Common Indexing Protocol
Encyclopedia
The Common Indexing Protocol (CIP) was an attempt in the IETF working group FIND during the mid-1990s to define a protocol for exchanging index information between directory services.
In the X.500
Directory model, searches scoped near the root of the tree (e.g. at a particular country) were
problematic to implement, as potentially hundreds or thousands of directory servers would need to be contacted
in order to handle that query.
The indexes contained summaries or subsets of information about individuals and organizations represented in
a white pages schema
. By merging subsets of information from multiple sources, it was hoped that an index
server holding that subset could be able to process a query more efficiently by chaining it only to some
of the sources: those sources which did not hold information would not be contacted. For example, if a server
holding the base entry for a particular country were provided with a list of names of all the people in all the
entries in that country subtree, then that server would be able to process a query searching for a person with
a particular name by only chaining it to those servers which held data about such a person.
The protocol evolved from earlier work developing WHOIS++, and was intended to be capable of interconnecting
services from both the evolving WHOIS
and LDAP
activities.
This protocol has not seen much recent deployment, as WHOIS and LDAP environments
have followed separate evolution paths. WHOIS deployments are typically in domain name registrars, and its
data management issues have been addressed through specifications for domain name registry interconnection such as
CRISP
. In contrast, enterprises that manage employee, customer
or student identity data in an LDAP directory have looked to federation protocols for interconnection between
organizations.
In the X.500
X.500
X.500 is a series of computer networking standards covering electronic directory services. The X.500 series was developed by ITU-T, formerly known as CCITT, and first approved in 1988. The directory services were developed in order to support the requirements of X.400 electronic mail exchange and...
Directory model, searches scoped near the root of the tree (e.g. at a particular country) were
problematic to implement, as potentially hundreds or thousands of directory servers would need to be contacted
in order to handle that query.
The indexes contained summaries or subsets of information about individuals and organizations represented in
a white pages schema
White pages schema
A white pages schema is a data model, specifically a logical schema, for organizing the data contained in entries in a directory service, database, or application, such as an address book...
. By merging subsets of information from multiple sources, it was hoped that an index
server holding that subset could be able to process a query more efficiently by chaining it only to some
of the sources: those sources which did not hold information would not be contacted. For example, if a server
holding the base entry for a particular country were provided with a list of names of all the people in all the
entries in that country subtree, then that server would be able to process a query searching for a person with
a particular name by only chaining it to those servers which held data about such a person.
The protocol evolved from earlier work developing WHOIS++, and was intended to be capable of interconnecting
services from both the evolving WHOIS
WHOIS
WHOIS is a query and response protocol that is widely used for querying databases that store the registered users or assignees of an Internet resource, such as a domain name, an IP address block, or an autonomous system, but is also used for a wider range of other information. The protocol stores...
and LDAP
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...
activities.
This protocol has not seen much recent deployment, as WHOIS and LDAP environments
have followed separate evolution paths. WHOIS deployments are typically in domain name registrars, and its
data management issues have been addressed through specifications for domain name registry interconnection such as
CRISP
Cross Registry Information Service Protocol
The Cross Registry Information Service Protocol, or CRISP, is a computer network communications protocol which has been in development by a working group at the Internet Engineering Task Force since 2004...
. In contrast, enterprises that manage employee, customer
or student identity data in an LDAP directory have looked to federation protocols for interconnection between
organizations.
RFCs
- RFC 2651 The Architecture of the Common Indexing Protocol (CIP)
- RFC 2652 MIME Object Definitions for the Common Indexing Protocol (CIP)
- RFC 2653 CIP Transport Protocols
- RFC 2654 A Tagged Index Object for use in the Common Indexing Protocol
- RFC 2655 CIP Index Object Format for SOIF Objects
- RFC 2656 Registration Procedures for SOIF Template Types
- RFC 2657 LDAPv2 Client vs the Index Mesh