance ID/AOR pair, there is one GRUU. The instance ID/AOR pair
serves to uniquely identify a user agent instance servicing a
specific AOR. The AOR identifies a resource, such as a user or
service within a domain, and the instance ID identifies a specific UA
instance servicing requests for that resource. For each GRUU, both
the SIP and SIPS versions MUST exist.
It is important to understand that GRUU is associated with the
instance ID/AOR pair, not just the instance ID. For example, if a
user registered the contact sip:ua@pc.example.com to the AOR
sip:user@example.com, and included a +sip.instance="urn:foo:1"
parameter in the Contact header field, and also registered the same
contact with the same +sip.instance Contact header field parameter to
a second AOR, say sip:boss@example.com, each of those UA instances
would have a different GRUU, since they belong to different AORs.
In many ways, a GRUU is a parallel to an AOR. Just as a contact can
be bound to an AOR, a contact can be bound to a GRUU. However, any
number of contacts can be bound to an AOR; only zero or one can be
bound to a GRUU. The contact that is bound to the GRUU is always the
one that has the instance ID associated with that GRUU. If none of
the contacts bound to the AOR have the instance ID associated with
the GRUU, then there are no contacts bound to the GRUU. If a contact
should become registered to the AOR that has an instance ID equal to
the one associated with the GRUU, that contact also becomes bound to
the GRUU. If that contact should expire, it will no longer be bound
to the AOR, and similarly, it will no longer be bound to the GRUU.
The URI of the contact is irrelevant in determining whether it is
bound to a particular GRUU; only the instance ID and AOR are
important.
Because only a single contact with a particular instance ID can be
bound to an AOR at a time, no more than one contact can be bound to a
GRUU at a time.
This specification does not mandate a particular mechanism for
construction of the GRUU. Several example approaches are given in
Appendix A. However, the GRUU MUST exhibit the following properties:
o The domain part of the URI is an IP address present on the public
Internet, or, if it is a host name, the resolution procedures of
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RFC 3263 [2], once applied, result in an IP address on the public
Internet.
o When a request is sent to the GRUU, it routes to a proxy server in
the same domain as that of the registrar.
o A proxy server in the domain can determine that the URI is a GRUU.
o When a proxy server in this domain receives a request sent to a
URI that is a GRUU, that URI MUST be translated to the contact
bound to that GRUU, if there is one.
Since the GRUU is associated with both the instance ID and AOR, for
any particular AOR there can be a potentially infinite number of
GRUU, one for each instance ID. Ideally, each of these GRUUs exist
in a domain for as long as the AOR exists in a domain. In this
context, the GRUU exists if the domain, upon receiving a request for
that GRUU, recognizes it as a GRUU, can determine the AOR and
instance ID associated with it, and translate the GRUU to a contact
if there is one with that instance ID currently registered. However,
for some mechanisms of GRUU construction, the GRUU for a particular
instance ID may not exist until a registration of a contact with that
instance ID occurs, and certain failure conditions may cause the GRUU
to be forgotten. As a result, it is RECOMMENDED that a GRUU exist
from the time a contact with an instance ID is first registered to an
AOR, until the time that the AOR is no longer valid in the domain.
This requirement is at RECOMMENDED strength, and not MUST, due solely
to the difficulty in meeting this requirement.
7. Obtaining a GRUU
A GRUU can be obtained in many ways. This document defines two -
through registrations, and through administrative operation.
7.1 Through Registrations
When a GRUU is associated with a user agent that comes and goes, and
therefore registers to the network to bind itself to an AOR, a GRUU
is provided to the user agent through SIP REGISTER messages.
7.1.1 User Agent Behavior
7.1.1.1 Generating a REGISTER Request
When a UA compliant to this specification generates a REGISTER
request (initial or refresh), it MUST include the Supported header
field in the request. The value of that header field MUST include
"gruu" as one of the option tags. This alerts the registrar for the
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domain that the UA supports the GRUU mechanism.
Furthermore, for each contact for which the UA desires to obtain a
GRUU, the UA MUST include a "sip.instance" media feature tag as a UA
characteristic [11]. As described in [11], this media feature tag
will be encoded in the Contact header field as the "+sip.instance"
Contact header field parameter. The value of this parameter MUST be
a URN [10]. [11] defines equality rules for callee capabilities
parameters, and according to that specification, the "sip.instance"
media feature tag will be compared by case sensitive string
comparison. Those equality rules apply only to the generic usages
defined there and in the caller preferences specification [19]. When
the instance ID is used in this specification, it is effectively
"extracted" from the value in the "sip.instance" media feature tag,
and thus equality comparisons are performed using the rules for URN
equality specific to the scheme in the URN. If the element
performing the comparisons does not understand the URN scheme, it
performs the comparisons using the lexical equality rules defined in
RFC 2141. Lexical equality may result in two URN being considered
unequal when they are actually equal. In this specific usage of
URNs, the only element which provides the URN is the SIP UA instance
identified by that URN. As a result, the UA instance SHOULD provide
lexically equivalent URNs in each registration it generates. This is
likely to be normal behavior in any case; clients are not likely to
modify the value of the instance ID so that it remains functionally
equivalent to previous registrations, but lexigraphically different.
