XEP-0212: XMPP Basic Server 2008

This document defines the XMPP Basic Server 2008 compliance level.


NOTICE: This document is currently within Last Call or under consideration by the XMPP Council for advancement to the next stage in the XSF standards process.


Document Information

Series: XEP
Number: 0212
Publisher: XMPP Standards Foundation
Status: Proposed
Type: Standards Track
Version: 0.4
Last Updated: 2007-06-15
Approving Body: XMPP Council
Dependencies: XMPP Core, XMPP IM, XEP-0030, XEP-0078, XEP-0086, XEP-0138
Supersedes: None
Superseded By: None
Short Name: N/A
Wiki Page: <http://wiki.jabber.org/index.php/XMPP Basic Server 2008 (XEP-0212)>

Author Information

Peter Saint-Andre

Email: stpeter@jabber.org
JabberID: stpeter@jabber.org

Legal Notice

This XMPP Extension Protocol is copyright 1999 - 2007 by the XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF) and is in full conformance with the XSF's Intellectual Property Rights Policy <http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/ipr-policy.shtml>. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Creative Commons Attribution License (<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/>).

Discussion Venue

The preferred venue for discussion of this document is the Standards discussion list: <http://mail.jabber.org/mailman/listinfo/standards>.

Relation to XMPP

The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is defined in the XMPP Core (RFC 3920) and XMPP IM (RFC 3921) specifications contributed by the XMPP Standards Foundation to the Internet Standards Process, which is managed by the Internet Engineering Task Force in accordance with RFC 2026. Any protocol defined in this document has been developed outside the Internet Standards Process and is to be understood as an extension to XMPP rather than as an evolution, development, or modification of XMPP itself.

Conformance Terms

The following keywords as used in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119: "MUST", "SHALL", "REQUIRED"; "MUST NOT", "SHALL NOT"; "SHOULD", "RECOMMENDED"; "SHOULD NOT", "NOT RECOMMENDED"; "MAY", "OPTIONAL".


Table of Contents


1. Introduction
2. Definition
3. Implementation Notes
4. Security Considerations
5. IANA Considerations
6. XMPP Registrar Considerations
Notes
Revision History


1. Introduction

The XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF) [1] defines protocol suites for the purpose of compliance testing and software certification. This document specifies the XMPP Basic Server 2008 certification level.

2. Definition

The XMPP Basic Server 2008 certification level is defined as follows:

Table 1: Required and Recommended Specifications

Specification Requirement Level
RFC 3920 [2] REQUIRED *
RFC 3921 [3] REQUIRED *
Service Discovery [4] REQUIRED
Non-SASL Authentication [5] RECOMMENDED **
Error Condition Mappings [6] RECOMMENDED **
Stream Compression [7] RECOMMENDED

* Note: RFC 3920 and RFC 3921 are currently being revised to correct errors, clarify matters that were underspecified, and incorproate feedback based on implementation and deployment experience gained since RFC 3920 and RFC 3921 were published in 2004. Although the compliance level specified herein refers to RFC 3920 and RFC 3921, developers are also advised to consult rfc3920bis [8] and rfc3921bis [9], which provide the most up-to-date and accurate description the core XMPP protocols.

** Note: Support for XEP-0078 and XEP-0086 is recommended for backward compatibility only. It is likely that compliance definitions for future years will remove these recommendations.

3. Implementation Notes

Some of the protocol specifications referenced herein have their own dependencies; developers must refer to the relevant specifications for further information.

Developers are advised to refer to Best Practices for Use of SASL EXTERNAL [10] regarding proper implementation of the SASL EXTERNAL mechanism in XMPP. Given the wide deployment of domain certificates issued by the XMPP Intermediate Certification authority, developers should also consider bundling the root certificate of the StartCom Free SSL Certification Authority [11] with their software. [12]

4. Security Considerations

This document introduces no additional security considerations above and beyond those defined in the documents on which it depends.

5. IANA Considerations

This document requires no interaction with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) [13].

6. XMPP Registrar Considerations

This document requires no interaction with the XMPP Registrar [14].


Notes

1. The XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF) is an independent, non-profit membership organization that develops open extensions to the IETF's Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). For further information, see <http://www.xmpp.org/xsf/>.

2. RFC 3920: Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Core <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3920>.

3. RFC 3921: Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3921>.

4. XEP-0030: Service Discovery <http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0030.html>.

5. XEP-0078: Non-SASL Authentication <http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0078.html>.

6. XEP-0086: Error Condition Mappings <http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0086.html>.

7. XEP-0138: Stream Compression <http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0138.html>.

8. rfc3921bis: proposed revisions to Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Core <http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-saintandre-rfc3920bis>. (work in progress)

9. rfc3921bis: proposed revisions to Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence <http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-saintandre-rfc3921bis>. (work in progress)

10. XEP-0178: Best Practices for Use of SASL EXTERNAL <http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0178.html>.

11. The StartCom Free SSL Certification Authority is a certification authority that offers free or low-cost X.509 certificates to Internet user and server administrators. It is is also the root CA for the XMPP Intermediate Certification Authority run by the XMPP Standards Foundation. For further information, see <http://cert.startcom.org/>.

12. The root certificate is located at "http://cert.startcom.org/ca.crt", to be superseded in future years by the root certificate located at "http://cert.startcom.org/sfsca.crt". It is recommended for servers to also bundle the ICA certificate since the full certificate chain should be presented by deployed servers; the ICA certificate is located at "http://cert.startcom.org/sub.class1.xmpp.ca.crt".

13. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the central coordinator for the assignment of unique parameter values for Internet protocols, such as port numbers and URI schemes. For further information, see <http://www.iana.org/>.

14. The XMPP Registrar maintains a list of reserved protocol namespaces as well as registries of parameters used in the context of XMPP extension protocols approved by the XMPP Standards Foundation. For further information, see <http://www.xmpp.org/registrar/>.


Revision History

Version 0.4 (2007-06-15)

Per community discussion, changed XMPP Core and XMPP IM references back to RFCs with recommendation for developers to also consult bis drafts; added reference to XEP-0178; suggested bundling of root and intermediate certificates for XMPP ICA.

(psa)

Version 0.3 (2007-06-11)

Removed JID Escaping (XEP-0106) as recommended since it applies to native clients but not native servers; changed XMPP Core and XMPP IM references to bis drafts added implementation notes.

(psa)

Version 0.2 (2007-05-11)

Added JID Escaping (XEP-0106) and Stream Compression (XEP-0138) as recommended.

(psa)

Version 0.1 (2007-04-20)

Initial published version.

(psa)

Version 0.0.1 (2007-03-30)

First draft, split from XEP-0073.

(psa)

END