Subject: Protocol Action: The Architecture of the Common Indexing Protocol (CIP) to Proposed Standard

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 07:37:01 -0400

The IESG has approved publication of the following Internet-Drafts as
Proposed Standards:

 o The Architecture of the Common Indexing Protocol (CIP) 
	<draft-ietf-find-cip-arch-02.txt>

 o MIME Object Definitions for the Common Indexing Protocol (CIP) 
	<draft-ietf-find-cip-mime-03.txt>

 o CIP Transport Protocols <draft-ietf-find-cip-trans-01.txt>

The IESG also approved publication of the following Internet-Drafts as Experimental:

 o A Tagged Index Object for use in the Common Indexing Protocol 
	<draft-ietf-find-cip-tagged-07.txt> 

 o CIP Index Object Format for SOIF Objects
	<draft-ietf-find-cip-soif-02.txt>

 o Registration Procedures for SOIF Template Types 
	<draft-ietf-find-soif-registry-00.txt>

 o LDAPv2 client Vs the Index Mesh
	<draft-ietf-find-cip-ldapv2-02.txt> 

These documents are the product of the Common Indexing Protocol Working
Group.  The IESG contact persons are Keith Moore and Patrik Faltstrom.

Technical Summary
 
 The Common Indexing Protocol (CIP) is a mechanism that an information
 server can use to export one or more summaries or indices of
 the information stored on that server, to other information servers.
 A server which imports such information can then return a
 "redirect" or "query route" to a client, instructing the client
 to consult one or more other servers.  The CIP is relatively
 independent of the query protocol, so it can be used to exchange
 between X.500/LDAP, whois++, CCSO/PH, and other services.

 CIP consists of: a set of commands, each of which is a MIME media
 type, which are used by one server to poll another server, or
 to indicate when data has changed; and a template for defining
 "application/index.obj.*" media types which are used for the
 actual exchange of information.   Instances of these media types
 can be exchanged between servers using any of several protocols,
 including SMTP, HTTP, and a simple purpose-built protocol layered on TCP.

Working Group Summary

 This started out as an effort to standarize the indexing format
 from the whois++ protocol and make it available to other protocols.
 It was eventually understood that different application domains
 would each need their own kinds of indices, and this led to the
 current structure.  The WG acheived consensus with the result.

Protocol Quality

 Keith Moore reviewed the spec for IESG.