This specification makes no normative recommendation on the specific
URN that is to be used in the "+sip.instance" Contact header field
parameter. However, the URI MUST be selected such that the instance
can be certain that no other instance registering against the same
AOR would choose the same URI value. Usage of a URN is a MUST since
it provides a persistent and unique name for the UA instance,
allowing it to obtain the same GRUU over time. It also provides an
easy way to guarantee uniquess within the AOR. However, this
specification does not require a long-lived and persistent instance
identifier to properly function, and in some cases, there may be
cause to use an identifier with weaker temporal persistence.
One URN that readily meets the requirements of this specification is
the UUID URN [23], which allows for non-centralized computation of a
URN based on time, unique names (such as a MAC address) or a random
number generator. An example of a URN that would not meet the
requirements of this specification is the national bibliographic
number [16]. Since there is no clear relationship between an SIP UA
instance and a URN in this namespace, there is no way a selection of
a value can be performed that guarantees that another UA instance
doesn't choose the same value.
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Besides the presence of the "gruu" option tag in the Supported header
field and the "+sip.instance" Contact header field parameter, the
REGISTER request is constructed identically to the case where this
extension was not understood. Specifically, the contact in the
REGISTER request SHOULD NOT contain the gruu Contact header field
parameter, and the contact URI itself SHOULD NOT contain the grid
parameter defined below. Any such parameters are ignored by the
registrar, as the UA cannot propose a GRUU for usage with the
contact.
If a UA wishes to guarantee that the request is not processed unless
the domain supports and uses this extension, it MAY include a Require
header field in the request with a value that contains the "gruu"
option tag.
7.1.1.2 Processing the REGISTER Response
If the response is a 2xx, each Contact header field that contained
the "+sip.instance" Contact header field parameter may also contain a
"gruu" parameter. This parameter contains a SIP or SIPS URI that
represents a GRUU corresponding to the UA instance that registered
the contact. The URI will be a SIP URI if the To header field in the
REGISTER request contained a SIP URI, else it will be a SIPS URI if
the To header field in the REGISTER request contained a SIPS URI.
Any requests sent to the GRUU URI will be routed by the domain to the
contact with that instance ID. The GRUU will not normally change in
subsequent 2xx responses to REGISTER. Indeed, even if the UA lets
the contact expire, when it re-registers it at any later time, the
registrar will normally provide the same GRUU for the same
address-of-record and instance ID. However, as discussed above, this
property cannot be completely guaranteed, as network failures may
make it impossible to provide an identifier that persists for all
time. As a result, a UA MUST be prepared to receive a different GRUU
for the same instance ID/AOR pair in a subsequent registration
response.
A non-2xx response to the REGISTER request has no impact on any
existing GRUU previously provided to the UA. Specifically, if a
previously successful REGISTER request provided the UA with a GRUU, a
subsequent failed request does not remove, delete, or otherwise
invalidate the GRUU.
7.1.2 Registrar Behavior
A registrar MAY create a GRUU for a particular instance ID/AOR pair
at any time. Of course, if a UA requests a GRUU in a registration,
and the registrar has not yet created one, it will need to do so in
order to respond to the registration request. However, the registrar
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can create the GRUU in advance of any request from a UA.
A registrar MUST create both the SIP and SIPS versions of the GRUU,
such that if the GRUU exists, both URI are exist.
7.1.2.1 Processing a REGISTER Request
When a registrar compliant to this specification receives a REGISTER
request, it checks for the presence of the Require header field in
the request. If present, and if it contains the "gruu" option tag,
the registrar MUST follow the procedures in the remainder of this
section and Section 7.1.2.2 (that is, the procedures which result in
the creation of new GRUUs for contacts indicating an instance ID, and
the listing of GRUUs in the REGISTER response). If not present, but
a Supported header field was present with the "gruu" option tag, the
registrar SHOULD follow the procedures in the remainder of this
section and Section 7.1.2.2. If the Supported header field was not
present, or it if was present but did not contain the value "gruu",
the registrar SHOULD NOT follow the procedures in the remainder of
this section or Section 7.1.2.2.
As the registrar is processing the contacts in the REGISTER request
according to the procedures of step 7 in Section 10.3 of RFC 3261,
the registrar additionally checks whether each Contact header field
in the REGISTER message contains a "+sip.instance" header field
parameter. If it does, the registrar takes the value of that
parameter as an instance ID. The registrar checks to see if there is
any other contact bound to the same AOR with the same instance ID
(recall that equality is computed using URN equality for the scheme
in question if the scheme is known to the registrar, else using the
URN lexigraphic equality rules). If there is, that contact MUST be
removed as if it was de-registered by the REGISTER request, and
processing continues.
If the registrar had not yet created a GRUU for that instance ID/AOR
pair, it MUST do so at this time according to the procedures of
Section 6. If the contact contained a "gruu" Contact header field
parameter, it MUST be ignored by the registrar. A UA cannot suggest
or otherwise provide a GRUU to the registrar.
Registration processing then continues as defined in RFC 3261. If,
after that processing, that contact is bound to the AOR, it also
becomes bound to the GRUU associated with that instance ID/AOR pair.
If, after that processing, the contact was not bound to the AOR (due,
for example, to an expires value of zero), the contact is not bound
to the GRUU either. The registrar MUST store the instance ID along
with the contact.
