rfc2221.txt
上传用户:ycwykj01
上传日期:2007-01-04
资源大小:1819k
文件大小:9k
- Network Working Group M. Gahrns
- Request for Comments: 2221 Microsoft
- Category: Standards Track October 1997
- IMAP4 Login Referrals
- Status of this Memo
- This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
- Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
- improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
- Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
- and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
- Copyright Notice
- Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1997). All Rights Reserved.
- 1. Abstract
- When dealing with large amounts of users and many IMAP4 [RFC-2060]
- servers, it is often necessary to move users from one IMAP4 server to
- another. For example, hardware failures or organizational changes
- may dictate such a move.
- Login referrals allow clients to transparently connect to an
- alternate IMAP4 server, if their home IMAP4 server has changed.
- A referral mechanism can provide efficiencies over the alternative
- 'proxy method', in which the local IMAP4 server contacts the remote
- server on behalf of the client, and then transfers the data from the
- remote server to itself, and then on to the client. The referral
- mechanism's direct client connection to the remote server is often a
- more efficient use of bandwidth, and does not require the local
- server to impersonate the client when authenticating to the remote
- server.
- 2. Conventions used in this document
- In examples, "C:" and "S:" indicate lines sent by the client and
- server respectively.
- A home server, is an IMAP4 server that contains the user's inbox.
- A remote server is a server that contains remote mailboxes.
- Gahrns Standards Track [Page 1]
- RFC 2221 IMAP4 Login Referrals October 1997
- 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].
- 3. Introduction and Overview
- IMAP4 servers that support this extension MUST list the keyword
- LOGIN-REFERRALS in their CAPABILITY response. No client action is
- needed to invoke the LOGIN-REFERRALS capability in a server.
- A LOGIN-REFERRALS capable IMAP4 server SHOULD NOT return a referral
- to a server that will return a referral. A client MUST NOT follow
- more than 10 levels of referral without consulting the user.
- A LOGIN-REFERRALS response code MUST contain as an argument a valid
- IMAP server URL as defined in [IMAP-URL].
- A home server referral consists of either a tagged NO or OK, or an
- untagged BYE response that contains a LOGIN-REFERRALS response code.
- Example: A001 NO [REFERRAL IMAP://user;AUTH=*@SERVER2/] Remote Server
- NOTE: user;AUTH=* is specified as required by [IMAP-URL] to avoid a
- client falling back to anonymous login.
- 4. Home Server Referrals
- A home server referral may be returned in response to an AUTHENTICATE
- or LOGIN command, or it may appear in the connection startup banner.
- If a server returns a home server referral in a tagged NO response,
- that server does not contain any mailboxes that are accessible to the
- user. If a server returns a home server referral in a tagged OK
- response, it indicates that the user's personal mailboxes are
- elsewhere, but the server contains public mailboxes which are
- readable by the user. After receiving a home server referral, the
- client can not make any assumptions as to whether this was a
- permanent or temporary move of the user.
- 4.1. LOGIN and AUTHENTICATE Referrals
- An IMAP4 server MAY respond to a LOGIN or AUTHENTICATE command with a
- home server referral if it wishes to direct the user to another IMAP4
- server.
- Example: C: A001 LOGIN MIKE PASSWORD
- S: A001 NO [REFERRAL IMAP://MIKE@SERVER2/] Specified user
- is invalid on this server. Try SERVER2.
- Gahrns Standards Track [Page 2]
- RFC 2221 IMAP4 Login Referrals October 1997
- Example: C: A001 LOGIN MATTHEW PASSWORD
- S: A001 OK [REFERRAL IMAP://MATTHEW@SERVER2/] Specified
- user's personal mailboxes located on Server2, but
- public mailboxes are available.
- Example: C: A001 AUTHENTICATE GSSAPI
- <authentication exchange>
- S: A001 NO [REFERRAL IMAP://user;AUTH=GSSAPI@SERVER2/]
- Specified user is invalid on this server. Try
- SERVER2.
- 4.2. BYE at connection startup referral
- An IMAP4 server MAY respond with an untagged BYE and a REFERRAL
- response code that contains an IMAP URL to a home server if it is not
- willing to accept connections and wishes to direct the client to
- another IMAP4 server.
- Example: S: * BYE [REFERRAL IMAP://user;AUTH=*@SERVER2/] Server not
- accepting connections. Try SERVER2
- 5. Formal Syntax
- The following syntax specification uses the augmented Backus-Naur
- Form (BNF) as described in [ABNF].
- This amends the "resp_text_code" element of the IMAP4 grammar
- described in [RFC-2060]
- resp_text_code =/ "REFERRAL" SPACE <imapurl>
- ; See [IMAP-URL] for definition of <imapurl>
- ; See [RFC-2060] for base definition of resp_text_code
- 6. Security Considerations
- The IMAP4 login referral mechanism makes use of IMAP URLs, and as
- such, have the same security considerations as general internet URLs
- [RFC-1738], and in particular IMAP URLs [IMAP-URL].
- A server MUST NOT give a login referral if authentication for that
- user fails. This is to avoid revealing information about the user's
- account to an unauthorized user.
- With the LOGIN-REFERRALS capability, it is potentially easier to
- write a rogue 'password catching' server that collects login data and
- then refers the client to their actual IMAP4 server. Although
- referrals reduce the effort to write such a server, the referral
- response makes detection of the intrusion easier.
- Gahrns Standards Track [Page 3]
- RFC 2221 IMAP4 Login Referrals October 1997
- 7. References
- [RFC-2060], Crispin, M., "Internet Message Access Protocol - Version
- 4rev1", RFC 2060, December 1996.
- [IMAP-URL], Newman, C., "IMAP URL Scheme", RFC 2192, Innosoft,
- September 1997.
- [RFC-1738], Berners-Lee, T., Masinter, L. and M. McCahill, "Uniform
- Resource Locators (URL)", RFC 1738, December 1994.
- [RFC-2119], Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
- Requirement Levels", RFC 2119, March 1997.
- [ABNF], DRUMS working group, Dave Crocker Editor, "Augmented BNF for
- Syntax Specifications: ABNF", Work in Progress.
- 8. Acknowledgments
- Many valuable suggestions were received from private discussions and
- the IMAP4 mailing list. In particular, Raymond Cheng, Mark Crispin,
- Mark Keasling Chris Newman and Larry Osterman made significant
- contributions to this document.
- 9. Author's Address
- Mike Gahrns
- Microsoft
- One Microsoft Way
- Redmond, WA, 98072
- Phone: (206) 936-9833
- EMail: mikega@microsoft.com
- Gahrns Standards Track [Page 4]
- RFC 2221 IMAP4 Login Referrals October 1997
- 10. Full Copyright Statement
- Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1997). All Rights Reserved.
- This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
- others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
- or assist in its implmentation may be prepared, copied, published
- andand distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
- kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
- included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
- document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
- the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
- Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
- developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
- copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
- followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
- English.
- The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
- revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
- This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
- "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
- TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
- BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
- HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
- MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE."
- Gahrns Standards Track [Page 5]