Network Working Group Josh Cohen
Internet-Draft Netscape Communications
Expires in 6 Months 24 March 1997
Discovering proxy servers
<draft-cohen-proxy-srvloc-00.txt>
Status of this Memo
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Abstract
This document describes a method for automating 'out of the box'
configuration of WWW clients via the Server Location Protocol.
Presently, the most popular method of automatic browser configuration
is via a Proxy Autoconfig file, which is delivered upon request to
the browser. Unfortunately, the URL of this PAC file must still be
specified by the user or administrator.
Introduction
The Server Location Protocol working group has defined a number of
Internet Drafts on how to locate and advertise services on IP
networks. This draft suggests using the method described in [SRVURL]
and [SVRADV] to advertise the URL of the autoconfig file.
If has been suggested that a client should use DHCP in [KWAN] to
determine this URL, but presently, there is no cross platform way to
reference DHCP configuration options. Because of this, the author
suggests using the Server Location protocol.
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By following the recommendations in this draft, an administrator can
expect that a user will procure a conforming web client, install it
on their computer and have the product automagically configure itself
for the appropriate proxy policies based on the clients domain.
Advertising the URL
As specified in [SRVADV] and [SRVRR], service: URLs can be advertised
via DNS. The method for advertising these resources in DNS is based
on TXT RRs and SRV RRs. Presently, SRV records are not widely
supported, so in the interim, [TXT] recommends using TXT records
instead.
The service URL for a PAC file is a service URL defined in [SRVURL].
The general format of a service: URL is:
service: service-location
The explicit format of the URL in DNS TXT records is defined in
[FIND]. The general format is:
<service> IN TXT "service:<srvtag>-<url>" [preference] [protocol
According to [FIND], srvtag would be 'yp' short for yellow pages.
This is the generic tag for services, as opposed to 'wp' or white
pages for people.
Service should be 'w3-ns-pac' to specify the type of configuration we
are looking for.
An example for a proxy called proxy1.foo.com on port 8080 whose PAC
file is /proxy.pac is:
w3-ns-pac IN TXT "service:yp-http://proxy1.foo.com:8080/proxy.pac"
Discovering the PAC URL
A client should attempt to discover the PAC URL at least as often as
upon each startup. To do so it shall query DNS for TXT RRs with the
identifier w3-ns-pac.
It should start with the most specific domain, and the query, with a
more general domain, until it finds an response.
For example, for a client whose name is pc1.test.corp.foo.com, the
client should query, in order:
w3-ns-pac.text.corp.foo.com.
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w3-ns-pac.corp.foo.com.
w3-ns-pac.foo.com.
Note the final '.' to speed unsucessful queries.
The 'w3-ns-pac' specifier
The specifier should is unique and it reflects:
the functional area: the world wide web
the origination of: ns (Netscape Communications)
this resource format
the type of resource: PAC (Proxy Auto Config)
By using unique identifiers, administrators can list other
resources for other types of PAC files, should they use
a browser which has its own format.
The PAC file format
This format has generally become a defacto standard, but is
not currently defined in any standards body. Information can be
found at: [PAC]
Security Considerations
Since this discovery method depends on DNS, it is subject to the
same concerns and restrictions as the Domain Name System with
respect to security.
It is presumed that this functionality will be of most use in an
intranet deployment where the DNS servers, and proxy servers are
maintained by the same organization. Therefore, a certain degree
of trust is assumed.
References
[HTTP] R. Fielding, J. Gettys, J.C. Mogul, H. Frystyk, T. Berners-Lee
"Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2068, Jan 1997
[KWAN] S. Kwan, "DHCP Option for Proxy Client Configuration File",
draft-kwan-proxy-client-conf-00.txt, March 1997
[SRVRR] A. Gulbrandsen, P. Vixie, "A DNS RR for specifying
the location of services (DNS SRV)," RFC 2052, October 1996.
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[SRVURL] E. Guttman, "The service: URL Scheme",
<draft-ietf-svrloc-service-scheme-00.txt>, November 1996.
[SVRLOC] C. Perkins, S. Kaplan, J. Veizades, E. Guttman,
"Service Location Protocol", draft-ietf-svrloc-protocol-15.txt,
January 1997
[SVRADV] R. Moats, M. Hamilton, "Advertising Services",
draft-ietf-svrloc-advertise-00.txt February 1997
[FIND] R. Moats M. Hamilton, "Finding Stuff (How to discover)",
draft-ietf-svrloc-discovery-00.txt, February 1997
[PAC] A. Luotonen, "Netscape Proxy Autoconfiguration"
http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/demo/proxy-live.html
March 1996
Author's Address
Josh Cohen
Netscape Communications Corporation
501 E. Middlefield Rd
Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone (415) 937-4157
EMail: josh@netscape.com
----
adam@cs.caltech.edu
The truth is out there.