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When generating the 200 (OK) response to the REGISTER request, the
procedures of step 8 of Section 10.3 of RFC 3261 are followed.
Furthermore, for each Contact header field value placed in the
response, if the registrar has stored an instance ID associated with
that contact, that instance ID is returned as a Contact header field
parameter, and furthermore, the server MUST add a "gruu" Contact
header field parameter. The value of the gruu parameter is a quoted
string containing the URI that is the GRUU for the associated
instance ID/AOR pair. If the To header field in the REGISTER request
had contained a SIP URI, the SIP version of the GRUU is returned. If
the To header field in the REGISTER request had contained a SIPS URI,
the SIPS version of the GRUU is returned.
The REGISTER response does not need to contain a Require header field
with the value "gruu". This is because client is not required to
utilize the semantics of this specification to process a registration
response.
Note that handling of a REGISTER request containing a Contact header
field with value "*" and an expiration of 0 still retains the meaning
defined in RFC 3261 - all contacts, not just ones with a specific
instance ID, are deleted. This removes their binding to the AOR and
to any GRUU.
Note that the behavior described here means that a transient
registration of a contact with an instance ID will remove an existing
registered contact with that instance ID. In other words, if an AOR
has a contact registered to it with a particular instance ID, and a
REGISTER request arrives with a contact that differs from the current
registration, but with the same instance ID, and the contact in the
REGISTER request has an expires value of zero, after processing of
the REGISTER, no contacts with that instance ID will be registered to
the AOR (or to the GRUU). This provides a convenient way to
unregister any contact for a specific instance ID.
Inclusion of a GRUU in the "gruu" Contact header field parameter of a
REGISTER response is separate from the computation and storage of the
GRUU. It is possible that the registrar has computed a GRUU for one
UA, but a different UA that queries for the current set of
registrations doesn't understand GRUU. In that case, the REGISTER
response sent to that second UA would not contain the "gruu" Contact
header field parameter, even though the UA has a GRUU for that
contact.
7.1.2.2 Timing Out a Registration
When a registered contact expires, its binding to the AOR is removed
as normal. In addition, its binding to the GRUU is removed at the
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same time.
7.2 Administratively
Administrative creation of GRUUs is useful when a UA instance is a
network server that is always available, and therefore doesn't
register to the network. Examples of such servers are voicemail
servers, application servers, and gateways.
There are no protocol operations required to administratively create
a GRUU. The proxy serving the domain is configured with the GRUU,
and with the contact it should be translated to. It is not strictly
necessary to also configure the instance ID and AOR, since the
translation can be done directly. However, they serve as a useful
tool for determining which resource and UA instance the GRUU is
supposed to map to.
In addition to configuring the GRUU and its associated contact in the
proxy serving the domain, the GRUU will also need to be configured
into the UA instance associated with the GRUU.
8. Using the GRUU
8.1 Sending a Message Containing a GRUU
A UA first obtains a GRUU using the procedures of Section 7, or by
other means outside the scope of this specification.
A UA can use the GRUU in the same way it would use any other SIP or
SIPS URI. However, a UA compliant to this specification MUST use a
GRUU when populating the Contact header field of dialog-creating
requests and responses. In other words, a UA compliant to this
specification MUST use its GRUU as its remote target. This includes
the INVITE request and its 2xx response, the SUBSCRIBE [6] request,
its 2xx response, the NOTIFY request, and the REFER [7] request and
its 2xx response. Similarly, in those requests and responses where
the GRUU is used as the remote target, the UA MUST include a
Supported header field that contains the option tag "gruu". However,
it is not necessary for a UA to know whether or not its peer in the
dialog supports this specification before using one as a remote
target.
When using the GRUU as a remote target, a UA MAY add the "grid" URI
parameter to the GRUU. This parameter MAY take on any value
permitted by the grammar for the parameter. Note that there are no
limitations on the size of this parameter. When a UA sends a request
to the GRUU, the proxy for the domain that owns the GRUU will
translate the GRUU in the Request-URI, replacing it with the URI
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bound to that GRUU. However, it will retain the "grid" parameter
when this translation is performed. As a result, when the UA
receives the request, the Request-URI will contain the "grid" created
by the UA. This allows the UA to effectively manufacture an infinite
supply of GRUU, each of which differs by the value of the "grid"
parameter. When a UA receives a request that was sent to the GRUU,
it will be able to tell which GRUU was invoked by the "grid"
parameter.
An implication of this behavior is that all mid-dialog requests will
be routed through intermediate proxies. There will never be direct,
UA to UA signaling. It is anticipated that this limitation will be
addressed in future specifications.
Once a UA knows that the remote target provided by its peer is a
GRUU, it can use it in any application or SIP extension which
requires a globally routable URI to operate. One such example is
assisted call transfer.
8.2 Sending a Message to a GRUU
There is no new behavior associated with sending a request to a GRUU.
A GRUU is a URI like any other. When a UA receives a request or
response, it can know that the remote target is a GRUU if the request
or response had a Supported header field that included the value
"gruu". The UA can take the GRUU, and send a request to it, and then
be sure that it is delivered to the UA instance which sent the
request or response.
Since the instance ID is a callee capabilities parameter, a UA might
be tempted to send a request to the AOR of a user, and include an
Accept-Contact header field [19] which indicates a preference for
routing the request to a UA with a specific instance ID. Although
this would appear to have the same effect as sending a request to the
GRUU, it does not. The caller preferences expressed in the
Accept-Contact header field are just preferences, and do not work
with anywhere near the same reliability as GRUU. However, this
specification does not forbid a client from attempting such a
request, as there may be cases where the desired operation truly is a
preferential routing request.
8.3 Receiving a Request Sent to a GRUU
When a UAS receives a request sent to its GRUU, the incoming request
URI will be equal to the contact that was registered (through
REGISTER or some other action) by that UA instance. If the user
agent had previously handed out its GRUU with a grid parameter, the
incoming request URI may contain that parameter. This indicates to
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the UAS that the request is being received as a result of a request
sent by the UAC to that GRUU/grid combination. This specification
makes no normative statements about when to use a grid parameter, or
what to do when receiving a request made to a GRUU/grid combination.
Generally, any differing behaviors are a matter of local policy.
It is important to note that, when a user agent receives a request,
and the request URI does not have a grid parameter, the user agent
cannot tell whether the request was sent to the AOR or to the GRUU.
As such, the UAS will process such requests identically. If a user
agent needs to differentiate its behavior based on these cases, it
will need to use a grid parameter.
8.4 Proxy Behavior
Proxy behavior is fully defined in Section 16 of RFC 3261. GRUU
processing impacts that processing in two places - request targeting
and record-routing.
8.4.1 Request Targeting
When a proxy server receives a request, and the proxy owns the domain
in the Request URI, and the proxy is supposed to access a Location
Service in order to compute request targets (as specified in Section
16.5 of RFC 3261 [1]), the proxy MUST check if the Request URI is a
GRUU created by that domain.
If the GRUU does not exist within the domain, the proxy MUST generate
a 404 (Not Found) response to the request.
If the GRUU does exist, handling of the GRUU proceeds as specified in
RFC 3261 Section 16. For GRUUs, the abstract location service
described in Section 16.5 is utilized, and a lookup of the GRUU will
provide either zero or one request targets. If a contact was bound
to the GRUU, the request target MUST be obtained by taking that
contact, and if the GRUU contained a "grid" URI parameter, adding
that parameter to the request target. If the grid was already
present in the contact bound to the GRUU, it is overwritten in this
process. If no contacts were bound to the GRUU, the lookup of the
GRUU in the abstract location service will result in zero target URI,
eventually causing the proxy to reject the request with a 480
(Temorarily Unavailable) response.
If the contact had been registered using a Path header field [3],
then that Path is used to construct the route set for reaching that
contact through the GRUU as well as through the AOR, using the
procedures specified in RFC 3327.
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A proxy MAY apply other processing to the request, such as execution
of called party features. In particular, it is RECOMMENDED that
non-routing called party features, such as call logging and
screening, that are associated with the AOR are also applied to
requests for all GRUUs associated with that AOR.
A request sent to a GRUU request SHOULD NOT be redirected. In many
instances, a GRUU is used by a UA in order to assist in the traversal
of NATs and firewalls, and a redirection may prevent such a case from
working.
8.4.2 Record Routing
As described above, a user agent use its GRUU as a remote target.
This has an impact on the path taken by subsequent mid-dialog
requests. Depending on the desires of the proxies involved, this may
impact record route processing.
Two cases can be considered. The first is shown in Figure 3. In
this case, there is a single proxy in the user's domain. An incoming
INVITE request arrives for the users AOR (1) and is forwarded to the
user agent at its registered contact C1 (2). The proxy inserts a
Record-Route header field into the proxied reuqest, with a value of
R1. The user agent generates a 200 OK to the request, using its GRUU
G1 as the remote target.
(1) + (2): initial INVITE
(2) + (3): mid-dialog request
(1) +-----------+ (2) +-----------+
------>| |--------------->| |
| | | |
(3) | Proxy | (4) | User |
------>| |--------------->| Agent |
| | | |
+-----------+ +-----------+
Figure 3
When a mid-dialog request shows up destined for the user agent
(message 3), it will arrive at the proxy in the following form:
INVITE G1
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Route: R1
Since the top Route header field value identifies the proxy, the
proxy removes it. As there are no more Route header field values,
the proxy processes the request URI. However, the request URI is a
GRUU, and is therefore a domain under the control of the proxy. The
proxy will need to perform the processing of Section 8.4.1, which
will result in the translation of the GRUU into the contact C1,
followed by transmission of the request to the user agent (message
4).
This sequence of processing in the proxy is somewhat unusual, in that
mid-dialog requests (that is, requests with a Route header field that
a proxy inserted as a result of a Record-Route operation) do not
normally cause a proxy to have to invoke a location service to
process the request URI. It is for this reason that this is called
out here.
The previous case assumed that there was a single proxy in the
domain. In more complicated cases, there can be two or more proxies
within a domain on the initial request path. This is shown in Figure
5. In this figure, there is a home proxy, to which requests targeted
to the AOR are sent. The home proxy executes the abstract location
service and runs user features. The edge proxy acts as the outbound
proxy for users, performs authentication, manages TCP/TLS connections
to the client, and does other functions associated with the
transition from the provider proxy network to the client. This
specific division of responsibilities between home and edge proxy is
just for the purposes of illustration; the discussion applies to a
disaggregation of proxy logic into any number of proxies. In such a
configuration, registrations from the user agent would pass through
the edge proxy, which would insert a Path header field [3] for
itself.
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(1) + (2) + (3): initial INVITE
(4) - (9): mid-dialog request
(1) +-----------+ (2) +-----------+ (3) +-----------+
---->| |------->| |-------->| |
(4) | | (5) | | | |
---->| Home |------->| Edge | | User |
| Proxy | (7) | Proxy | (8) | Agent |
+-->| |------->| |-------->| |
| +-----------+ +-----------+ +-----------+
| |
| |
+------------------------------+
(6)
Figure 5
When an incoming request arrives for the AOR (message 1), the home
proxy would look it up, discover the registered contact and Path, and
then send the request to the edge proxy as a result of the Route
header field inserted with the Path value. The home proxy record
routes with the URI H1. The edge proxy would forward the request to
the request URI (which points to the client), and insert a
Record-Route header field value with the URI E1 (message 2). This
request is accepted by the user agent, which inserts its GRUU G1 as
the remote target.
When the peer in the dialog sends a mid-dialog request, it will have
the following form:
INVITE G1
Route: H1, E1
This request will arrive at the home proxy (due to H1 in the Route
header field) (message 4). The home proxy will forward it to the
edge proxy (due to E1 in the Route header field) (message 5). The
edge proxy, seeing no more Route header field values, sends the
request to the Request URI. This is a GRUU, and like an AOR, will
route to the home proxy. This causes the request to loop back around
(message 6). The home proxy performs the GRUU processing of Section
8.4.1, causing the request to be forwarded to the edge proxy a second
time (this time, as a result of a Route header field value obtained
from the Path header in the registration) (message 7), and then
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delivered to the client (message 8).
While this flow works, it is highly inefficient, as it causes each
mid-dialog request to spiral route. If this behavior is not
desirable, it is RECOMMENDED that, when the response to the initial
mid-dialog request arrives at the edge proxy, the edge proxy inspect
the response to see if it contains a Supported header field that
includes the value "gruu". If it does, the edge proxy knows that the
UA inserted its GRUU as the remote target. In such a case, there is
no need for the proxy to retain its record-route in the response.
The proxy MAY remove its record-route value from the 200 OK response
in this case. This will result in a different route set as seen by
the caller and callee; the callee (which is the user agent in the
figure) will have a route set entry for the edge proxy, while the
caller will not.
In such a case, a mid-dialog request that arrives at the home proxy
will be of the form:
INVITE G1
Route: H1
This does the "right thing" and causes the request to be routed from
the home proxy to the edge proxy to the client, without the
additional spiral.
9. Grammar
This specification defines two new Contact header field parameters,
gruu and +sip.instance, and a new URI parameter, grid. The grammar
for string-value is obtained from [11], and the grammar for uric is
defined in RFC 3986 [9].
contact-params = c-p-q / c-p-expires / c-p-gruu / cp-instance
/ contact-extension
c-p-gruu = "gruu" EQUAL DQUOTE SIP-URI DQUOTE
cp-instance = "+sip.instance" EQUAL LDQUOT instance-val RDQUOT
uri-parameter = transport-param / user-param / method-param
/ ttl-param / maddr-param / lr-param / grid-param
/ other-param
grid-param = "grid=" pvalue ; defined in RFC3261
instance-val = *uric ; defined in RFC 2396
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10. Requirements
This specification was created in order to meet the following
requirements:
REQ 1: When a UA invokes a GRUU, it MUST cause the request to be
routed to the specific UA instance to which the GRUU refers.
REQ 2: It MUST be possible for a GRUU to be invoked from anywhere on
the Internet, and still cause the request to be routed
appropriately. That is, a GRUU MUST NOT be restricted to use
within a specific addressing realm.
REQ 3: It MUST be possible for a GRUU to be constructed without
requiring the network to store additional state.
REQ 4: It MUST be possible for a UA to obtain a multiplicity of
GRUUs, each one of which routes to that UA instance. This is
needed to support ad-hoc conferencing, for example, where a a UA
instance needs a different URI for each conference it is hosting.
REQ 5: When a UA receives a request sent to a GRUU, it MUST be
possible for the UA to know the GRUU which was used to invoke the
request. This is necessary as a consequence of requirement 4.
REQ 6: It MUST be possible for a UA to add opaque content to a GRUU,
which is not interpreted or altered by the network, and used only
by the UA instance to whom the GRUU refers. This provides a basic
cookie type of functionality, allowing a UA to build a GRUU with
state embedded within it.
REQ 7: It MUST be possible for a proxy to execute services and
features on behalf of a UA instace represented by a GRUU. As an
example, if a user has call blocking features, a proxy may want to
apply those call blocking features to calls made to the GRUU in
addition to calls made to the user's AOR.
REQ 8: It MUST be possible for a UA in a dialog to inform its peer of
its GRUU, and for the peer to know that the URI represents a GRUU.
This is needed for the conferencing and dialog reuse applications
of GRUUs, where the URIs are transferred within a dialog.
REQ 9: When transferring a GRUU per requirement 8, it MUST be
possible for the UA receiving the GRUU to be assured of its
integrity and authenticity.
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REQ 10: It MUST be possible for a server, authoritative for a domain,
to construct a GRUU which routes to a UA instace bound to an AOR
in that domain. In other words, the proxy can construct a GRUU
too. This is needed for the presence application.
11. Example Call Flow
The following call flow shows a basic registration and call setup,
followed by a subscription directed to the GRUU. It then shows a
failure of the callee, followed by a re-registration.
Caller Proxy Callee
| |(1) REGISTER |
| |<--------------------|
| |(2) 200 OK |
| |-------------------->|
|(3) INVITE | |
|-------------------->| |
| |(4) INVITE |
| |-------------------->|
| |(5) 200 OK |
| |<--------------------|
|(6) 200 OK | |
|<--------------------| |
|(7) ACK | |
|-------------------->| |
| |(8) ACK |
| |-------------------->|
|(9) SUBSCRIBE | |
|-------------------->| |
| |(10) SUBSCRIBE |
| |-------------------->|
| |(11) 200 OK |
| |<--------------------|
|(12) 200 OK | |
|<--------------------| |
| |(13) NOTIFY |
| |<--------------------|
|(14) NOTIFY | |
|<--------------------| |
|(15) 200 OK | |
|-------------------->| |
| |(16) 200 OK |
| |-------------------->|
| | |Crashes, Reboots
| |(17) REGISTER |
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| |<--------------------|
| |(18) 200 OK |
| |-------------------->|
The Callee supports the GRUU extension. As such, its REGISTER (1)
looks like:
REGISTER sip:example.com SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 192.0.2.1;branch=z9hG4bKnashds7
Max-Forwards: 70
From: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>;tag=a73kszlfl
Supported: gruu
To: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>
Call-ID: 1j9FpLxk3uxtm8tn@192.0.2.1
CSeq: 1 REGISTER
Contact: <sip:callee@192.0.2.1>
;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6>"
Content-Length: 0
The REGISTER response would look like:
SIP/2.0 200 OK
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 192.0.2.1;branch=z9hG4bKnashds7
From: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>;tag=a73kszlfl
To: Callee <sip:callee@example.com> ;tag=b88sn
Call-ID: 1j9FpLxk3uxtm8tn@192.0.2.1
CSeq: 1 REGISTER
Contact: <sip:callee@192.0.2.1>
;gruu="sip:hha9s8d=-999a@example.com"
;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6>"
;expires=3600
Content-Length: 0
Note how the Contact header field in the REGISTER response contains
the gruu parameter with the URI sip:hha9s8d=-999a@example.com. This
represents a GRUU that translates to the contact
sip:callee@192.0.2.1.
The INVITE from the caller is a normal SIP INVITE. The 200 OK
generated by the callee (message 5), however, now contains a GRUU as
the remote target. The UA has also chosen to include a grid URI
parameter into the GRUU.
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SIP/2.0 200 OK
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP proxy.example.com;branch=z9hG4bKnaa8
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP host.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK99a
From: Caller <sip:caller@example.com>;tag=n88ah
To: Callee <sip:callee@example.com> ;tag=a0z8
Call-ID: 1j9FpLxk3uxtma7@host.example.com
CSeq: 1 INVITE
Supported: gruu
Allow: INVITE, OPTIONS, CANCEL, BYE, ACK
Contact: <sip:hha9s8d=-999a@example.com;grid=99a>
Content-Length: --
Content-Type: application/sdp
[SDP Not shown]
At some point later in the call, the caller decides to subscribe to
the dialog event package [18] at that specific UA. To do that, it
generates a SUBSCRIBE request (message 9), but directs it towards the
remote target, which is a GRUU:
SUBSCRIBE sip:hha9s8d=-999a@example.com;grid=99a SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP host.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK9zz8
From: Caller <sip:caller@example.com>;tag=kkaz-
To: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>
Call-ID: faif9a@host.example.com
CSeq: 2 SUBSCRIBE
Supported: gruu
Event: dialog
Allow: INVITE, OPTIONS, CANCEL, BYE, ACK
Contact: <sip:bad998asd8asd0000a0@example.com>
Content-Length: 0
In this example, the caller itself supports the GRUU extension, and
is using its own GRUU to populate its remote target.
This request is routed to the proxy, which proceeds to perform a
location lookup on the request URI. It is translated into the
contact for that instance, and then proxied there (message 10 below).
Note how the grid parameter is maintained.
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SUBSCRIBE sip:callee@192.0.2.1;grid=99a SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP proxy.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK9555
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP host.example.com;branch=z9hG4bK9zz8
From: Caller <sip:caller@example.com>;tag=kkaz-
To: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>
Call-ID: faif9a@host.example.com
CSeq: 2 SUBSCRIBE
Supported: gruu
Event: dialog
Allow: INVITE, OPTIONS, CANCEL, BYE, ACK
Contact: <sip:bad998asd8asd0000a0@example.com>
Content-Length: 0
At some point after message 16 is received, the callee's machine
crashes and recovers. It obtains a new IP address, 192.0.2.2.
Unaware that it had previously had an active registration, it creates
a new one (message 17 below). Notice how the instance ID remains the
same, as it persists across reboot cycles:
REGISTER sip:example.com SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 192.0.2.2;branch=z9hG4bKnasbba
Max-Forwards: 70
From: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>;tag=ha8d777f0
Supported: gruu
To: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>
Call-ID: hf8asxzff8s7f@192.0.2.2
CSeq: 1 REGISTER
Contact: <sip:callee@192.0.2.2>
;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6>"
Content-Length: 0
The registrar notices that a different contact, sip:callee@192.0.2.1,
is already associated with the same instance ID. Thus, it removes
that old contact, and proceeds to register the new one, generating
the following response:
SIP/2.0 200 OK
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 192.0.2.2;branch=z9hG4bKnasbba
From: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>;tag=ha8d777f0
To: Callee <sip:callee@example.com>;tag=99f8f7
Call-ID: hf8asxzff8s7f@192.0.2.2
CSeq: 1 REGISTER
Contact: <sip:callee@192.0.2.2>
;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6>"
;expires=3600
Content-Length: 0
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12. Security Considerations
GRUUs do not provide a solution for privacy. In particular, since
the GRUU does not change during the lifetime of a registration, an
attacker could correlate two calls as coming from the same source,
which in and of itself reveals information about the caller.
Furthermore, GRUUs do not address other aspects of privacy, such as
the addresses used for media transport. For a discussion of how
privacy services are provided in SIP, see RFC 3323 [14].
It is important for a UA to be assured of the integrity of a GRUU
when it is given one in a REGISTER response. If the GRUU is tampered
with by an attacker, the result could be denial of service to the UA.
As a result, it is RECOMMENDED that a UA use the SIPS URI scheme in
the Request-URI when registering.
13. IANA Considerations
This specification defines a new Contact header field parameter, a
SIP URI parameter, a media feature tag and a SIP option tag.
13.1 Header Field Parameter
This specification defines a new header field parameter, as per the
registry created by [12]. The required information is as follows:
Header field in which the parameter can appear: Contact
Name of the Parameter gruu
RFC Reference RFC XXXX [[NOTE TO IANA: Please replace XXXX with the
RFC number of this specification.]]
13.2 URI Parameter
This specification defines a new SIP URI parameter, as per the
registry created by [13].
Name of the Parameter grid
RFC Reference RFC XXXX [[NOTE TO IANA: Please replace XXXX with the
RFC number of this specification.]]
13.3 Media Feature Tag
This section registers a new media feature tag, per the procedures
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defined in RFC 2506 [8]. The tag is placed into the sip tree, which
is defined in [11].
Media feature tag name: sip.instance
ASN.1 Identifier: New assignment by IANA.
Summary of the media feature indicated by this tag: This feature tag
contains a string containing a URI, and ideally a URN, that
indicates a unique identifier associated with the UA instance
registering the Contact.
Values appropriate for use with this feature tag: String.
The feature tag is intended primarily for use in the following
applications, protocols, services, or negotiation mechanisms: This
feature tag is most useful in a communications application, for
describing the capabilities of a device, such as a phone or PDA.
Examples of typical use: Routing a call to a specific device.
Related standards or documents: RFC XXXX [[Note to IANA: Please
replace XXXX with the RFC number of this specification.]]
Security Considerations: This media feature tag can be used in ways
which affect application behaviors. For example, the SIP caller
preferences extension [19] allows for call routing decisions to be
based on the values of these parameters. Therefore, if an
attacker can modify the values of this tag, they may be able to
affect the behavior of applications. As a result of this,
applications which utilize this media feature tag SHOULD provide a
means for ensuring its integrity. Similarly, this feature tag
should only be trusted as valid when it comes from the user or
user agent described by the tag. As a result, protocols for
conveying this feature tag SHOULD provide a mechanism for
guaranteeing authenticity.
13.4 SIP Option Tag
This specification registers a new SIP option tag, as per the
guidelines in Section 27.1 of RFC 3261.
Name: gruu
Description: This option tag is used to identify the Globally
Routable User Agent URI (GRUU) extension. When used in a
Supported header, it indicates that a User Agent understands the
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extension, and has included a GRUU in the Contact header field of
its dialog initiating requests and responses. When used in a
Require header field of a REGISTER request, it indicates that the
registrar should assign a GRUU to the Contact URI.
14. Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Rohan Mahy, Paul Kyzivat, Alan
Johnston, and Cullen Jennings for their contributions to this work.
15. References
15.1 Normative References
[1] 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.
[2] Rosenberg, J. and H. Schulzrinne, "Session Initiation Protocol
(SIP): Locating SIP Servers", RFC 3263, June 2002.
[3] Willis, D. and B. Hoeneisen, "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
Extension Header Field for Registering Non-Adjacent Contacts",
RFC 3327, December 2002.
[4] Rosenberg, J., "The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) UPDATE
Method", RFC 3311, October 2002.
[5] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[6] Roach, A., "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-Specific Event
Notification", RFC 3265, June 2002.
[7] Sparks, R., "The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Refer
Method", RFC 3515, April 2003.
[8] Holtman, K., Mutz, A. and T. Hardie, "Media Feature Tag
Registration Procedure", BCP 31, RFC 2506, March 1999.
[9] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC 3986,
January 2005.
[10] Moats, R., "URN Syntax", RFC 2141, May 1997.
[11] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H. and P. Kyzivat, "Indicating User
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Agent Capabilities in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)",
RFC 3840, August 2004.
[12] Camarillo, G., "The Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA)
Header Field Parameter Registry for the Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP)", BCP 98, RFC 3968, December 2004.
[13] Camarillo, G., "The Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA)
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) Parameter Registry for the
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", BCP 99, RFC 3969, December
2004.
15.2 Informative References
[14] Peterson, J., "A Privacy Mechanism for the Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3323, November 2002.
[15] Rosenberg, J., Weinberger, J., Huitema, C. and R. Mahy, "STUN -
Simple Traversal of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Through
Network Address Translators (NATs)", RFC 3489, March 2003.
[16] Hakala, J., "Using National Bibliography Numbers as Uniform
Resource Names", RFC 3188, October 2001.
[17] Rosenberg, J., "A Framework for Conferencing with the Session
Initiation Protocol",
draft-ietf-sipping-conferencing-framework-03 (work in
progress), October 2004.
[18] Rosenberg, J., "An INVITE Inititiated Dialog Event Package for
the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)",
draft-ietf-sipping-dialog-package-05 (work in progress),
November 2004.
[19] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H. and P. Kyzivat, "Caller
Preferences for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC
3841, August 2004.
[20] Sugano, H., Fujimoto, S., Klyne, G., Bateman, A., Carr, W. and
J. Peterson, "Presence Information Data Format (PIDF)", RFC
3863, August 2004.
[21] Sparks, R. and A. Johnston, "Session Initiation Protocol Call
Control - Transfer", draft-ietf-sipping-cc-transfer-03 (work in
progress), October 2004.
[22] Rosenberg, J., "A Presence Event Package for the Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3856, August 2004.
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[23] Mealling, M., "A UUID URN Namespace",
draft-mealling-uuid-urn-05 (work in progress), January 2005.
Author's Address
Jonathan Rosenberg
Cisco Systems
600 Lanidex Plaza
Parsippany, NJ 07054
US
Phone: +1 973 952-5000
EMail: jdrosen@cisco.com
URI: http://www.jdrosen.net
Appendix A. Example GRUU Construction Algorithms
The mechanism for constructing a GRUU is not subject to
specification. This appendix provides two examples that can be used
by a registar. Others are, of course, permitted, as long as they
meet the constraints defined for a GRUU.
A.1 Encrypted Instance ID and AOR
In many cases, it will be desirable to construct the GRUU in such a
way that it will not be possible, based on inspection of the URI, to
determine the Contact URI that the GRUU translates to. It may also
be desirable to construct it so that it will not be possible to
determine the instance ID/AOR pair associated with the GRUU. Whether
or not a GRUU should be constructed with this property is a local
policy decision.
With these rules, it is possible to construct a GRUU without
requiring the maintenance of any additional state. To do that, the
URI would be constructed in the following fashion:
user-part = "GRUU" + BASE64(E(K, (salt + " " + AOR + " " +
instance ID)))
Where E(K,X) represents a suitable encryption function (such as AES
with 128 bit keys) with key K applied to data block X, and the "+"
operator implies concatenation. The single space (" ") between
components is used as a delimeter, so that the components can easily
be extracted after decryption. Salt represents a random string that
prevents a client from obtaining pairs of known plaintext and
ciphertext. A good choice would be at least 128 bits of randomness
in the salt.
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The benefit of this mechanism is that a server need not store
additional information on mapping a GRUU to its corresponding
contact. The user part of the GRUU contains the instance ID and AOR.
Assuming that the domain stores registrations in a database indexed
by the AOR, the proxy processing the GRUU would look up the AOR,
extract the currently registered contacts, and find the one matching
the instance ID encoded in the request URI. The contact whose
instance ID is that instance ID is then used as the translated
version of the GRUU. Encryption is needed to prevent attacks whereby
the server is sent requests with faked GRUU, causing the server to
direct requests to any named URI. Even with encryption, the proxy
should validate the user part after decryption. In particular, the
AOR should be managed by the proxy in that domain. Should a UA send
a request with a fake GRUU, the proxy would decrypt and then discard
it because there would be no URI or an invalid URI inside.
While this approach has many benefits, it has the drawback of
producing fairly long GRUUs. The approach in the following section
produces smaller results, at the cost of additional structures in the
database.
A.2 Hashed Indices
As an alternative approach, the server can construct the GRUU by
computing a cryptographic hash of the AOR and instance ID, taking 64
bits of the result, and placing a string representation of those 64
bits into the user part of the URI.
When a GRUU is created through registration or administrative action,
the server computes this hash and stores the hash in the database.
This hash acts the primary key, with the columns of the table
providing the instance ID, AOR and contact. When the registration is
deleted, the corresponding row from the table is removed. When a
request arrives to a proxy, the user part of the URI is looked up in
the database, and the Contact, AOR and instance ID can be extracted.
This approach produces GRUUs of relatively short length. However, it
requires additional structures to be created and stored in a database
that would be used by the registrar (at least, new structures are
needed for efficient operation). However, it does not require the
registrar to store anything for longer than the duration of the
registration.
OPEN ISSUE: this algorithm doesn't really work, since the proxy has
no way to know whether a GRUU doesn't exist or just doesnt have
contacts registered against it. Does it matter?
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